2012 Challenge Completed! Battle of the Prizes, American Version

Having finished and reviewed my second National Book Award winner, I have now completed the 2012 Battle of the Prizes, American Version.

This challenge pits winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction against the winners of the National Book Award. Participants can read one Pulitzer winner, one National winner, and one double dipper, or read two of each.  The challenge runs through January 2013, so there is still time to sign up!

My Pulitzer choices:

•  A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (reviewed here)
• Tinkers by Paul Harding (reviewed here)   

My National choices:

• Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow (reviewed here)
• The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner (reviewed here)

I am still trying to decide whether to host again in 2013, but assuming I do, I already have a list of possible books from my TBR shelves:

Pulitzer possibilities include:

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
• One of Ours by Willa Cather
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 

National possibilities include:

• The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck
• Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist
• Them by Joyce Carol Oates
• Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers

For details about the challenge or to sign up, please visit the challenge page, here, or click the page tab in the bar at the top of the blog. 

Review: Mr. Sammler's Planet

 

There's a reason why Mr. Sammler's Planet doesn't spring first to mind when making a list of favorite or best known Saul Bellow novels. People tend to mention The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, Seize the Day, or Henderson the Rain King, but not Mr. Sammler's Planet, even though it won the National Book Award in 1971.

Mr. Sammler's Planet is not an easy novel, either to read or review. It has a typical Bellow plot, simple, funny, and shaggy, and a typical Bellow collection of wonderful, overblown characters. Here, Artur Sammler is an elderly, one-eyed Holocaust survivor and former minor member of London's Bloomsbury Set, living in Manhattan on the largesse of a nostalgic nephew, under the haphazard housekeeping care of a loony daughter and a couple of nieces, and attracting the attention of screwball hucksters, an Indian professor with theories of colonizing the moon, and a sharply dressed pickpocket with a peculiar method of intimidation.

But, also typical of Bellow's books, it is a novel of ideas – in this case dense and unrelenting ideas about the degradation of social mores, the philosophical underpinnings of human suffering, and the existence of God. That's a lot to get through in 285 pages.  And it is difficult to know how Sammler's ideas fit together or where they end up.  As the 1970 New York Times review noted:

There is something appealingly elegiac about Sammler. The book is not only his swan song, but civilization's as we once knew it. With his minutely articulated ideas as his only tools, Sammler is something like a watchmaker tinkering with the huge and faulty mechanism of modern life. And though he may not succeed in putting it back in working order, it is both moving and instructive to see him try.

Dedicated Bellow fans may end up adding Mr. Sammler's Planet to their personal list of Bellow's best, but newcomers may want to start with one of his more accessible books.

OTHER REVIEWS

Commentary Magazine (1970)
New York Times (1970)

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

Mr. Sammler's Planet counts as one of my National Book Award choices for the 2012 Battle of the Prizes, American Version.   With this one, I've now completed the challenge. Woo hoo!

It also counts for the Mt. TBR and Off the Shelf challenges, the TBR Pile challenge, and my "sky" choice for the What's in a Name challenge. 

Review: The Spectator Bird

No one can strip a marriage down to find the twinging nerve like Wallace Stegner, but he does it with such a deft and gentle touch that it is beautiful to observe. In the case of The Spectator Bird, which won the 1977 National Book Award, Stegner combined his marital vivisection with an elaborate backstory about a family of faded Danish aristocrats trying to live down their scandalous past.

Joe Allston, a retired literary agent, feels he has gone through his life as a spectator, falling into his career, his marriage, friendships, and fatherhood without much conscious effort on his part. But Joe and his wife Ruth have lived with a pebble in the shoe of their marriage for twenty years, ever since an extended trip to Denmark following the death of their son. When an unexpected postcard from their Danish friend startles Joe out of his grouchy retirement funk, Ruth uses the opportunity to finally learn what happened all those years ago. For the first time, Joe is forced into an active, thinking role in his long-enduring marriage.

