This year I have been trying to read more award-winning novels, and it has been a very interesting experience — I have read a few that have blown me away (Atonement, Out Stealing Horses) and a few that I was very glad to finish (The Gathering), but so far I have understood why/how each title found its way to an award.
Photo by Gallebee
My husband and I also managed to meet our yearly goal of viewing each of the Academy Award nominees prior to the awards show (we had to see two last weekend). In my experience, the literary award-nominees are much more worthy of their accolades, even if I didn’t actually enjoy the work. (Our favorite movie this past year, by the way, was Gone Baby Gone — largely ignored by the Academy, despite excellent writing, directing and acting. Go figure!)
Anyway, I’ve decided to join the Book Awards Challenge and invite any interested readers to do so as well! I’m not planning to formally register because, quite honestly, I have too many books and am addicted to my library, so the prizes of free paperbacks was an unnecessary incentive for this reader. But if you are interested in free paperbacks, all you need to do to be considered is read 12 books that have won one of the 32 awards specified on their site by June 30th (and sign up!). I plan to post on the site — and possibly join the Yahoo groups associated as well.
Photo by Gallebee
So far, the award-winning books I have tackled at some point in my life are:
Pulitzer Prize winners
- March by Geraldine Brooks
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
- The Hours by Michael Cunningham
- The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
- Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
- House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
- The Reivers by William Faulkner
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
National Book Awards
- Waiting by Ha Jin
- Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Man Booker Award
- The Gathering by Anne Enright (kit coming in early March!)
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
- Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt
- Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
British Book Award
- The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
- Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Governor General’s Award
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Hugo Award
- Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling
IMPAC Dublin
- Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
- A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
National Book Critics’ Circle Award
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
- The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
- Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Newbery Award
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’ Dell
Orange Prize
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
PEN/Hemingway Award
- Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
- The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
However, the challenge specifies 12 winners in one year, so I can only count Housekeeping, Atonement, Out Stealing Horses, and The Gathering.
Sounds like a fun challenge!
