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Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Winners

12 replies

CadyEastman · 26/01/2024 21:39

Inspired by the Booker Prize thread I was wondering how many Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners you've read.

I've had a look through and my pitiful list is:

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler - one of my favourite books ever

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

OP posts:
larkstar · 28/01/2024 12:52

I thought I had read very few - possibly none but I have read a couple - in some cases I've read other books by the winning author. In general I avoid prize winners - I put most of the blame for that on the Booker Prize - I have tried to read a few of those and not found one that grabbed or impressed me - I think they make some terrible decisions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize_for_Fiction

1940 - John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath. I might read it - I read a couple of others - Cannery Row was good (4's-ish), Mice and Men was OK - short - ~2.5's

1953 - Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea - if you've never read EH then this is the shortest intro you could have to his style - short sentences, plain language, straight to the point - I always think his sentences fit together perfectly like floorboards. You can take this novella at face value or read into it more if you're so inclined - it's OK - I'd only give it 2.5*'s TBH.

1981 - John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces - briliant - a very amusing and memorable 5* read - one I would (and have) recommend(ed) to many people.

1994 - E. Annie Proulx - The Shipping News - I struggled with some aspects of this - liked the descriptive language for place - never really warmed to the characters and I'm not a fan of novels that span decades - it's perhaps one book of very few that I would consider reading again as I feel I didn't get it at the time - 2.5* rating from me ATM but I did read it a long time ago.

2007 - Cormac McCarthy - The Road - I am very likely to read this because I'm impressed with the writing style I'm seeing in his "Blood Meridian" (at least 4*'s ATM) that I'm currently reading. I like inventive and descriptive language.

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize_for_Fiction

tobee · 30/01/2024 00:28

Further to @larkstar on the Booker and their bad decisions, I've enjoyed looking at the titles short listed but not winning the main prize and had success reading some of them.

kublacant · 30/01/2024 14:39

I’ve read 9 of them but none of the recent winners.
i like the idea of looking at the nominations as well - sometimes the best book didn’t win and the winners haven’t stood the test of time .

SilverSimca · 30/01/2024 15:11

Nine - Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Shipping News, The Hours, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Middlesex, March, A Visit from the Goon Squad and All the Light We Cannot See. The vast majority of those were book group books, the only ones I read off my own bat were Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird and Shipping News, not to say I didn't like the others. A lot of the earlier winners I wouldn't want to read, I am not a massive fan of Updike, Bellow, Roth, Hemingway etc.

Mothership4two · 31/01/2024 18:13

Really enjoyed:

Gone with the Wind
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Color Purple
The Shipping News
The Road
Olive Kitteridge
All the Light We Cannot See

Thought 'meh':

The Grapes of Wrath
The Old Man and the Sea
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Goldfinch

Want to read Demon Copperhead and Beloved.

Haven't heard of most of them on the list

larkstar · 01/02/2024 14:26

@CadyEastman FYI Sky Arts (on freeview) is showing a film about Grapes of Wrath in about half an hour 3pm.

Riva5784 · 01/02/2024 16:29

Ooh it turns out I have read a lot of them

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Color Purple
Beloved (loved)
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (would not recommend)
A Thousand Acres
The Shipping News
The Stone Diaries
Interpreter of Maladies
Gilead (loved)
Olive Kitteridge (loved)
A Visit from the Goon Squad (loved)
The Goldfinch (hated)
The Sympathizer (loved, am a big Viet Thanh Nguyen fan)
I am reading Demon Copperhead now and enjoying it. I'm having fun thinking about the ways it is like David Copperfield.

Tarragon123 · 01/02/2024 16:39

I'm shocked with how few I have definitely read. I've read The Road and am currently reading The Grapes of Wrath. I DNF Beloved (I'm the only person I know that hated it). I feel that I should have read The Color Purple, but maybe I've just seen the film multiple times? I also think that I should have read To Kill a Mockingbird, but again, I dont know.

cheezncrackers · 01/02/2024 16:44

The Good Earth
Gone with the Wind
The Grapes of Wrath
The Old Man and the Sea
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Color Purple
Beloved
The Shipping News
Middlesex
Olive Kitteridge
The Goldfinch
All the light we cannot see
The Underground Railroad
The Overstory
Trust
(and I have Demon Copperhead and will read it soon)

I thought most of them were excellent, apart from Trust, which I didn't finish. The Underground Railroad was not quite what I was expecting, neither was Beloved, but they were both very good. Middlesex was a bit weird. The Shipping News is one of my favourite books ever - just very funny and dark.

JaninaDuszejko · 01/02/2024 20:26

Damn and blast, I typed out all the winners I have read then accidentally shut the window 😱. Anyway, I've read 11 but the whole list of winners kind of exhausts me. It's all a bit 'Great American Novel'. Which is probably a bit unfair to the individual books (the Booker on the other hand has a 'old middle class white man looks back at life' vibe for the first 50 years or so).

BrandyandGinger · 03/02/2024 23:34

I've read 23 and I have Demon Copperhead, just didn't get around to reading it yet. I love Carol Shields, Ann Tyler, John Updike and Edith Wharton and I've read Gone With the Wind multiple times. Of recent winners I loved The Overstory but I didn't rate The Underground Railroad.

CadyEastman · 04/02/2024 19:00

Damn and blast, I typed out all the winners I have read then accidentally shut the window. How annoying for you. That's the kind of thing I usually end up doing Grin

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