Community Chat

[Honeybit]

Anyone here who reads books that have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction? I'm part of a book club that selects 6 novels a year from the Pulitzer list, and I am looking for recommendations. Some of the books that the group has chosen to read I've thought were absolutely a waste of publishing space. I'd like to know if there are some you have particularly enjoyed READING and said "That was a good book!" when you finished. So far the only one I've felt that way about was A. B Guthrie's "The Way West". Thanks for any suggestions.

[Cherylou]

On 11/15/2013 insomniac said:

Here are some Pulitzer books I've enjoyed:

The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton)

The Good Earth (Pearl Buck)

Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)

The Yearling ((Marjorie KinnanRawlings)

The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)

The Caine Mutiny (Herman Wouk)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford--love this author!

Angle of Repose (Wallace Stegner)

Rabbit Is Rich (John Updike)

Rabbit at Rest (John Updike)

Housekeeping (Marilynne Robinson)--one of my favorite books of all time

Gilead (Marilynne Robinson)

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (Anne Tyler)

Accidental Tourist (Anne Tyler)

Breathing Lessons (Anne Tyler)--ADORE Anne Tyler!

Cathedral (Raymond Carver)

Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry)

That Night (Alice McDermott)--have read this several times

After This (Alice McDermott)

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (Oscar Hijuelos)

A Thousand Acres (Jane Smiley)

Black Water (Joyce Carol Oates)

What I Lived For (Joyce Carol Oates)

The Hours (Michael Cunningham)

Empire Falls (Richard Russo)

But here's a book that won (I don't know why) which I give a huge, resounding NO to:

Swamplandia! (can't remember the author).

I tried to read Swamplandia and could not stand it. I learned long ago that award winners are not always good. You have a list if many good books, several which I have read. I have tried to read Housekeeping but did not "get it". Might have to try again.