Pulitzer Project 2015

One of the perpetual challenges that I participate in is The Pulitzer Project. Basically my goal is to read all the books that have won a Pulitzer Prize in fiction.  My goal is to read 4 Pulitzer Prize winning books a year.

2015 List:

1. March by Geraldine Brooks
2. His Family by Ernest Poole
3. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
4. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

Review: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout

Rating: 4 Stars
Pages: 270 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Publication Date: 2008
Source: Borrowed from Local Public Library

Synopsis (GoodReads):

In a voice more powerful and compassionate than ever before, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Strout binds together thirteen rich, luminous narratives into a book with the heft of a novel, through the presence of one larger-than-life, unforgettable character: Olive Kitteridge.

At the edge of the continent, Crosby, Maine, may seem like nowhere, but seen through this brilliant writer’s eyes, it’s in essence the whole world, and the lives that are lived there are filled with all of the grand human drama–desire, despair, jealousy, hope, and love.

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance: a former student who has lost the will to live: Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.

As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life–sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition–its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.

Review:


Plot:
    Olive Kitteridge is the story of a woman who is in the last moments of her life.  She is not dying but she is old.  Her only child is grown and has moved away from the small town in which she raised him.  This is a novel about Olive reflecting on her life and how she ends up in the situations that she encounters through the story.

      Intertwined with Olive's story is the story of other residents of her small Maine town.  Some of them have a direct connection with Olive's, while with others the connection is not as strong.  There are stories about about friends, students, and people that she connects with going about her everyday life.

  Olive Kitteridge is very similar to The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, in tone.  It's a character study more than action driven.


Characters:
     The characters (other than Olive) are a little bit harder to describe.  In some cases, like with Harry Kitteridge, Olive's husband, readers are able to form a strong connection with his character.  They get to know his personality and can see that he is a good decent man that cares about his customers and his family.

     Other characters stories are brief Stout made sure that reader understood the character ultimate purpose, feelings and actions. Stout shows her talent as a writer by being able to tale each characters story and history without making it one large information dump.  There were times when I wondered what connection certain characters had with Olive and then there would be a mention of her.  Stout showed how one person can affect the course of so many lives by actions and words.

    The main character, Olive Kitteridge is not a happy person. She had a hard difficult childhood and it reflected in how she treated the people around her.  Which in turn reflected how they thought and interacted with her.  There were times when I thought that she had to be the most rudest, nastiness, most bitter person around.  Her dog was the only "person" that she displayed a constant display for consideration for, with everyone else she was a constant "hot and cold".   Her attitude tainted the most important relationships in her life, that between her and her son, and her and her husband, Henry.

     Now, while Olive was mean.  She was honest, which I found refreshing even while finding it shocking.

     One of her 7th grade students remembered her saying:

Don't be scared of your hunger.  If you're scared of your hunger, you'll just be one more ninny like everyone else.

     That's not bad or shocking, it's actually great advice to give a child.  I won't ruin the story for you by telling you what the student did with that advice.


    But of her husband she thought:

But Henry was pretty irritating himself, with his steadfast way of remaining naive, as though life were just what a Sears catalogue told you it was: everyone standing around and smiling.

     In the end, I liked Olive.  I realized that at the time she thought she was doing her best and she really did not know any other way to behave.  That her rudeness was a shield to hide her true feelings from the world.  That ultimately she was scared of being hurt and in the end I think that she finally realized that two.


Writing:
     I liked Stout writing style, it was very fluid and engaging.  She was able to masterfully distinguish all her characters and make them all complex.  There voices were unique and never did I get confused about which characters story is was reading.

     The overall tone was solemn, but Stout was able interject humor in just the right places to lighten the mood up when need.  The humor didn't seem forced but flowed naturally with the story.

     One of my favorite exchanges was between elderly father and his son about the whether the son had tried pot and the  definition of the term "fuck buddies". It was funny and charming to see a father trying to bridge the generational gap with his son and make sure that he was "cool".

Overall Recommendation:


I found Olive Kitteridge to be a very pleasant story about a woman reflecting on her life mixed in with other stories about people dealing with various situations. It was a smooth read, and while I won't say that it was a favorite novel or that I would give it rave reviews.  I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone or read another one of Elizabeth Stout's novels again.  I think this is the prefect book for anyone that enjoyed The Remains of The Day.

