Pulitzers

I'm trying to record, electronically, my lists on various scraps of paper - mainly so I can chuck them away, but also in case they are lost or destroyed (by inadvertent tidying or cleaning!).

Here's a list of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners I've read. I'll be adding to it, or linking them to my year by year main reading list blogs.

Tinkers - Paul Harding (2010 Winner)
The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz (2008)
The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2007)
American Pastoral - Philip Roth (1998)
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee (1961)
The Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway (1953)

2007 Reading List

Here's a list of the books I read during 2007. I'll be doing the same for each year following until I get to the middle of this year (2011) when my reviews will also be included along with the months the books were finished. So, for 2007 (in no particular order, since I can't remember):


Holes - Louis Sachar
What The Crow Said - Robert Kroetsch
Homeland - Sam Liipsyte
The Great Stink - Clare Clark
Margrave Of The Marshes - John Peel
1599 - James Shapiro
The Fortress Of Solitude - Jonathan Lethem
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Death & The Penguin - Andrey Kurkov
The Impressionist - Hari Kunzru
The Salterton Trilogy - Robertson Davies
The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Game - Neil Strauss
Adventures Of Wim - Luke Rhinehart
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Little World Of Don Camillo - Giovanni Guareschi
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - J K Rowling
Hell Bent For Leather Confessions Of A Heavy Metal Addict - Seb Hunter

I don't have reviews for any of these books. I can say that there are a number of gems, which I highly recommend to any and everyone. The Great Stink is fantastic, as are: 1599, The Fortress of Solitude and Blood Meridian (which is one of my all time favs).

Well that was my reading year. It's a bit of a blur for the next two years as I didn't write down a list. I'll have to review my shelves and work backwards through holidays and memories of people etc to piece those years together!

1991 - The Famished Road

Well, I've just finished reading The Famished Road by Ben Okri.  I have to admit that it left me feeling less than satisfied.

Billed in many reviews as magical realism, and unlike anything I would have read before I was looking forward to it. It didn't live up to its billing.  I trudged through the novel; was disappointed by its repetitiveness and found the dream sequences too frequent and far too similar to each other.

There are, however, many fantastic scenes, which are realised with flair and build genuine excitement: notably most of the fights that Azaro's father has either as a boxer or just due to his heightened sense of injustice. The 'stand-out' scene for me is Azaro's father fighting Yellow Leopard.  The trouble is that the great scenes are few in number given the near six hundred pages of story.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone not interested in completing all Booker winners. Out of five, I award it two. 

Next, I'm reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road.  Blood Meridian is in my top five, so I can't wait to get started...

Louis

Hello,

this is my first attempt at posting any form of blog.  I decided to read the Booker winners about a year ago during a struggle to find something I wanted to read.  In order of their victories I have read so far: 1969 - Something To Answer For; 1973 - The Siege of Krishnapur; 1975 - Heat and Dust; 1978 - The Sea, The Sea; 1979 - Offshore; 1981 - Midnight's Children; 1983 - Life and Times of Michael K; 1986 - The Old Devils; 1989 - The Remains of the Day; 1993 - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha; 1994 - How Late It Was, How Late; 1995 - The Ghost Road; 1998 - Amsterdam; 1999 - Disgrace; 2000 - The Blind Assassin; 2001 - True History of the Kelly Gang; 2002 - Life of Pi; 2003 - Vernon God Little; 2007 - The Gathering; 2008 - The White Tiger; 2009 - Wolf Hall.

I'm currently struggling through The Famished Road (1991) by Ben Okri, which isn't gripping me as much as I'd like, but I'm barely a third of the way through.

I've already read six winners this year and one shortlisted novel (Room - Emma Donoghue), but I'm confident I can get through six more this year to put me close to two thirds of the way through the lot.