Stegner uses Joe's journal from their Denmark trip to move back and forth between the Allstons' current life as affluent retirees on the stormy California coast south of San Francisco and the remarkably gothic story of the Danish aristocrats with whom they became entangled. In between late night sessions of Joe reading the journal to Ruth, they deal with the disruptions of daily life – bad news about a neighbor, storm damage, and an unexpected visit from one of Joe's eccentric former clients.

Combining Stegner's elegant composition with a terrific plot, curmudgeonly humor, and spot-on set pieces about growing old, sex in contemporary fiction, and the "homeland" myths of second-generation immigrants, The Spectator Bird is the rare page-turner that lingers.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this or any other Wallace Stegner book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it. 

NOTES 

The Spectator Bird is my favorite read of the year so far and I can't see anything replacing it.  It may make my all-time Top 10 list if I can think of what to bump off it.  It is an incredible, wonderful, entertaining novel.

It also counts as one of my two National winners for the 2012 Battle of the Prizes, American Version.  There is still time to sign up for this challenge, which involves reading only three or four books.  Click the link above or the badge below for details.

 

2011 Battle of the Prizes, American Version -- Wrap Up Post

I finished the 2011 Battle of the Prizes, American Version (click here for the 2012 challenge).  The challenge runs through January 31, 2012, so I finished early this year.  I still have to finish the British Version. 

This challenge pits winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction against the winners of the National Book Award.

I did not draw any grand conclusions from a comparison of the books that won the Pulizter compared to those that won the national, but I have a half-baked theory: I think that Pulitzer winners tend to be more accessible, more in the "good yarn" category; and National winners tend to be a bit more challenging, more willing to take chances.  Because of this split, I think it is more likely that a random Pulitzer winner will still be enjoyable, while any given National winner may not have aged so well -- what may have seemed commendably edgy when it first came out now can be just trying to a reader.

Like I said, this theory as, at best, half baked.  I'd say it holds true for the two Pulitzers I read and, somewhat, for the two Nationals.  Both Nationals were more challenging and had experimental components to them, but The Hair of Harold Roux was knockout entertainment.  

Here is my list of books -- links click to my reviews:

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

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

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

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

Please visit the main challenge page to see the 2011 list of other participants and their reviews.

Please visit the 2012 Battle of the Prizes, American Version, to sign up for the 2012 challenge.

Review of the Day: The Hair of Harold Roux

Thomas Williams won the 1975 National Book Award for The Hair of Harold Roux, a novel within a novel about balancing a writer's creative impulse with the domestic needs of family life. Specifically, Williams wrote a novel about a college professor writing a semi-autobiographical novel about a college student writing a novel about a man who wrote a novel.

It sounds more confusing – and more experimental – than it is. Williams uses this nested structure to ponder big issues like love, fame, violence, responsibility, and madness, and fills in the spaces with anecdote, humor, and astute observations. But the story rattles right along and makes perfect sense as it goes.

The main story takes place over two days, as professor Aaron Benham struggles to write his novel while his family is out of town without him.  Telephone calls, a friend in trouble, guest teaching a creative writing seminar, a motorcycle crash, memories of old loves, current flirtations, and a faculty meeting distract him from his work.  The short story he reads the seminar students, memories of a long fairy tale he told his children, the first chapter of a novel by Harold Roux (the toupee-wearing character in his novel), and other stories deviate from the plot, but, along with the plot of his novel, combine to tell a full story of Aaron's closely examined life.

Williams is an incredible writer. This is a first-rate novel that deserves a wider audience. Kudos to Bloomsbury USA for reprinting it.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

I got my copy from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.  It counts as one of the two National Winners I am reading for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version, Challenge.

2012 Battle of the Prizes, American Version

2012 will be the fourth year I've hosted this Battle of the Prizes Challenge here at Rose City Reader.

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.

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!

For details and to sign up, please visit the challenge page, here, or click the page tab in the bar at the top of the blog.

Opening Sentence of the Day: The Hair of Harold Roux

Aaron Benham sits at his desk hearing the wrong voices. 

-- The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams.

