Happily, the next book in my pile of “to be read” just won the Pulitzer today: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
I have a particular reason to like this choice, but first, since I’m quickly approaching the six month anniversary of this blog, a little history…
When I started this website, my goal was to help book clubs navigate the classics (with the help of my ”kits“) because I feared that we readers are introduced to classics at a point in our lives (high school) when we can’t quite appreciate them and then never give them another shot. In the classroom I certainly tried for 15 years to ignite an appreciation in the hearts of my students — and was fairly successful, I hope — but I had hoped to lure those of us who didn’t enjoy them the first time around to try again as adults.
So, I designed 20 kits (10 American and 10 British classics) and offered my services to any book club who wanted the challenge of rediscovering the classics. At the suggestion of my aunt, I also offered kits on any title tailored to their specific book club.
My very first order was for A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, as were the subsequent 7 orders. Since then – three months ago — I have sold many kits on Hosseini’s novel and, well, only a few classic kits: 2 on The Color Purple (still contemporary), 1 on The Scarlet Letter, 1 on The Great Gatsby, and 1 on Wuthering Heights.
Since I’m a realist at heart, I quickly changed my focus to ”Instant Classics” and decided to start a series on contemporary award winners — specifically Pulitzer Prize winners. Coincidentally, I received custom orders for Man Booker winner The Gathering (3 sales) and Pulitzer winner Gilead (1 sale). In anticipation of my next lull (read: no new custom orders), I bought The Road by Cormac McCarthy, March by Geraldine Brooks, and, on a whim, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz!
Soon after I bought these three, I had a series of custom kits ordered for The Faith Club, Loving Frank, The Member of the Wedding, The Good Soldier, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (this week’s order), and The Book Thief (next week’s order), so Diaz has been collecting dust for over a month.
But what a wonderful surprise when I heard the news today! I have been looking foward to reading Diaz’s novel for months and hope it lives up to the hype. I have not yet encountered a Pulitzer winner that I haven’t enjoyed, so I have high hopes.
So, if your book club is interested in tackling the current Pulitzer prize winner, I plan on completing the kit by the end of April. Wondering what the heck a “kit” is? Check out my To Kill A Mockingbird Sample Kit or visit my FAQ page!
Has anyone read The Brief Wonderous Life yet? Or has anyone read any Pulitzer winners that they didn’t enjoy? I would love to hear about it!
I read it. And, I can’t say I loved it. I mean, I’ve been looking forward to this book for ten years. I actually gave Drown (Diaz’s short stories) as gifts, which I have never done with any book of short stories. And “…Oscar Wao” just seemed kind of messy to me. I found myself looking forward to my next book because I would just finally get into one character when the story would switch to another time, place and character. It was distracting. I’ll be interested to see what you think. I ultimately can see why it’s supposed to be great, but I just don’t think it was fully achieved.
Thanks for your perspective, Anna! I plan to read it next week when I’m in Arizona — I’ll check out Drown, too.
Good idea about giving short stories as gifts! I just loved Interpreter of Maladies by J. Lamhiri — reminded me just how great short stories can be…