read all Pulitzer Prize winning novels

I’ve finished three more from the list in the past few weeks:

Guard of Honor was about a racial incident on a military base in the US during WW2, its consequences, and how it was viewed through the different lenses of those on base. While the storyline was good, there were too many characters involved, which made it hard to follow along. Also, it contained too much military jargon.

The Town was about how a rural area in the Midwest grew and changed into a larger town, and the difficulties the female protagonist had with those changes.

Keepers of the House followed seven generations of a Southern family with some surprises in their geneological line. An interesting, albeit simple, study of racial and gender relations from the 1860s to the 1950s, with a small dose of revenge to keep it wickedly interesting.

all three books were decent and enjoyable, although I don’t think I would pick any of them up to read a second time.

...the more I want to stay inside and read, when I should be taking advantage of the relatively short midwestern summers.

I’m not much feeling like writing reviews about all the novels I’ve finished, but all were pretty decent reads. I finished Laughing Boy, One of Ours, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Martin Dressler: Tale of an American Dreamer and So Big. Seems like there are an awful lot of Pulitzer winners written about turn-of-the-century rural dwellers – not that that’s a bad thing.

Onward….

I’ve finished three more from the list, which leaves me with 29 more to go.

Alice Adams got on my last nerve – the book and the woman. She was vapid and dishonest and cruel, and I quickly tired of the back and forth dialogue related to her lies.

The Grapes of Wrath was a gem that I didn’t truly appreciate when I had to read it in high school. The story could almost have been written about today’s migrant field workers. I rented the movie after finishing the book, and the two follow each other fairly closely until the end (which I suspect was in part due to time issues).

And last night, I finished The Yearling. I suspected I wouldn’t like this one much due to all the animal suffering, and I was correct – every other page had some form of animal slaughter on it. Life in the swampy woodlands of Florida in the late 1800s was hard. Got it…next!

I also just finished The Stories of John Cheever, and agree totally with ggchickapee’s entry. The stories mostly did not end on a happy note, but I found them very honest and timeless. I think my favorite story was about a family that owned a radio through which they could hear the problems of the other families in their apartment.

Before that, I finished His Family by Ernest Poole. Before starting the book, I thought I wouldn’t be able to identify with turn-of-the-century women (LAST century, that is), but the sisters in this story were very different from each other, and again, somewhat timeless – a conservative, “stay at home” mom with five children, a social activist who works in the New York tenement slum schools, and a young, newly married jet-setter. I enjoyed the portrayal of all of them.

Before that, I finished A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor – a harmless book, but it really didn’t lift my skirt.

And before THAT I finished Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I think that has to be the toughest book I’ve read in a long time. At times, the emotional impact I felt from just one simple sentence in the book had my crying. Is supposed to be made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen, which I think is a perfect fit.

I found two websites that have Pulitzers posted online; I know for me, some of the earlier Pulitzers were harder to find, so these sites came in handy:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

http://www.readbookonline.net/

I haven’t visited in over a year?!? (groan) Okay, I’ve been bad about posting, but not about reading. I didn’t write down all I’ve read since last post, but I do know the last two were Breathing Lessons and Rabbit at Rest. And better yet, I’ve recently persuaded my sister to start on her own Pulitzer list.

Sorry I haven’t been around in a while, but I’ve been reading, reading reading :) I hit a milestone this evening – I’m halfway there. Number 40 was The Known World, preceded by March, Middlesex, All the King’s Men, The Reivers, Age of Innocence, The Optimist’s Daughter, Gilead, The Magnificent Ambersons, Bell for Adano, The Good Earth and A Death in the Family. I’m going to take a bit of a break and get some bookcrossing.com books off my stack. I will return!

I started reading the Pulitzer Prize winning novels a few years ago, the goal being to read everything on the list since 1918. But I keep getting sidetracked by other books. However, I HAVE made a dent in the list (28 read), and was inspired to run out to the library in this 99 degree heat to pick up The Good Earth and A Death in the Family, my previous accomplishments being rather “bottom-heavy” (post-1950s).