This was the 1975 winner of the National Book Award.  It has recently been reissued after years of being out of print.

I got my copy from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.  It counts as one of the two National Winners I am reading for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version, Challenge.

Review of the Day: Cold Mountain

 

Charles Frazier won the National Book Award for Cold Mountain, his Civil war novel about a Confederate deserter and the woman waiting for his return.

Most of the book follows the two stories separately. Innman musters himself out of the army after he was injured in battle. Working his way home to Cold Mountain, he encounters Federal raiders terrorizing women and children, Home Guard vigilantes hunting deserters, remnants of families trying to survive the war, and a few misfits and eccentrics whose off-kilter lifestyles seem unaffected by the conflict. The damage inflicted on his soul and psyche as a result of these adventures is profound.

Playing Penelope to Innman’s Odysseus, Ada Monroe keeps the home fires burning back at her Cold Mountain farm. Left helpless by the death of her courtly father, Ada learns the value of hard work from her new companion, the no-nonsense Ruby. The story of the two women raising crops, making cider, trading for supplies, splitting firewood, and generally preparing for a long winter is deeply satisfying to anyone with a nesting instinct.

Both the characters and the themes are thorny, making the story one worth pondering. Frazier’s writing is graceful, even lyrical, and he has an ear for rural analogy that brings life to the setting. Part adventure story, part romance, and part moral treatise, Cold Mountain is an incredibly good book.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

This was one of my National Book Award choices for the 2011 Battle of the Prizes, American Version, challenge.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Cold Mountain

"At the first gesture of morning, flies began stirring."

-- Cold Mountain by Charles Frasier.

This has been sitting on my TBR shelf since it won the National Book Award in 1997.  There are many reasons why I haven't read it -- none of them necessarily compelling.

First, my then husband was reading it while we were going through our divorce and he told me I wouldn't like it.  He was wrong about a lot of things, but he did know my taste in books.

Second, I saw the movie, which I thought was a little slow and boring.  So I wanted to wait to read the book until I had forgotten enough of the story that the book had a chance to grab my attention.

Finally, I've come to a point where I am just not interested in Civil War books.  As I discussed in my reviews of Geraldine Brooks’s Pulitzer-winning March (reviewed here) and Hallam’s War by Elizabeth Payne Rosen (reviewed here), I get tired of the hoop skirts, hollerin’, and hacksaws that make up most Civil War novels.

But the power of the list has finally motivated me to read this.  So far, I find it to be slow and a little boring, but it is keeping my attention.  It starts closer to the end of the war, so the hoop skirt and hollerin' phases were already over.  There were some gruesome battle and injury scenes and a story of progressive amputation, but not with a hacksaw at least.

It may grow on me.

This will count as one of my National picks for the 2011 Battle of the Prizes, American Version, challenge.  There is still LOTS of time to sign up.  Click the link or the picture to go to the main challenge post.

 

Review of the Day: Breathing Lessons

I could have guessed before starting Breathing Lessons that the book would involve an ordinary family in Baltimore facing problems in an awkward but genuine way and somehow bumbling through to a moderately happy and definitely realistic end. That description fits every Anne Tyler book I’ve read and it fits this one too.

Unfortunately, this book sticks close to the basic theme without the variations that made the others I’ve read more interesting. For instance, Digging to America applies the basic theme to immigrant families; The Amateur Marriage takes the story further, to a post-divorce phase; The Accidental Tourist takes the show on the road to Paris; and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant turns it around to the children’s perspective.

In contrast, Breathing Lessons is the basic story. It takes place in one day, when Ira and Maggie Moran drive to a funeral and, on the way back, stop to visit their granddaughter in Maggie’s attempt to reconcile their son and former daughter-in-law. In describing the events of the day, Tyler tells the story of the Morans’ courtship, marriage, and children’s lives. She does it with her typical and impressive authenticity.