Review: The Keepers of The House by Shirley Ann Grau

Rating: 5 Stars
Pages: 312 pages
Genre: Literary/Historical Fiction
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Publication Date: April, 2010 (first published 1964)
Source: NetGalley ARC

Synopsis (GoodReads):

The Howland dynasty began after the War of 1812, when a young Tennessee solider fighting for Andrew Jackson settled in Alabama. Over the next century, the Howlands accumulated a fortune, fought for Secession, helped rebuild the South, and established themselves as one of the most respected families in the state. But that history means little to Abigail Howland. Though she inherited the Howland manse, her fortunes reverse when her family’s mixed-race heritage comes to light and her community—locked in the prejudices of the 1960s—turns its back on her. Faced with such deep-seated prejudice, Abigail is pushed to defend her family at all costs. 

Winner of the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, The Keepers of the House is an unforgettable story of family, tradition, and racial injustice set against a richly drawn backdrop of the American South.

Review:


Sometimes you come across a book that reminds you why you love your favorite genre.  From me, the genre is literary fiction and for me The Keepers of The House is one of those books that reminds me why I am a literary fiction reader.

The synopsis of the book is a little misleading.  Yes, it is a story of family and tradition but the racial injustice angle is not a major issue.  It's more like a reflection of the time and location.  This novel spans two generation of the Howland family and their history after they settled in Alabama.  The synopsis makes it seem that Abigail and the Howlands are mixed-race.  They are not all of the Howlands (including Abigail) are white, there is small a branch of the family that is mixed race and their role in the story is not prominent until the end.


The Keeper of The House starts off the the narrator, Abigail, reflecting on how her and her children ended up where they are.  To fully understand the Howland family and the county the helped found.  She takes the readers on a journey through her colorful and rich family history.  A large portion of the story focuses on her grandfather, William Howland, and how he came to father three children by his mistress, Margaret who is black.  The second part of the story is Abigail telling the reader about how her grandfather's past ends up effecting her present and the future of herself, her marriage and her children.

Grau picked the prefect narrator in Abigail.  Her voice was authentic.  It was interesting to see how she developed as a person as the time pasted.  I just can't say enough about her.  I just really liked her and wanted to see how she got to the place in her life she was in when she was introduced in the first chapter. All the characters (good and bad) were well thought out and presented.  Now of them were flat.  They all had good qualities and bad.

William, the grandfather was quite the character.  He was mostly a serious man but at times he displayed a great sense of humor.

She wasn't bad he thought.  It wasn't her fault that she was fat and old and a little dull... Like me, he thought, just like me.

There were some aspects in William's character that bugged me.  Primary his low opinion of the women in his family.  He seemed to think that they were worthless, unable to do anything without him or a man.  Which is probably why he was attracted to Margaret, who he thought of as strong.  This may play into racial stereotypes that still exist today.  The strong black women.  The women who needs a husband to survive.  In reality, William's opinion of the women in his family is what kept them down.  There is a part in the book where Abigail says several times, "I never knew, my grandfather never told me" or something similar.  If he would have told her, maybe opened up to her, maybe things would have been a little different.

The Keepers of The House reminded me a lot of John Steinbeck's East of Eden (which I loved).  The difference being that The Keeper of The House is a much smaller book, without all the details that Steinbeck's East of Eden had.  But they were both tales of family history, how the started, and how they developed.

Overall Recommendation:


This is a must read for people that enjoy literary and/or historical fiction.  I can't say enough good things about The Keepers of The House.  I will caution that while it is only 300 pages, it is dense and takes a while to read.

The Pulitzer Project (Semi-Complete)

There are 82 winners of The Pulitzer Prize. My goal is to read all the Pulitzer Prize books, while participating in the Pulitzer Project. I have decided to take baby steps, since I just joined the challenge. This year my goal was to read 5 books from the list. And I am happy to say that I completed my goals.

Next year, I plan to add more books somewhere between 7 and 10. I really want to read 10 but that depends on what other challenges I join in 2010.

Ranks of Books:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1961 Winner)

Beloved by Toni Morrison (1988 Winner)

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1921 Winner)

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2007 Winner)

The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2008 Winner)

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Pages: 417
Genre: Fiction
Publication Date: 2006

Synopsis (From Google Books):

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.

Review:

When I first started reading the The Road I had a feeling that I would not like it. It started out pretty slow and it took me awhile to get use to the format. I also had trouble with the fact that the two main characters were not given names. But in the end the book was good.

