Brina’s Ongoing Pulitzer Challenge

[Brina]

1918 - His Family by Ernest Poole
1919 - The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
1921 - The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
1922 - Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
1923 - One of Ours by Willa Cather
1924 - The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson
1925 - So Big by Edna Ferber
1926 - Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis
1927 - Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady by Lewis Bromfield
1928 - The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
1929 - Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
1930 - Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge
1931 - Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
1932 - The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
1933 - The Store by Thomas S. Stribling
1934 - Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller
1935 - Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 - Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis
✅ 1937 - Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
1938 - The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand
1939 - The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
✅ 1940 - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (read in high school)
1942 - In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow
1943 - Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair
1944 - Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
1945 - A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
1947 - All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener
1949 - Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens
1950 - The Way West by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
1951 - The Town by Conrad Richter
1952 - The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
✅ 1953 - The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
1955 - A Fable by William Faulkner
1956 - Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
1958 - A Death in the Family by James Agee
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 - Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
✅ 1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1962 - The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
1963 - The Reivers by William Faulkner
✅ 1965 - The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
1966 - The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter
1967 - The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
1969 - House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
1970 - The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford
1972 - Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
✅ 1973 -The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
1975 - The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
1976 - Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
1978 - Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
1980 - The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
1981 -A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
1982 - Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike
1983 - The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1984 - Ironweed by William Kennedy
✅ 1985 - Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
✅ 1986 - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
✅ 1987 - A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
1988 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
1989 - Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
✅ 1990 - The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
1991 - Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
1992 - A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories by Robert Olen Butler
1994 - The Shipping News by E. Annie Prolux
1995 - The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
1996 - Independence Day by Richard Ford
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser
1998 - American Pastoral by Philip Roth
1999 - The Hours by Michael Cunningham
✅ 2000 - Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
2001 -The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
✅ 2002 - Empire Falls by Richard Russo
2003 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
2004 - The Known World by Edward P. Jones
2005 - Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
2006 - March by Geraldine Brooks
2007 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
✅ 2009 - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
2010 - Tinkers by Paul Harding
2011 - A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
2013 - The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
2014 - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
2015 - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2016 - The Sympathizer by Nguyen
❎ 2017 - The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead DNF
- I tried this one twice and thought Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi to be a much better book on the same subject.
2018 - Less by Andrew Sean Greer
2019- The Overstory by Richard Power
✅ 2020- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Drama Winners Since Birth
2020: A Strange Loop by Michael R Jackson
2019: Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury
✅ 2018: Cost of Living by Martyna Majok
✅ 2017: Sweat by Lynn Nottage (who also won the prize in 2009 for Ruined
✅ 2016: Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda
2015: Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis
2014: The Flick by Annie Baker
2013: Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar
✅ 2012: Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes
2011: Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
2010: Next to Normal Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
✅ 2009: Ruined Lynn Nottage
✅ 2008: August: Osage County Tracy Letts
2007: Rabbit Hole David Lindsay-Abaire
2006: No Award
2005: DoubtJohn Patrick Shanley
2004: I Am My Own Wife Douglas Wright
✅ 2003: Anna in the Tropics Nilo Cruz
✅ 2002: Topdog/Underdog Suzan-Lori Parks
2001: Proof David Auburn
2000: Dinner With Friends Donald Margulies
1999: Wit, Margaret Edson
✅ 1998: How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel
1997: No award
1996: Rent, Jonathan Larson
1995: The Young Man From Atlanta by Horton Foote
1994: Three Tall Women by Edward Albee
1993: Angels in America, Tony Kushner
1992: The Kentucky Cycle, Robert Schenkkan
1991: Lost in Yonkers, Neil Simon
✅ 1990: The Piano Lesson, August Wilson
✅ 1989: The Heidi Chronicles, Wendy Wasserstein
✅ 1988: Driving Miss Daisy, Alfred Uhry
✅ 1987: Fences, August Wilson
1986: No award
1985: Sunday in the Park With George, James Lapine
✅ 1984: Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet
✅ 1983: Night, Mother, Marsha Norman
1982: A Soldier's Play, Charles Fuller
✅ 1981: Crimes of the Heart, Beth Henley
1980: Talley's Folly, Lanford Wilson
1979: Buried Child, Sam Shepard

[Philina]

Very cool challenge, Brina!

I highly recommend All the Light We Cannot See.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is on my physical TBR-list. I got it as a gift a couple of months ago. I didn't know that it was also a Pulitzer winner.

[Philina]

I've wanted to read Middlesex for a long time!

If you're up for it, I would propose a buddy read next year.

[Brina]

Philina, I have a sketch of what I’m reading next year. In 2019 I read 95% nonfiction and I’m hitting the wall. For 2020 I’m focusing on women Pulitzer winners I haven’t read yet and also nonfiction Pulitzer winners. I’m trying to read one of each a month.

