2011 Battle of the Prizes, American Version

This challenge pits winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction against the winners of the National Book Award in the American Version of the Battle of the Prizes.  (Click here for the British Version.)

Does one prize have higher standards than the other? Pick better winners? Provide more reading entertainment or educational value? Maybe challenge participants will be able to answer these and more questions – maybe they will simply read three great books!

DETAILS

Chose three books that you have not read before:

1) One that won both the Pulitzer and the National (here is a list of double dippers);
2) One that won the Pulitzer but not the National (Pulitzer winners are here); and
3) One that won the National but not the Pulitzer (National winners are here).

OPTION: For those who have already read all six of the double-dippers, or otherwise do not want to read one of those six, pick two Pulitzer winners and two National winners for a total of four books.

OFFICIAL RULES 

• Read all books between February 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012. 
  

• Sign up here by leaving a link to your post in a comment, or the list of your three choices in the comment. I will add the links to the participant list in this post. 
  

• You do not have to commit to your choices now; you can change your mind about books at any time.
  

• Overlap with other challenges is allowed -- and encouraged! The Pulitzer Project and The National Book Award Project are logical crossovers. The great thing is, for those working on both these lists, completing the challenge means reading three books, but crossing four items off the lists. 
  

• As you progress, please let us know by leaving comments with links to progress reports and reviews. Reviews are not necessary, but encouraged. If you do not have a blog, put your reviews or reports in a comment on this post.
  

• You can copy and paste the button. Or, if you want me to send you the code, please leave a comment with an email and I will. I cannot figure out the fancy ways of giving directions. 

PARTICIPANTS

Participants are listed in order of signing up. Click on the name to get to the each person's challenge page.

Leave a comment with a link to your challenge post to sign up.

Rose City Reader (this is my sign-up post; my wrap-up post is here)
The Story Girl
crazy dumbsaint of the mind
Books in the City
Remember to Breath
J.G. at Hotchpot Cafe

REVIEWS  

(links go to review pages)

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton on The Story Girl (Pulitzer)

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler on Rose City Reader (Pulitzer)

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier on Rose City Reader (National)

All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren on Rose City Reader (Pulitzer)

The Hair of Harold Roux on Rose City Reader (National)

IDEAS

You can find a list of the 2009 and 2010 participants and links to their reviews here and here.

I finished the 4-book option this year because there are only two double-dippers that I have not read yet -- The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter and A Fable by William Faulkner -- and I do not own either one of them.  Since I try to read only books on my TBR shelves for challenges, I chose to read two Pulitzers and two Nationals that I already owned.

NOTES

Last updated on December 5, 2011.