It is really hard to explain this book. McCarthy takes the reader on a end of the war journey where a father and his son (who seems to be pretty young between 8 or 10) are trying to travel to the south to escape the winter. They have to be careful because not everyone is peace loving and there is no food or clean water anywhere.

When I got into the story, the fact that McCarthy never gave the characters name made the book more personal. I was able to pictures the main characters in my mind and I started to relate to them. The relationship that the father and son shared was special and you could see the depth of love that the father felt.

Most books are written in chapter format. But McCarthy diverges from this style. Instead it is paragraph form. Each paragraph is a different event or point. I have never come across this style this before. McCarthy worked the style very well.

Pros: Style, Format, Characters

Cons: Slow Start

Overall Recommendation:

The Road would not be a story enjoyed by everyone. I think it was good. But I would only recommend it to certain people, whose reading preference I know.

Challenges:
The Pulitzer Project (5 out of 5 Books)

Library Challenge (17 out of 25 Books)

Rewards:

James Tait Black Memorial Prize (2006)

Pulitzer Prize (2007)

Times Magazine's Best Book of the Year (2006)

Other Reviews:

From My Bookshelf...

Passion from the Page

Grasping for the Wind

If you have a review of this book or any other book reviewed on my site. Post a link to that review in the comment section so, I can link back to you.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Rating: 4 out of 5 Books
Pages: 270
Genre: Adult (Classic)
Series: No
Publication Date: 1920

Synopsis (From Back of Cover):

Newland Archer saw little to envy in the marriages of his friends. yet he prided himself that in the tender and impressionable May Welland he had found the companion of his needs. The engagement was announced discreetly, but all of New York society was soon privy to this most prefect match, a union of families and circumstance cemented by affection.

Enter Countess Olenska, a woman not afraid to flount convention and determined to find freedom in divorce. Newland, though drawn to the socially ostracized Ellen Olenska, knows that in sweet-tempered May he can expect stability and the steadying comfort of duty. But what new worlds could he discover with Ellen? Written with elegance and wry precision, Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece is a tragic love story and a powerful homily about the perils of a prefect marriage.

Review:

After reading The Age of Innocence I can understand why it is considered a classic. The writing is excellent. It is elegant. But since this book was written of 80 years ago, it makes it harder to read. In fact it was slow going. It wasn't that Wharton used words unfamiliar to me but the style made me slow down and absorb what was being written and going on.

I am going to say that this is a character based novel. While not as in depth John Steinbeck's East of Eden, the characters (mainly Archer and Olenska) take center stage. I would love to say that I really felt in touch with the characters and that I loved them but I was rather indifferent to them. Maybe because this is a story about old New York society and it's inhabitants and I just couldn't wait. But Wharton does put a lot of emphasis of making sure the reader knows and understands the characters and there actions.

The plot of the books was familiar but excellently done. Basically it is a story about "forbidden love" and the chooses people make in their lives and how those chooses affect them later. I am not going to give the story way but I did enjoy getting to take a glimpse into the varies rules of old New York and how they dictates ones actions and decisions.

Pros: Writing, Characters, Plot, History

Cons: Slow read

Overall Recommendation:

I want to give this novel a great write up but I don't know how to express who much I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed it more for the writing than anything else. For you want to read a well written story than this is it. But if you are looking for action or drama, than skip it.

Challenges:
Through The Decades '09 (6 out of 9 Books)

The Pulitzer Project (4 Out of 5 Books)

1% Well Read (5 Out of 12 Books)

Library Challenge (15 Out of 25 Books)

Rewards:

Pulitzer Prize (Novel, 1921)

Other Reviews:

The Pulitzer Project

If you have a review of this book or any other book reviewed on my site. Post a link to that review in the comment section so, I can link back to you.

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Rating: 3 out of 5
Pages: 335
Genre: Fiction
Series: No
Publication Date: 2007


Synopsis (From Google Books):

This is the long-awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today. Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuk-the curse that has haunted the Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim. Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.

Review:

I really don't know where to start. I don't know if it is because I have not been really able to read a book for a while or that my life has been for its normal orbit. But whatever the reason. I don't think that it affected how I felt about this book. Not that I think this book is bad, but I don't think that it deserved the hype (or Pulitzer) that it received.

First off, the book is not really about the life of Oscar Wao (actually his last name is De Leon). Oscar is a central character but not the main character like the title implies. In my view the main theme about this book is about the lives of the De Leon family and the circumstances that caused them to be in Jersey. This all leads up to Oscar, but its not all about Oscar (if that makes sense).