My only problem was that Tyler’s authenticity seemed too typical. Stripped of the variations that livened up the other books, Breathing Lessons lacked a hook to grab my attention. If this had been the first Anne Tyler book I ever read, I would have loved it. But having read four others already, I felt like I was covering old territory with this one.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

Tyler won the Pulitzer Prize for Breathing Lessons.  It was my Pulitzer choice for the 2011 Battle of the Prizes, American Version challenge.

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.

2010 Battle of the Prizes, American Version: Wrap-Up Post

The 2010 Battle of the Prizes, American Version, ends on January 31, 2011.  The 2011 challenge starts February 1.

Thanks to everyone who participated! I hope you sign up for the 2011 challenge.

This challenge pitted 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.

Participants could read three books or four -- either one Pulitzer winner, one National winner, and one that won both prizes; or two Pulitzer and two National winners.

In theory, the idea was to compare the prizes and the winners, but in practice (at least for me), the point was to read, and hopefully enjoy, three or four books and then scratch them off my lists.

PARTICIPANTS

Rose City Reader
chaotic compendiums (read her wrap-up post here)
Musings 
Oh, So Many Manias . . . 
Joy's Blog
Book In Hand
ExUrbanis 
100 Books. 100 Journeys
J.G. at Hotch Pot Cafe (read her wrap-up post here)
Remember to Breathe  (read her wrap-up post here)
Book Psmith
Man of La Book

REVIEWS

Reviews were strongly encouraged, but not mandatory.  Good thing there was that loophole, because I failed to review one of my own Pulitzer picks, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz.

Here are the reviews, in the order submitted:

Morte d'Urban by J. F. Powers on Musings 

World's Fair by E. L. Doctorow on chaotic compendiums

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner on 100 Books. 100 Journeys 

The Adventures of Augie March on 100 Books. 100 Journeys 

Lonesome Dove on chaotic compendiums 

Breathing Lessons on Book Psmith

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson on Musings

The Color Purple by Alice Walker on chaotic compendiums

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann on Musings

The Color Purple by Alice Walker on 100 Books. 100 Journeys

Tinkers by Paul Harding on Musings

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon on Man of La Book

The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter on Hotchpot Cafe

The Optimist's Daughter on Hotchpot Cafe

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann on Man of La Book

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann here on Rose City Reader

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout here on Rose City Reader

Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon here on Rose City Reader

Tinkers by Paul Harding on Joy's Blog

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx on Book in Hand

Herzog by Saul Bellow on Book in Hand

Review of the Day: Lord of Misrule

Lord of Misrule is Jaimy Gordon's back-of-the-house view of small track horse racing. It is not a pretty view – everything is crooked, crippled, rusty, or staved in at Indian Mound Downs. The horses are burned out; the grooms, trainers, and jockeys are barely grubbing by; and even the crooks are two-bit.

The story is vaguely set in the early 1970s and begins when frizzly-haired Maggie crashes through the back gate of a third-rate West Virginia race track, trying to find stalls for her boyfriend's meager string of horses. She falls in with Medicine Ed, an illiterate black groom whose old-school ways include nice touches like braiding a horse's mane as well as dubious tricks like mixing up a batch of "goofer dust" before a big race, and Duecey, a hard-bitten sad sack of an owner/trainer who sleeps in the stall with her horse.

The book was a little hard to get into because Gordon goes for authenticity over clarity, using undefined racing slang and realistic dialog. Also, the point-of-view moves among several characters and the narration switches between an omniscient third-person narrator and second-person narrative by Maggie's boyfriend, the increasingly crazier Tommy. These stylistic choices may trip up the reader but they add to the overall mood and, ultimately, the quality of the book.

Less forgivable is Gordon's choice to omit quotation marks from the dialog. Left unmarked, spoken words mingle with unspoken thoughts in a way that may have been meant to evoke a stream-of-conscious atmosphere but comes off as an annoying distraction.

Despite these obstacles, Lord of Misrule is a terrific book with a story and characters than linger. There is a strong but loosely woven plot that leads to an exciting showdown and a satisfying ending. It is a dark horse that deserved to win the National Book Award.

NOTES

This review was first published on the Internet Review of Books, an indispensable resource for readers.