[Sue]

Brina wrote: "Philina, I have a sketch of what I’m reading next year. In 2019 I read 95% nonfiction and I’m hitting the wall. For 2020 I’m focusing on women Pulitzer winners I haven’t read yet and also nonfictio..."

I'm going to try and read 10 women Pulitzers for the women's challenge next year (I'm not going to have them in the same decade) so we may be able to buddy read something Brina. My for sure ones are March and Olive Kitteridge.

[Sue]

Philina wrote: "I've wanted to read Middlesex for a long time!

If you're up for it, I would propose a buddy read next year."
I loved all 3 of the ones you mentioned Philina

[Brina]

I’m for sure reading Olive Kitteridge and So, Big which i didnt read when I was focusing on nonfiction. I’m also reading nonfiction winners by women next year- Vera by Stacy Schiff, Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall. So I could read March now that I know I have a buddy for it. I have enjoyed Geraldine Brooks so far.

[Brina]

And tentatively I have Olive in March, and March the book in April.

[Marilyn]

Welcome to the Pulitzer club! I have found the fiction selections to be very hit or miss. The few nonfiction winners that I read were better.

[Brina]

Marilyn, I agree. I’ve enjoyed the nonfiction choices more. For next year, I’ve selected books I’ve wanted to read for awhile and haven’t gotten to them yet. They just happen to be Pulitzer winners. Whether I ever finish well that’s why this is an open ended ongoing challenge.

[Franky]

That is so impressive Brina. Love it. Very cool.

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads]

I have also been working on the Pulitzers. I just finished number 42 yesterday.

[Brina]

Next year I hope to read 24+ if possible- 12 each fiction and nonfiction plus some poetry and drama. It’s hard to list nonfiction here because there are 3 categories- biography, history, and general, plus poetry, drama, and music. I guess for those I’m going to list as I read them unless any of you have a better idea of how to list them.

[Cynda]

If you do read women Pulitzer winners in 2020 and March by Geraldine Brooks, I will be interested in your thoughts.

[Brina]

I’ve been so neglectful this year, opting for comfort reads. I have read 3 winners, just finishing The Nickel Boys, and have two more for this year and maybe 1 poetry or drama so I don’t feel like a total slacker. I am honestly just waiting to turn the calendar to 2021.

[Philina]

Don't pressure yourself, Brina! Reading should be fun. I haven't read more for my Pulitzer challenge, either.

[Brina]

I’ve cut way down. I realized I read a nonfiction earlier in the year so with 5 fiction books, at least it’s 6. Not my usual standards but this year, my most read author is Agatha Christie. Hopefully next year I, and the world, will rebound.

[Frances]

What a wonderful challenge, Brina! If you decide to set up a Pulitzer Prize Buddy Read on this group, sign me up! How do I set up a challenge like this for myself? Btw, if you want a recommendation for an easy read, The Good Earth is easy reading. Pearl S. Buck is a wonderful storyteller. I read this book 3 times.

[Brina]

Thank you, Frances. If it takes a lifetime. I’m still reading Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, The Overstory, and maybe The Fixer for this year. Then I will have read 5 and I’m satisfied with that. Some years I read more, some less. I still have plenty to go but I’m at the point where if I only read the ones of interest I’m fine with that.

[Frances]

If you're up for a buddy to read any of those, let me know.

[Brina]

I’m probably reading Martin Dressler in October if you are interested in that.

[Carolien]

Brina wrote: "I’ve been so neglectful this year, opting for comfort reads. I have read 3 winners, just finishing The Nickel Boys, and have two more for this year and maybe 1 poetry or drama so I don’t feel like ..."

It's been a tough year for reading. I've also ended up with a lot of comfort reads.

[Anne]

Carolien wrote: "Brina wrote: "I’ve been so neglectful this year, opting for comfort reads. I have read 3 winners, just finishing The Nickel Boys, and have two more for this year and maybe 1 poetry or drama so I do..."

Me too.

[Marilyn]

I'm also reading the Pulitzers fiction winners and so far this year I have read one. It just doesn't feel like a Pulitzer kind of year.

[Brina]

Marilyn, Carolein, Anne, exactly. I haven’t had the vibe although I just finished this year’s winner. It’s a comfort reads year. Next year is bound to be better.

[Laurie]

This year can be chalked up in every way as whatever was planned didn't happen, including reading challenges.

[Brina]

Amen. I decided not to do mine when my libraries shut down. I’ve read a lot of quality books but I can’t concentrate on challenges. For the rest of the year it’s favorite authors, mysteries, baseball books, and a few plays and poetry and that’s it. Onward to 2021.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Brina wrote: "I’ve been so neglectful this year, opting for comfort reads. I have read 3 winners, just finishing The Nickel Boys, and have two more for this year and maybe 1 poetry or drama so I don’t feel like ..."

Comfort reads are perfectly acceptable, especially this year.