What is the story really about? It is about the bad luck that follows the De Leon family. It all starts in the Dominican Republic, travels to New Jersey, and back again to the Dominican Republic. The bad luck and the history of the De Leon family is the central theme. In fact, I think that there was more about the Oscar's mother's past than there was about Oscar himself.

The story was written in third person. By an ex-boyfriend of Oscar's sister who is familiar with the family and it's history. This is one of the books weaknesses to me. The narrator has a tendency to use terms that get on my nerves and the language is often time vulgar. Now I don't mind vulgarity normally but I was expecting more since this is a Pulitzer Prize winning book. Also, I think that some of the terms that the author choice to use were wrong. For example, Diaz used the term n**ger alot (not in the racist way) but I think that he should have used n**ga. Now for some people there isn't a difference and they are both offensive. I, personally, think that when using the term in a slang like manner you should use n**ga. It is more of the street term, unless Dominicans use it differently than black people do.

Another thing that bothered me, and another blogger pointed it out was that the footnotes. I think that they were completely unnecessary and just ignored them for the most part. Some of them took up most of the page. This is a fictional story not a history book. Why use footnotes? If you can't put the basic idea in the storyline than why use it. I don't think skipping the footnotes influenced my feeling towards this book.

I read a couple of reviews that compared this book to "The Catcher In The Rye". I don't get the comparison. They are both about boys who don't fit in. But "The Catcher In The Rye" allowed a deeper look into the main character and what they were feeling. I never got to really see what Oscar was feeling. I just sort of had to guest. I would have rather this story been told in Oscar's prospective. I think that it would have been made it a lot better. Instead of guessing why Oscar did the things that he did, I would know and feel a little connected with him.

One of the things that I liked about this books was the glimpse into Dominican cultural beliefs and history. I personally know very about the Dominican Republic and this book did give great backgrounds information.

Pros: History, Culture, Plot
Cons: Language, Characters, Point of View


Overall Recommendation:
I don't know. I am on the fence about this one. I want to recommend it but I don't want to recommend it. It's a toss up.

Challenges:
Library Challenge (8 out of 25)
The Pulitzer Project (2 out of 5)

Rewards:
Pulitzer Prize (2008)
National Book Critics Circle Award (2007)
And others

Other Reviews:
Passion for the Pages
Sew Transformed

If you have a review of this book or any other book reviewed on my site. Post a link to that review in the comment section so, I can link back to you.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
Pages: 275

Genre: Fiction (African-American Literature)

Series: No

Publication Date: 1987

Synopsis (From Google Books):

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a spellbinding and dazzlingly innovative portrait of a woman haunted by the past.

Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is still held captive by memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Meanwhile Sethe’s house has long been troubled by the angry, destructive ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

Sethe works at beating back the past, but it makes itself heard and felt incessantly in her memory and in the lives of those around her. When a mysterious teenage girl arrives, calling herself Beloved, Sethe’s terrible secret explodes into the present.

Combining the visionary power of legend with the unassailable truth of history, Morrison’s unforgettable novel is one of the great and enduring works of American literature.

Review:

Before I get to a review I have a story to tell. When I was growing up, I lived in a mostly white town. In fact, I think there was only one other black family in the whole town. So, my grandmother felt the need to constantly give me books written by black authors, and try to force me to read them. I would not have had a problem with it if it had not been for the fact that the books that she picked always seemed to deal with slavery. And for 8 or 9 year old me, that topic was too distressful. So, one day she gave me "Beloved" to read. Yes, my grandmother gave me, a 8/9 year old little girl, "Beloved". Needless to say, that I was so confused by the first chapter. This book is hard for some adults to read, I cannot begin to understand why she thought it was appropriate for a child. I have a feeling that she did not read the book herself but did like the concept. But anyways, I did not pick up that book until two decades later and was quick to tell anyone who asked that it was difficult and I would never try to read it again. In walks the Pulitzer Project and 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and "Beloved" is on my TBR list.

What a difference twenty years make. I still believe that "Beloved" is a difficult read. The language and imagery is challenge. But I have to say that I enjoyed every last page. Morrison is a master with the English language. I could see the characters, the town, their past, and their present. For me Morrison made it all come alive. Now that I have really read the book, I can't remember what I found so difficult about it. Maybe my vocabulary and reading ability have evolved (I seriously hope so or the public school system has a lot to answer too).