I read this as one of my two National Book Award choices for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version, Challenge.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link to your review and I will add it.

State of the Blog, Part Three: The Challenges

It is a new year, and time to assess my reading progress for the year just closed and make plans for 2011.

This is the third of my quarterly blog assessment posts, this one focusing on the challenges I participated in last year and joined (or plan to) this year. The first part addressed the book lists. Part Two looked at my author lists.

2010 CHALLENGES

I hosted two "Battle of the Prizes" challenges in 2010.  Both started on February 1, 2010 and don't end until January 31, 2011.  Good thing, because I still have two books to read -- one for each challenge.  What a lazy host I was!

I also participated in several other challenges, to varying degrees of success.

CHALLENGES HOSTED BY ROSE CITY READER

2010 Battle of the Prizes: American Version

National Book Award winners v. Pulitzer Prize winners, rules here. There are two ways to participate -- either read one book that won the Pulitzer Prize, one that won the National Book Award, and one that won both; or read two Pulizer winners and two National winners.

The deadline for reading the books is January 31, 2011, but wrap-up posts are welcome whenever participants post them.

Several people have completed the challenge already: chaotic compendiums, 100 Books. 100 Journeys, J.G. at Hotchpot Cafe, and Musings These links are also listed on the main post. 

I've finished three of my four books:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Pulitzer)
2. Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout (reviewed here) (Pulitzer)
3. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (reviewed here) (National)

I had planned to read three books, with The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter for my double dipper choice. Then I realized that I do not have that book on my TBR shelf and the point of challenges, for me, is to read the books I already own.

So I made a last-minute switcheroo and will be reading Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon for my second National winner.  I am quite excited about it because it looks great.

That meant I had to add a second Pulitzer winner, so I am counting Oscar Wao, even though I didn't review it.  Apparently, the lawyer in me planned ahead for just such a situation by including this loophole in the official rules: "Reviews are not necessary, but encouraged."

2010 Battle of the Prizes: British Version

Man Booker Prize v. James Tait Black Memorial Prize, rules here.  This has the same set up -- either read one winner of each prize and a double-dipper, or read two of each.

The deadline for reading the books is January 31, 2011, but wrap-up posts are welcome whenever participants post them.

I have read two of my three:

1. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here) (James Tait Black)
2. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (reviewed here) (Booker)

I still have to read G by John Berger for my double dipper choice. 

2010 CHALLENGES I PARTICIPATED IN

Bibliophilic Books Challenge



A challenge to read books about books. The home page is here.

I signed up for the "Bibliomaniac" level, which means I did not succeed in the challenge.  My plan was to read 12 qualifying books by the end of the year and I only read seven.

Had my goal been suitably modest, I would have successfully achieved "Litlover" status.  Lesson learned.

I read:

1. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby (reviewed here);
2. The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White (reviewed here);
3. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman (reviewed here);
4. A Year in the World by Frances Mayes (reviewed here); 
5. Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby (not reviewed); 
6. The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte (not reviewed); and 
7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (reviewed here).

Unfortunately, Lesley isn't going to host another Bibliophilic Books Challenge in 2011.  I hope someone takes up her offer to pass the baton, because I would like to participate again.

Birth Year Reading Challenge 

This challenge was to read one or more books published in the year you were born, hosted by Hotchpot Cafe. My main post for this challenge is here.

Luckily, there was no set number of books to read for this challenge.  I read two books, which means I earned two candles.

1. Indian Summer by John Knowles (reviewed here),
2. The Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susann (reviewed here)

Unfortunately, I didn't care much for either book.  I don't know if that reflects generally on 1966 publications, or just on my poor judgment.

Book Awards Challenge

The challenge involved reading ten books that won ten different prizes.  The home page is here.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the challenge ended on November 1, 2010.  I didn't come close to finishing, and got through only five by the deadline:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (National Book Critics Circle winner);
2. The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (Discover Award winner; reviewed here);
3. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Edgar winner; reviewed here);
4. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Costa winner; reviewed here); and
5. Small Island by Andrea Levy (Orange winner, reviewed here). 

