Category: Pulitzer Prize

Categories
2000 - 2007 Pulitzer Prize

The Road – Cormac McCarthy

 Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2007

The Road is a book I’ve been wanting to read for ages. I knew that I’d love it, but I also knew that it would break my heart and so needed to wait for the right moment to pick it up.

The image of a father and son walking along a barren road in post-apocalyptic America was already strong in my mind, thanks to seeing trailers for the film and re-prints of the book with the movie-tie-in cover, but I don’t think anything can prepare you for power of the imagery in this book. It is truly haunting. You can check Lorraine Music to know about some awesome books and movies.

I was surprised by the simplicity of the prose. I had expected it to be more complex and descriptive, but I think leaving everything up to your own imagination makes it more powerful.

He was beginning to think that death was finally upon them and that they should find some place to hide where they would not be found. There were times when he sat watching the boy sleep that he would begin to sob uncontrollably but it wasn’t about death. He wasn’t sure what it was about but he thought it was about beauty or about goodness. Things that he’d no longer any way to think about at all.

The love between the father and his son was so touching – it is one of the strongest relationships I have ever read and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

This book makes you question exactly what you need to make life worth living.

Its strength is its simplicity. It is a classic that everyone should read.

I’m reluctant to watch the film as I don’t want to ruin my memories of the book.

Do you think it is worth watching? Is it similar in style or will it change the pictures in my head?

Categories
2010 Pulitzer Prize

Tinkers – Paul Harding

 Winner of 2010 Pulitzer Prize

Tinkers surprised everyone by winning the Pulitzer Prize earlier this year. It’s a debut novel from a tiny publishing house so few people had heard of it before its Pulitzer win, let alone predicted that it would scoop the biggest prize in American literature. I’m trying to read all the Pulitzer winners, so naturally Tinkers went straight onto my wish list.

Tinkers begins with George Washington Crosby lying in a hospital bed with eight days left to live. He starts to hallucinate and through a series of flashbacks we come to learn about George’s life and his about his father, Howard.

The book is very short (190 well spaced pages) and contains many beautifully written passages, but I think I might have given up on this book had it been any longer. I felt that most of the scenes were over described:

It was a dim, murky scene, lit perhaps by a single candle not visible within the frame, of a table on which lay a silver fish and a dark loaf of bread on a cutting board, a round of ruddy cheese, a bisected orange with both halves arranged with their cross sections facing the viewer, a drinking goblet made of green glass, with a wide spiral stem and what looked like glass buttons fixed around the base of the broad cup. A large part of the cup had been broken and dimly glinting slivers of glass lay around the base. There was a pewter-handled knife on the cutting board, in front of the fish and the loaf. There was also a black rod of some sort, with a white tip, running parallel to the knife.

There were so many lists of objects in this book that I began to laugh whenever I spotted one – not a good sign for a supposedly serious book.

George used to repair clocks and I did learn a few interesting facts about tinkers, but it isn’t the most exciting profession in the world! Numerous quotes from The Reasonable Horologist by the fictioanl Kenner Davenport were sprinkled through the text and I thought that the best quotes from the book all came from these sections.

Chose any hour on the clock. It is possible, then, to conceive that the clock’s purpose is to return the hands to that time, a time which, from the moment chosen, the hands leave and skate across the rest of the clock’s painted signs and calibrations and numbers. These other markings on the face become irrelevant in themselves; they are now simply clues pointing in the direction of the chosen time.

This is one of those books that takes a look at the deeper things in life. If you enjoy slow, thoughtful books then you’ll probably enjoy it, but if you like a book to have some plot then stay away!

 

Tinkers is receiving very mixed reviews:

….a book to divert but not necessarily to detain. Asylum

I have never read a book like this, and will not forget it. Page247

….a combination of beautiful and flowery writing, with a boring memory based story. Bibliophile by the Sea

Harding’s mastery of language and character are mesmerizing. Nomadreader

Categories
Other Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2010

The winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was announced yesterday. I did a terrible job of predicting the winner  –  failing to mention any of the finalists. I blame this on the fact that I haven’t even heard of any of them! 

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2010

Tinkers by Paul Harding

Finalists

Love in Infant Monkeys by Lydia Millet and In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

I am trying to read all the Pulitzer winners, so will read Tinkers at some point.

Have you read Tinkers?

Have you heard of these books?

 

Categories
Other Pulitzer Prize

Who is going to win the Pulitzer Prize 2010?

The winner of the 2010 Pulitzer prize is going to be revealed on Monday 12th April. I am looking forward to seeing who will win, but as I’m not American I find it very hard to predict.

If I was going to give an award to the best book published by an American author in 2009 I’d give it to Jonathan Littell. It is amazing that he was able to create such an outstanding work in a second language and I am very impressed by the book’s scope and emotional power.

Unfortunately I don’t think books in translation are eligible and the Pulitzer prize for fiction is awarded for:

distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life.

The Kindly Ones is set in Europe during WWII, so it doesn’t meet the ideal Pulitzer requirements of a truly American novel.

The best qualifying books I’ve read this year are:

I loved The Help and it deals with issues that the Pulitzer judges will love, but although it was included on the Orange long list I don’t think that it contains enough literary elements for a Pulitzer win.

The Great Perhaps is the best American book I’ve read this year, but I haven’t heard anyone else mention it. I would love to see it win, but I haven’t read that many American novels this year – perhaps there is a better one lurking in my stacks?

Thanks to the wonderful world of blogging I have quite a few potential Pulitzer winners in my TBR pile. The praise these books have received leads me to think that the Pulitzer winner is somewhere amongst them.