The characters were very well thought out and portrayed. Each of the main characters (Sethe, Paul D, and Denver) grow throughout the novel. Morrison took the reader inside their thoughts and let you see their feelings and the reasons for their actions. Nothing was left to guess about. Each character had their own personality and past that shaped their decisions. It was intriguing to see how the events in the past lead them to the point where the story takes place. How these events shape how they each react to Beloved's presence.

Now for some people this will be a difficult read. While I enjoyed how Morrison was able to pact so much into the story, I can also see where it would make it hard for some. There are a lot of different things going on. A good portion of the story is dealt with through flash backs. Sethe, has flashbacks to her time as a slave and her escape. Paul D, has flashbacks to his own enslavement, incarceration, and all the hardship he had to go through. Denver has flashbacks to her lonely painful child. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out since Morrison gives you bits and pieces at a time. But I did enjoy her method, it just made me continue to turn the page.

Another thing that can be hard is the imagery. While Morrison does not go into great detail, the subject matter is harsh. And the things that characters go through are sad and difficult (it is a post slave tale). The decisions that they made at times can be unthinkable to someone not in their position.

Pros: Language, Imagery, Characters, Plot

Cons: Language, Imagery

Overall Recommendation:

I personally loved it and would recommend it. But I would also warn that this book is not for everybody.

Challenges:

1% Well Read (3 out of 12)
TBR Challenge (5 out of 12)
The Pulitzer Project (2 out of 5)

Rewards (from Librarything):

American Book Award
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award
New York Times Best Book of The Year
Pulitzer Prize

Other Reviews:

Desert Rose Booklogue

If you have a review of this book or any other book reviewed on my site. Post a link to that review in the comment section so, I can link back to you.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Rating: 4 out of 5
Pages: 281
Genre: Fiction (Classic)
Series: No
Publication Date: 1960

Synopsis (From Google Books):

One of the best-loved stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, served as the basis of an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father -- a crusading local lawyer -- risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

Review:

There probably are very few Americans that have not a least heard about Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird". I don't recall when I first heard about this book but I remember hearing about it some point in my life. It wasn't required reading for me in high school and since I was not one to voluntarily read classics in high school this book got overlooked.

I feel robbed. My high school English teachers felt that it was more important to assign such boring books as "Ethan Frome" but left "To Kill A Mockingbird" out, shame on them. I am not going to classify this book as a page turner, but it was almost there. The last 100 or so pages I couldn't stop reading.

The story is told in first person and the narrator is a young child by the name of Scout. Now, there are so many directions that Lee could have taken with her creation of Scout. But she decided that she would be highly advanced for a child (in the book she is between the ages of 6 and 8), and this is good. Because the reader get not only to see how Scout develops but also gets a look into her thought process and how she tackles some of the complicated adult issues she has to face. Sometimes I forgot that this story was being told through the eyes of a child.

The language in the story was both simple and complex. Every now and than Lee would through in a SAT word (at least that was what I called them in high school) but they were perfectly in context with the story and did not distract from the flow. In fact they helped illustrated and remind the reader that Scout is a child.

Now to the storyline. Even though this book was published in the 1960's and takes place in the 1930's the subject matter is still relevant to today. The struggle for equality in legal system, prejudice, and class. All these issues come up in the book and Lee handles them well, maybe because she does it from the unbias eyes of a child.

This book as been criticized for the use of the "N" word but I think that it is appropriate because first it is a historical fiction novel and second that was reality back in the time frame of the story. The only time that my eyebrow raised was when I reached the following passage on page 118:

"The warm bittersweet smell of clean Negro welcomed us as we entered the churchyard..."

I have no idea what that means. Bittersweet smell and clean.... I am lost. But otherwise a solid well written book.

Pros: Characters, Subject Matter, Language
Cons: Language.

Overall Recommendation: You haven't read it, yet? What's taking you so long? Check it out at the library or buy it.

Challenges:
Decades '09 (2 out of 9)
TBR Challenge (3 out of 12)
The Pulitzer Projects (1 out of 5)
1% Well Read (1 out of 11)

Rewards:
Pulitzer Prize (Fiction, 1961)
National Book Award finalist (Fiction, 1961)

Also, if you have a review of this book or any other book reviewed on my site. Post a link to that review in the comment section so, I can link back to you.

The Pulitzer Project (2009)

I did a lot of web searching to see what reading challenges there were and which ones that I would like to join. The Pulitzer Project sounds really fun and will give me the ability to drag a little (when it comes up in normal conversation of course). The ultimate goal of the project is to read all 81 Pulitzer Prize winning books.