Chunkster Challenge

Again, I bit off more than I could read with this challenge.  I signed up for the "Mor-book-ly Obese" level, meaning I planned to read six 450+-page books (or three 750+-pagers). Caribousmom hosts this challenge.

I have until January 31, 2011 to finish the challenge, but I don't know that I will get any more read besides these four:

1. Three Loves by A. J. Cronin (reviewed here); 
2. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (reviewed here); 
3. Echoes by Maeve Binchy (reviewed here);
4. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (reviewed here) 

I tackled several big books in 2010, including the monumental The Count of Monte Cristo and the last two volumes of The Lord of the Rings, but I listened to the audiobooks. Those count in terms of a reading "life list" but not for this challenge, which specifically excludes audio books.

I am definitely going to sign up for the 2011 version of this challenge, but at a less-ambitious level. 

100+ Challenge

I signed up for this because I was pretty sure I'd read more than 100 books in 2010. I usually read around 110 books each year, and I did again in 2010.  The challenge home page is here, but I didn't do a challenge post myself.

The list of the 144 books I read in 2010 is here.

I am not going to sign up for this one again in 2011.  Although I will more than likely read 100 books this year, I am trying to read more lackadaisically.  This is one "goal" I don't need to set for myself.  Hopefully, this will encourage me to read some of the big chunksters that have been weighing down my TBR shelves for too long.


Typically British Challenge



I signed up at the "Cream Crackered" level to read eight "Typically British" novels. I blew through all eight pretty quickly, and could have done it another three times at least, since over a third of the books I read in 2010 were by British authors. The challenge home page is here.


Books I read:

1. One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis (reviewed here);
2. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (finished, not reviewed);
3. The New Confessions by William Boyd (reviewed here);
4. Three Loves by A. J. Cronin (reviewed here);
5. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster (reviewed here);
6. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (reviewed here);
7. Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis by Kinglsey Amis (reviewed here); and
8. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here).

2011 CHALLENGES

CHALLENGES HOSTED BY ROSE CITY READER

I am hosting the two Battle of the Prizes Challenges again in 2011. I don't have the official posts up yet, because the challenges will run from February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012.  But if you want to sign up early, leave a comment here and I'll come back and remind you when the official posts go up.

2011 Battle of the Prizes: American Version

 

Like in past years, this challenge pits National Book Award winners against Pulitzer Prize winners.  See the 2010 challenge page for the rules. There are two ways to participate -- either read one book that won the Pulitzer Prize, one that won the National Book Award, and one that won both; or read two Pulizer winners and two National winners.

I don't know yet whether I will do the 3-book or the 4-book option, or which books I'll pick, but I have the following in mind:

Possible National Award winners:

1. The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck
2. Them by Joyce Carol Oates
3. Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers

Possible Pulitzer winners:

1. One of Ours by Willa Cather
2. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

2011 Battle of the Prizes: British Version

Just as in 2010, this challenge is to read books that won the Man Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.  See the rules on the 2010 post, here.  This has the same set up -- either read one winner of each prize and a double-dipper, or read two of each.

I will have to go with the 4-book option, because, after I finish G for the 2010 challenge, I will have read all three of the double-dippers. 

Possible Booker picks are:

1. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
2. How Late it Was, How Late by James Kelman 
3. Shindler's List by Thomas Keneally

Possible James Tait Black picks are:

1. Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd
2. White Teeth by Zadie Smith

2011 CHALLENGES I AM PARTICIPATING IN

The challenge titles link to my main challenge posts.

Daphne du Maurier Challenge

This Challenge is hosted by Chris at book-a-rama and bridges 2010/2011. I was late to this challenge and only signed up for in the fall of 2010. But it goes through April 19, 2011, so I have plenty of time.


I signing up for the "Dreaming of Manderley" category, to read three novels. Since I am still new to du Maurier, I'll am starting with the greatest hits.

