2010 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction

[Aja]

The results are in! Tinkers by Paul Harding is the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. Another to add to your "to-read" self!

Enjoy!

[Johnny]

I just finished Tinkers, and it really wasn't my favorite. I typically LOVE the Pulitzer Prizes, yet this one let me down, along the lines of Gilead a few years ago.

[Mo]

Hi all. I was just wondering if anyone has been active in this group lately. Read anything good recently?

[Miriam]

I'm still slogging my way through the list. Taking my traditional summer break at the moment, and hoping to dive back in before September. Keep up the good reading!
-Miriam (group founder)

Mo wrote: "Hi all. I was just wondering if anyone has been active in this group lately. Read anything good recently?"

[Beth]

I just finished reading The Stone Diaries, I'm slowly working my way through the Collected Stories of Jon Cheever and I'm about 45 pages into Tinkers.

[Steve]

I read The Executioners Song. It was a tough book to locate but once I found it, I found that it was a thought provoking work. I thought I had my view on the death penalty set in stone but the book made me rethink it and then rethink it again.

[Mo]

Beth wrote: "I just finished reading The Stone Diaries, I'm slowly working my way through the Collected Stories of Jon Cheever and I'm about 45 pages into Tinkers."

I loved The Stone Diaries, and in fact I read her book Unless a couple of years later. I preferred The Stone Diaries.

[Mo]

Steve wrote: "I read The Executioners Song. It was a tough book to locate but once I found it, I found that it was a thought provoking work. I thought I had my view on the death penalty set in stone but the book..."

I'm glad to hear your opinion about this book. I recently bought it and added it to my "To Read" stack. It sounds interesting- perhaps I'll move it up on my list!

[Mo]

I have been traveling a bit with my Kindle lately, so I've downloaded and read some of the early winners, which have the added bonus of being free. I read Willa Cather's One of Ours, a touching novel set during WWI about a young man's search for identity.

I also read two of Booth Tarkington's novels- The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams. I hadn't read much Tarkington, but I can certainly see why these novels were chosen as Award Winners. Both seem to be advertisements almost for life from the turn-of-the century through the end of WWI. Tarkington does a great job of portraying American life at these times.

[Lisa]

Johnny wrote: "I just finished Tinkers, and it really wasn't my favorite. I typically LOVE the Pulitzer Prizes, yet this one let me down, along the lines of Gilead a few years ago."

I absolutely agree. I was really bored by both books despite all the hype about them.

[Randi]

Hi all—I just found this discussion group. I have been reading the Pulitzers for about three years, and I'm doing it chronologically. I just finished To Kill a Mockingbird (1961) and I'm about to start The Edge of Sadness.

I loved both Tarkington novels, and I really enjoyed Arrowsmith, The Age of Innocence, Years of Grace, and The Good Earth. But the book that tops them all is The Grapes of Wrath—what a brilliantly written story! I also had great respect for Andersonville, a tough volume but an extraordinarily well-researched and written historical drama. And I loved The Way West, The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, and Advise and Consent.

The clunkers for me have been A Fable (never liked Faulkner, and this one is just unintelligible), His Family, Now in November and Honey in the Horn. There have certainly been some on the list that have made me ask, "Did no one else write a book that year?"

I look forward to some lively discussions!

[Darthe]

Well I am going to have to try a sample of Tinkers now, because Gilead is one of my most cherished books. I found it deeply moving. I guess I don't relate to the "bored" feeling. Stories don't need to be action packed to keep my attention. I love the quietly reflective tone, telling a whole life story from the study of an old thoughtful loving person. But it is the life of a Godly man, a pastor of a small, middle America church, and so, many reader do not enjoy that perspective, although many do.