My personal goal for this year is to read at least 5 of the books. I only want to read 5 books because there are a couple of other challenges (besides Round the World Passage) that I want to do. I will post those challenges later in the week. Also by limiting myself to 5 books it will make it easier for me to overlap books with my other challenges.

Website: http://pulitzerproject.blogspot.com/
Rule: To read all 81 Pulitzer Prize winning fiction books

My List:

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Completed 04/02/2009, Review)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Completed 06/27/2009, Review)
Beloved by Toni Morrison (Completed 02/05/2009, Review)
The Age of Innocence by Edith Whatron (Completed 06/06/2009, Review)
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Completed 01/24/2009, Review)

The Pulitzer Project

This is another sticky post to track my journey through the Pulitzer Prize winning ficition books.

Books that I have read and reviewed will be linked

List (Copied From The Pulitzer Project)

2009 - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2007 - The Road (McCarthy)
2006 - March (Brooks)
2005 - Gilead (Robinson)
2004 - The Known World (Jones)
2003 - Middlesex (Eugenides)
2002 - Empire Falls (Russo)
2001 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Chabon)
2000 - Interpreter of Maladies (Lahiri)
1999 - The Hours (Cunningham)
1998 - American Pastoral (Roth)
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (Millhauser)
1996 - Independence Day (Ford)
1995 - The Stone Diaries (Shields)
1994 - The Shipping News (Proulx)
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (Butler)
1992 - A Thousand Acres (Smiley)
1991 - Rabbit at Rest (Updike)
1990 - The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (Hijuelos)
1989 - Breathing Lessons (Tyler)
1988 - Beloved (Morrison)
1987 - A Summons to Memphis (Taylor)
1986 - Lonesome Dove (McMurtry)
1985 - Foreign Affairs (Lurie)
1984 - Ironweed (Kennedy)
1983 - The Color Purple (Walker)
1982 - Rabbit is Rich (Updike)
1981 - A Confederacy of Dunces (Toole)
1980 - The Executioner’s Song (Mailer)
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever (Cheever)
1978 - Elbow Room (McPherson)
1977 - None given
1976 - Humboldt’s Gift (Bellow)
1975 - The Killer Angels (Shaara)
1974 - None given
1973 - The Optimist’s Daughter (Welty)
1972 - Angle of Repose (Stegner)
1971 - None given
1970 - Collected Stories by Jean Stafford (Stafford)
1969 - House Made of Dawn (Momaday)
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner (Styron)
1967 - The Fixer (Malamud)
1966 - Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter (Porter)
1965 - The Keepers Of the House (Grau)
1964 - None given
1963 - The Reivers (Faulkner)
1962 - The Edge of Sadness (Edwin O’Connor)
1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee)
1960 - Advise and Consent (Drury)
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (Taylor)
1958 - A Death in the Family (Agee)
1957 - None
1956 - Andersonville (Kantor)
1955 - A Fable (Faulkner)
1954 - None
1953 - The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway)
1952 - The Caine Mutiny (Wouk)
1951 - The Town (Richter)
1950 - The Way West (Guthrie)
1949 - Guard of Honor (Cozzens)
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific (Michener)
1947 - All the King’s Men (Warren)
1946 - None
1945 - Bell for Adano (Hersey)
1944 - Journey in the Dark (Flavin)
1943 - Dragon’s Teeth I (Sinclair)
1942 - In This Our Life (Glasgow)
1941 - None
1940 - The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck)
1939 - The Yearling (Rawlings)
1938 - The Late George Apley (Marquand)
1937 - Gone with the Wind (Mitchell)
1936 - Honey in the Horn (Davis)
1935 - Now in November (Johnson)
1934 - Lamb in His Bosom (Miller)
1933 - The Store (Stribling)
1932 - The Good Earth (Buck)
1931 - Years of Grace (Barnes)
1930 - Laughing Boy (Lafarge)
1929 - Scarlet Sister Mary (Peterkin)
1928 - The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Wilder)
1927 - Early Autumn (Bromfield)
1926 - Arrowsmith (Lewis)
1925 - So Big (Ferber)
1924 - The Able McLauglins (Wilson)
1923 - One of Ours (Cather)
1922 - Alice Adams (Tarkington)
1921 - The Age of Innocence (Wharton)
1920 - None
1919 - The Magnificent Ambersons (Tarkington)
1918 - His Family (Poole)