Books read so far: one: Rebecca (reviewed here)

Books I plan to read:

1. The Flight of the Falcon;
2. My Cousin Rachel

Foodie's Reading Challenge

Margot at Joyfully Retired is hosting a challenge for 2011 that I am very excited about: The Foodie's Reading Challenge!

I signed up at the "Bon Vivant" level to read four to six books.  My plan is to read books that are already on my TBR shelves.  Some of those in the running include (in no particular order):

• The Food of France by Waverley Root
• James Beard on Food Delights and Prejudices by James Beard
• On the Town in New York by Michael Batterberry
• Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by Patricia Volk
• The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley by Elizabeth Romer
• Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth Reichl
• Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee
• Epicurean Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard by Evan Jones
• American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen
• Vie De France: Sharing Food, Friendship and a Kitchen in the Lorie Valle by James Haller
• French Spirits: A House, a Village, and a Love Affair in Burgundy by Jeffrey Greene
• A Cordiall Water by M. F. K. Fisher
• The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons
• Dumas on Food: Selections from Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine by Alexandre Dumas

And it might be a good idea to include this one:

French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano

Chunkster Reading Challenge (no official post yet)


Wendy at caribousmom is hosting this fun challenge again this year.  The challenge sign-up post is here.

Since I didn't reach my chunkster goal in 2010, I am scaling down a bit in 2011 and signing up for the "Chubby Chunkster" level this year.  That means reading four books over 450 pages long.

The only one I am currently planning on is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.  That's my "big book" for 2011.  I don't know which others will strike my fancy.

Review of the Day: Let the Great World Spin

 

 

Let the Great World Spin is a collection of short stories that form a novel centered around Philippe Petit’s 1974 high wire act between the Twin Towers of Manhattan’s World Trade Center. Petit’s remarkable performance was real and paints a bittersweet, nostalgic backdrop for the fictional stories of a dozen or so seemingly disparate characters who all, it turns out, are connected.

Colum McCann won the 2009 National Book Award for this collection, the main storyline of which concerns an Irish monk on his own sacred mission to help a group of streetwalkers in Queens. A police roundup triggers a series of events that leads to tragedy but ends, ultimately, on a happier note. The monk, the prostitutes, his brother, his lover, a pair of campy would-be artists, a group of mothers mourning their sons dead in Vietnam, a criminal court judge, nascent computer hackers, and assorted others people the cast of this 1970s New York City variety show.

The collection is a little uneven: some of the various narrators’ voices are more authentic than others, several of the hand-offs seem overly choreographed, and the significance of Petit’s tightrope act as a unifying theme is vague. But overall, Let the Great World Spin is an exuberant and satisfying book.

OTHER REVIEWS

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

NOTES

This was my National pick for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version challenge.  I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout -- another collection of short-stories-as-novel -- for my Pulitzer prize pick. The challenge runs through the end of January 2011, so there is still time to sign up.

Review of the Day: Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout’s collection of short-stories-as-novel that won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. The stories are set in the small town of Crosby, Maine, and crabby Olive Kitteridge makes an appearance – even if brief – in each of them.

The stories are well executed, creative, and peopled with varied but realistic characters. Individually, many of them are emotionally striking. Strout can really get to the nub of a story.

The problem is that as a collection, the stories are exhausting. Crosby may not be the bloodbath that Cabot Cove is, but there are plenty of suicides, grisly murders, violent and petty crimes, adultery, abuse, sickness, brutal deaths, and dysfunction to dampen any reader’s spirits. None of the characters are happy and there is precious little humor to leaven the depressing tales.

OTHER REVIEWS

Caroline Bookbinder (Carin liked it much more than I did and named it her 2009 Book of the Year)

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

NOTES

This was my Pulitzer pick for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version challenge.  I read Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann -- another collection of short-stories-as-novel -- for my National Award pick. The challenge runs through the end of January 2011, so there is still time to sign up.

I am working my way through all the Pulitzer winners.  For others doing the same, please visit my main Pulitzer Prize post and leave a comment with a link to your related posts.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Let the Great World Spin

"Those who saw him hushed."

-- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

This won the National Book Award last year. I am reading it as my National winner pick for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version challenge.

I had originally picked Them by Joyce Carol Oates as my National choice, and Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler for my Pulitzer winner, but I decided to switch. I just read Olive Kitteridge for my Pulitzer winner and decided to stick with the short-stories-as-novel idea with my National pick. They tie in with The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter for my double dipper choice.

Now I am finally making progress on my own challenge. It's about time.

Announcements!

First: the July issue of the Internet Review of Books is up now in time to impart some summer reading inspiration.  There are ten non-fiction reviews, including my review of Lunatic Express, a manageable three fiction reviews, two poetry reviews, and the always popular "Brief Reviews" section, along with a fun new "photos of libraries" feature.

Please visit the IRB. And, if interested, get involved! They are looking for volunteers and there are other ways to support the IRB.

Second: I am pleased to report that Laura at Musings has completed the Battle of the Prizes, American Version, Challenge! Here are links to her three challenge reviews, Tinkers, Let the Great World Spin, and Morte d'Urban.  Thanks for taking part Laura!

So far, three participants have completed this challenge. In addition to Laura at Musings, chaotic compendiums and 100 Books. 100 Journeys are also finished. Much to my shame as the host, I haven't even started!

The challenge goes until January 31, 2011, so there is still time to sign up.

Challenge Update: Battle of the Prizes, American Version

Congratulations to Caitlin at chaotic compendiums for being the first participant to complete the 2010 Battle of the Prizes, American Version!

Caitlin read and reviewed the following three books for this challenge:

National Book Award - World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow (reviewed here)
Pulitzer Prize - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (reviewed here)
Double-Dipper - The Color Purple by Alice Walker (reviewed here)

She also wrote a very thoughtful wrap-up post about her three choices and the challenge.

Laura at Musings is close on Caitlin's heels. But Laura elected to read two Pulitzer winners and two National winners instead of one of each and a double-dipper. So she has one more book to go.

You can find the links to Laura's three-so-far reviews and other terrific reviews from challenge participants on the main challenge post..

Again, thanks to all the participants! And there is still plenty of time to sign up because the challenge involves reading only three books by the end of January 2010.

Challenge: The 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, 2010 and January 31, 2011. 
  

• 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.
  

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

• 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. 
  

• 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. 

IDEAS

You can find a list of last year's participants and links to their reviews here. 

My original three choices were:

1) The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter for my double dipper choice;

2) Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler for my Pulitzer winner; and

3) Them by Joyce Carol Oates for my National winner.

I picked these three because they are all on my TBR shelf now and they give me a "prize winners by women" theme to work with.

But, I switched when I read a Olive Kitteridge and Let the Great World Spin and decided to use those instead (reviews are listed below).  My plan is to read the Porter stories and go with a short story theme instead of a books by women theme. 

PARTICIPANTS

Rose City Reader
chaotic compendiums (read her wrap-up post here)
Musings 
Oh, So Many Manias . . . 
Joy's Blog
Book In Hand
ExUrbanis 
100 Books. 100 Journeys
J.G. at Hotch Pot Cafe (read her wrap-up post here)
Remember to Breathe  (read her wrap-up post here)
Book Psmith
Man of La Book

REVIEWS

Morte d'Urban by J. F. Powers on Musings 

World's Fair by E. L. Doctorow on chaotic compendiums

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner on 100 Books. 100 Journeys 

The Adventures of Augie March on 100 Books. 100 Journeys 

Lonesome Dove on chaotic compendiums 

Breathing Lessons on Book Psmith

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson on Musings

The Color Purple by Alice Walker on chaotic compendiums

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann on Musings

The Color Purple by Alice Walker on 100 Books. 100 Journeys

Tinkers by Paul Harding on Musings

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Muchael Chabon on Man of La Book

The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter on Hotchpot Cafe

The Optimist's Daughter on Hotchpot Cafe

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann on Man of La Book

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann here on Rose City Reader

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout here on Rose City Reader