If I was forced to choose then I’d put my money on Lark and Termite, as it has received impressive praise:

….a true work of art, literature that makes other contemporary novels seem flat by contrast… San Francisco Chronicle

…. an electrifying novel…. National Book Critics Circle

….reverberates with echoes of Faulkner, Woolf, Kerouac, McCullers and Michael Herr’s war reporting… New York Times

Have you read Lark and Termite? Do you think it will win the Pulitzer?

Who do you think will win the Pulitzer prize this year?

Categories
1920s Pulitzer Prize

The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton

Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize

The Age of Innocence is set in the upper class society of New York City. The book begins with Newland Archer, the heir to one of the best families, eagerly awaiting his marriage to the beautiful, but quiet May Welland. The arrival of May’s cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska from Europe, leads Newland to question his choice of bride as he finds himself falling for Ellen.

I’m afraid that I didn’t enjoy this book – it annoyed me from the very first page:

But, in the first place, New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was ‘not the thing’ to arrive early at the opera; and what was or was not ‘the thing’ played a part as important in Newland Archer’s New York as the inscrutable totem terrors that had ruled the destinies of his forefathers thousands of years ago.

I just don’t enjoy reading about people whinging – especially when they are among the most priviliedged in society. I found all the characters to be dull and I didn’t care about them at all. They just seemed to go from one non-drama to the next, continually fretting about insignificant things.

There was something about the writing style that I didn’t like. It could have been the overuse of brackets, or the repetition of the word “darling!”, but whatever it was this book wound me up as much as it bored me. 

There were a few reasonable sections and the ending was actually one of the better parts of the book, but overall I was very disappointed.

I seem to be alone in disliking this book. Reviewers on Amazon describe it as “a work of beautifully subtle observation and delicacy”, “beautifully written, haunting and evocative” and “deeply moving”. I guess I just like reading about people with real problems, or dilemmas that I might have to face one day. I can only enjoy these lighter romances if they make me laugh and I’m afraid that this book failed to do that.

Recommended to those who enjoy gentle, observational books about those with more money than sense!

stars21

 

Did you enjoy The Age of Innocence?

Will I enjoy any of her other books?

classcirc-logoI read The Age of Innocence for the The Classics Circuit. For other Edith Wharton reviews in the month of January, please have a look at the schedule.

Categories
Audies Book Prizes Booker Prize Commonwealth Writer's Prize Nobel Prize Orange Prize Other Other Prizes Pulitzer Prize

My Favourite Book Awards

There are hundreds of book awards in existence around the world. I love reading award winning fiction, as although I am not guaranteed to enjoy them, they are normally of a higher standard than ones chosen at random.

I have discovered many of my favourite authors by picking up books knowing nothing about them, other than the fact they have won an award. With some prizes I have now taken this to the next level, and am trying to read every book which has won, or in some cases been short listed for the award.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to explain which awards I follow and why.

The Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize is awarded to the best novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. I find the books chosen for this award to be a very mixed bag. Some are outstanding, but a lot of the winning books are picked based upon the quality of the writing, at the expense of a good plot. Overall I find reading the Bookers to be a very satisfying undertaking. I am trying to read all books which have won or been short listed for the prize.

So far I have read 37/241 books from the Booker Prize short list  + 2009 longlist .

The Complete Booker blog is a great place to find other people who are reading the Bookers.

Favourites:


The Orange Prize

The Orange Prize is awarded to the best novel written by a woman. The books tend to be lighter, and easier to read than those of the Booker prize, although that wasn’t the case this year! I enjoy reading the Orange books so much that I am also trying to read the short list.

So far I have read 20/88 books from Orange Prize short list.

The Orange Prize Project is a blog for other people who love Orange books as much as me.

Favourites:

The Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. I have only recently commited to reading all the books from this prize, but have consistently enjoyed the ones which I have read.

So far I have read 8/87 Pulitzer Prize winners.

The Pulitzer Project is a blog for everyone trying to read all the winners of this prize.

Favourites:


The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize aims to reward the best Commonwealth fiction written in English. At the moment I am not purposefully trying to complete the list, but this may change soon. I love the way that the short list is divided into four regions (Africa, The Caribbean and Canada, Europe and South Asia, and South East Asia and South Pacific) This ensures that a wide range of cultures are always reflected in the nominees. It is a great place to look if you are after books from a certain region of the world.

So far I have read 5/25 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize winners

Favourites:

The Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize is awarded annually to an author, based on the body of work they have produced. I am not trying to read all Nobel winning authors at the moment, but have enjoyed a lot of books written by the winners. The Nobel authors write literary fiction, which is often difficult to read. This means that the books have less general appeal, but with a bit of concentration they can be rewarding reads.

The Nobel Prize blog is one which I am tempted to join in the future.

Favourites:


Other Prizes

I am always interested in the Costa Book Awards. This is awarded to the best fiction from the UK and Ireland, but I have been disappointed by a few of the past winners. The books tend to be lighter reads, which although enjoyable, do not contain the standard of writing present in the awards mentioned previously.

I have recently rediscovered the joy of the audio book and so love browsing the list of Audie winners.

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is open to books written in any language, from anywhere in the world. I love the variety of books it contains, but this also means that they vary in their appeal to me.

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is a great place to look for books in translation.

I keep an eye out for numerous other book awards, but these are the ones which interest me the most.

Which book awards do you follow?

Are there any others which you feel I am missing out on?