The Quest to Read All Pulitzer Prize Winners in Fiction

I just got back into reading after a years-long hiatus. Traveling with the military for a few years and then eventually going to grad school for another few years brought my 'read books list' to a screeching halt. But alas, with double digit countries under my belt, a new fancy piece of paper that allegedly proves I'm qualified to operate in American society, and a giant new chip on my shoulder (kidding), I'm finally able to read again.

This means I am checking off books from my to-be-read lists again. And with this new blog, I intend to gather some data at the end of each reading year about what I read. Marking items off a list and measuring stats about said items is a list-driven-person-who-does-metrics-for-a-living's wet dream. And I suppose that's how I'll describe myself from now on.

Moving right along... 

This first blog post, of which I assume the primary audience will be myself reading it over and over criticizing my own openness on the internet, is supposed to be about my quest to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winners in fiction. So, let me start by saying I've had a head start, in that I started getting serious about reading them several months prior to writing these words. The Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1917. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably about American life, but at times features other stories, like those of WW2 for example. Already there are about 100 winners, which means this quest will take me longer than one year. I am ready for the challenge. 

The first Pulitzer I ever read was Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry in March of this year. This 1000-page epic western won the prize in 1986, and rightfully so. McMurtry's ability to write an epic western with extensive character development, and I mean a profound understanding of each character's personality and flaws, made Lonesome Dove the best book I've read in my entire life. I can't recommend it enough, and this comes from someone who doesn't like westerns. It was so endearing and beautiful to me, that I decided right then and there I wanted to read all the Pulitzer winners. While this blog 

post isn't a book review (though expect one in the near future), I am very pleased that Lonesome Dove is the inception of this quest. 

Here is the list of Pulitzer winners I've read along with the year they won the prize.

1. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1986)

2. All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr (2015)

3. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead (2017)

4. The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (2020)

5. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver (2023)

Here are the to-be-read (TBR) that I have on my shelf, collected at various thrift stores and in no particular order:

- Less, Andrew Sean Greer (2018)

- Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2005)

- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2001)

- Trust, Hernan Diaz (2023)

- The Goldfinch, Donna Tart (2014)

So about 95 books left to go :) Hoping that this blog motivates me to keep track and write about what I read. Coming soon... some book reviews! 

Tootles,

Sir