Read all pulitzer prize winning novels

I just started reading “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” this afternoon. I’m only 30 pages in, but I’ve already come across seven words I don’t know. This is pretty surprising to me, as I think I have an above-average vocabulary (and I spent most of today talking about derivatives with my students – serious words like “lachrymose” and “appellation”). But luckily I started it in a good mood, so I’m taking this as an opportunity to expand my vocabulary and I’m making a list of all the new words I learn.

But omniveillant isn’t even in dictionary.com (the lazy Latin teacher’s best friend). My Latin roots got me as far as all-something, and some mostly-forgotten French makes me think it’s all-seeing? Seriously, Michael Chabon, you need to settle down. I bet there are people who set this book down in disgust because the vocabulary is just too much. What are you trying to prove?

While reading this, I mentioned to my boyfriend that this is a good book that most people probably haven’t read or even heard of. It’s the story of a three generations of a powerful and rich family, the Ambersons, and their decline as their small midwest town grows into a city at the beginning of the 20th century. The story focuses most on young George Amberson Minafer, a pain-in-the-ass spoiled by his doting mother, who worships him and can’t see anything bad in her son. Ever since he ran wild around town in his childhood, the town roots for him to get his come-uppance. Luckily, since the back cover tells us “this epic story follows the Ambersons’ downward spiraling fortunes,” we know he’ll get it sooner or later.

I liked this book a lot for the first half or so, but by the end I just wanted to finish it. First of all, when you read this you have to accept that there will be a lot of discussions about carriages and manners and topcoats and “dressing for dinner.” Next, it’s about a family’s downfall and decline. This book is more entertaining when George Minafer is prancing around telling his lady-friend that he doesn’t intend to go into business, but rather to “live an honorable life” and “take part in—in movements.” Once members of the family start dying off and family friends start getting alienated, and it’s more narrowly focused on George, his increasingly-whiny aunt Fanny, and his slavishly devoted mother, a lot of the fun goes out of it. I enjoy morally bankrupt characters in novels, but only when they’re acting like asses and getting taken to task for it, not when I’m expected to feel sorry for them bringing about their own demise.

YR TITLE AUTHOR

1918 His Family Ernest Poole

1919 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington

1921 The Age Of Innocence Edith Wharton

1922 Alice Adams Booth Tarkington

1923 One of Ours Willa Cather

1924 The Able McLaughlins Margaret Wilson

1925 So Big Edna Ferber

1926 Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis

1927 Early Autumn Louis Bromfield

1928 Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder

1929 Scarlet Sister Mary Julia M. Peterkin

1930 Laughing Boy Oliver LA Farge

1931 Years of Grace Margaret Ayer Barnes

1932 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck

1933 The Store T. S. Stribling

1934 Lamb in His Bosom Caroline Miller

1935 Now in November Josephine W. Johnson

1936 Honey in the Horn Harold L. Davis

1937 Gone With The Wind Margaret Mitchell

1938 The Late George Apley John P. Marquand

1939 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

1940 The Grapes Of Wrath John Steinbeck

1942 In This Our Life Ellen Glasgow

1943 Dragon’s Teeth Upton Sinclair

1944 Journey in the Dark Martin Flavin

1945 A Bell for Adano John Hersey

1947 All The King’s Men Robert Penn Warren

1948 Tales of the South Pacific James A. Michener

1949 Guard of Honor James Gould Cozzens

1950 The Way West A.B. Guthrie, Jr.

1951 The Town Conrad Richter

1952 The Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk

1953 The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway

1955 A Fable William Faulkner

1956 Andersonville MacKinlay Kantor

1958 A Death in the Family James Agee

1959 The Travels of Jaimie Robert Lewis Taylor

1960 Advise and Consent Allen Drury

1961 To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee

1962 The Edge of Sadness Edwin O’Connor

1963 The Reivers William Faulkner

1965 The Keepers of the House Shirley Ann Grau

1966 Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter

1967 The Fixer Bernard Malamud

1968 The Confessions of Nat Turner William Styron

1969 House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday

1970 Collected Stories of Jean Stafford Jean Stafford

1972 Angle Of Repose Wallace Earle Stegner

1973 The Optimist’s Daughter Eudora Welty

1975 The Killer Angels Michael Shaara

1976 Humboldt’s Gift Saul Bellow

1978 Elbow Room James Alan McPherson

1979 The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever

1980 The Executioner’s Song Norman Mailer

1981 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole

1982 Rabbit is Rich John Updike

1983 The Color Purple Alice Walker

1984 Ironweed William J. Kennedy

1985 Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie

1986 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry

1987 A Summons to Memphis Peter Hillsman Taylor

1988 Beloved Toni Morrison

1989 Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler

1990 The Mambo Kings Play Oscar Hijuelos

1991 Rabbit at Rest John Updike

1992 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley

1993 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories Robert Olen Butler

1994 The Shipping News E. Annie Proulx

1995 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields

1996 Independence Day Richard Ford

1997 Martin Dressler Steven Millhauser

1998 American Pastoral Philip Roth

1999 The Hours Michael Cunningham

2000 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri

2001 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Michael Chabon

2002 Empire Falls Richard Russo

2003 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides

2004 The Known World Edward P. Jones

2005 Gilead Marilynne Robinson

2006 March Geraldine Brooks

Only seven so far, but that includes two new ones this year. And I just started “The Magnificent Ambersons.”