<p>I’ve read ten winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, nine National Book Award winners and eight winners of the Booker Prize. Not too great, considering how many there have been!</p>
<p>I do like to look at the prize lists, and like NJTM, I’m cautious and look to Amazon for the star count and an idea of the book content. But to be honest, I also like Oprah’s lists, NPR lists, even the occasional “People Magazine” list (true confession time, I pick it up sometimes in the library, like today X( ) But to compare, I’ve read fourteen Pulitzer fiction winners, eight National Book Award winners, and ten Booker Prize winners. Reviewing the lists just now has also given me anxiety, lol. I’ve had Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea out from the library at least three times, and still haven’t tackled it. And thank goodness Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I’ve had a harder time reading works of some other recent winners. </p>
<p>I’ve read six of the Booker Prize winners, and there are authors there that I’ve read other things I like, but haven’t happened to read the one on the list. I like their choices. The only National Book Award winners I’ve read are The Color Purple and Sophie’s Choice. No anxiety, but I think there are some Nebula winners I should look at.</p>
<p>It’s official. You’re all a bunch of overachievers. 
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<p>^ Zevin certainly belongs in the " overachievers" category.
For those of you lucky to come from a lineage of book lovers, you will enjoy this interview with Zevin about her parents, her grandfather ( yeeks) and her grandmother ( who would send her stapled Alice Munro stories, when she really hoped to get a $20 bill in college correspondence)</p>
<p>I wish I could raise my children again, and do what Zevin’s parents allowed her to do weekly . ( all it took was $5) </p>
<p><a href=“Gabrielle Zevin author interview”>Gabrielle Zevin author interview;
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<p>I’d throw in library to the mix too! But what does this mean for kids today who have only an electronic bookstore? Who don’t go to the library?</p>
<p>I came from a family of readers. I remember some of the first books I ever fell in love with were the old blue Nancy Drew books my grandmother pointed me towards in a rare visit to her home in a distant state. In my early teen years, I used to sneak away with my mother’s Victoria Holt books. I loved the summer reading contest at our library, where I scarfed down The Black Stallion series. Although these weren’t great works of literature, by any stretch, they were fast reads that got me hooked on the act of reading. I’ve tried to pass this love along to my kids and the library “altar” was a destination stop at least a few days a week. Now that they’re grown up, though, I’m not so sure they feel the reading passion at all. Time is a factor, but I blame more the phones, computers, and ipods that have usurped long attention spans and books. I don’t think having an e-reader would matter :(</p>
<p>I was a huge Black Stallion fan as a kid, too, plantmom.</p>
<p>I’ve been following this thread for several days, but I hadn’t commented yet (still frustrated with the “new” CC that logs me out every single time!). There are made for tv movies, and then there are “made for book groups” books. This is absolutely a “made for book groups book.” I thought the addition of the short story references was quite engaging–I read the book, then read a number of the short stories and reread the associated chapters. I felt that it made me think more deeply about the characters and their motivations.</p>
<p>I appreciated mathmom’s comment about looking to “genre literature for inspired art-making. Or YA literature.” I think some of the most creative writing is happening in YA!</p>
<p>Both my kids still read, my younger son is a big fan of long involved fantasies and wordy military sci fi. Older son now reads a lot of graphic novels, many of which are on line, some of which he then buys the paper versions of. They both use their local libraries a lot even when they were in college.</p>
<p>I loved reading old books - when I was staying with one of my Aunts once I read a whole series called “The Little Colonel” books that were in this cabin attached to their house. She ended up giving them to me as I was the only one who had shown any interest in them, none of her kids had read them. </p>
<p>Well darn … do I need to look up the winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Booker Prize, Hugo, Nebula … etc. to continue onward with you guys? What if I fall short? *If it helps, I’m currently rereading Pulitzer Prize winner Lonesome Dove. (Since I’m rereading it … can I get extra points or maybe count it twice?)</p>
<p>I also come from a family of readers. Both parents were educators. My mother, in particular, kept a constant stream of books flowing through my young hands. Over the years, she taught high school English, second grade, and seventh grade reading. So, it never really mattered my age, she knew the book to give me. Like PlantMom, Nancy Drew and Victoria Holt crossed my path at a young age and fed my ever-growing addiction. And Oh my gosh, mathmom! I read The Little Colonel series. I loved those books. I discovered them in an upstairs bookcase in our house. My sisters were much older and had pilfered books from my aunt’s house over the years.</p>
<p>I worked to instill a passion for reading in my children. My two girls seem to share it. My oldest always has a book going. It was fun to listen to her try to decide how many books she wanted to take with her to Cabo San Lucas for a week’s vacation. She decided on The Book Thief, rereading Gone with the Wind and The Thornbirds. She does not have or want an e-reader but she does enjoy listening to audio books. My youngest just started working on a Master Degree in library science. Needless to say, she likes books. LOL My son reads textbooks - seldom anything for fun right now. Too busy. Still, he’ll stop to pick up the most recent Orson Scott Card book. He’s hooked on his various series.</p>
<p>My younger son went through a big period of fantasy novel reading in his teens (including quality stuff like Diana Wynne Jones), but now he mostly reads things related to his work, which is in theatre. I have convinced him to read an occasional novel in recent years (examples: Cloud Atlas and Perfume by Patrick Süskind, etc.)</p>
<p>My older son, who is on the autism spectrum, will occasionally read a series that interests him (e.g. Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings). Other than that, he spends a lot of time on the internet reading articles about tech subjects, roller coasters, railroads, history, etc…when he is not on his forums or playing online games!</p>
<p>Both of the boys were huge Animorphs fans when that series was current.</p>
<p>Ignatius -
Perfect !!! And,you get bonus points for raising a future librarian! </p>
<p>^^^ Many thanks.</p>
<p>And look what I found for you overachievers:</p>
<p><a href=“How Many Of These Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novels Have You Read?”>http://www.buzzfeed.com/isaacfitzgerald/are-you-a-pulitzer-prize-winning-reader</a> </p>
<p>Actually except for sci fi and kiddie lit, I think I’m doing pretty poorly regarding those lists. I agree completely that I think this book was designed for book club reading, but it didn’t seem too calculated to me. It certainly made me feel like I’d filled in some holes in my reading experience. (Last time I felt a big increase in virtue was when I spent a year on the road driving across the US and read the entire Norton Anthology of American Lit while doing it.)</p>
<p>I just finished the three short stories I had to get from the library and liked them all in varying degrees and - what the heck - I plan to read all three collections since I have them here.</p>
<p>Anyway I found the following from an interview with the author about “What Feels Like the World”</p>
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<p>I agree. My oldest came of age before cell phones were ubiquitous and when the computer was still a 30 lb desktop, and she was a Rory Gilmore type, with a book always in her hand or her pocket. (Now she’s an English professor…coincidence or?..) My son is a PhD student and reads constantly, but almost exclusively books in his field. For my youngest daughters, it’s the smart phone nearly all the time. They do like to read, but it’s not an obsession. They don’t like e-readers. All of us could spend hours browsing in a bookstore or library. </p>
<p>E-reader talk is a good segue into these questions:</p>
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<p>Funny thing: I almost always use my Kindle, but on a whim, I bought the hardcover of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Later, I thought how pleased A.J. would be with me! 
Since then, I’ve loaned the book out, which is a huge advantage of real books over e-readers. (Recently, my girls and I counted how many friends and family members had borrowed our hardcover of The Fault in Our Stars. I think we just hit 9. Maybe I am single-handedly bringing down the sales of independent bookstores across America.)</p>
<p>I think real books can and will co-exist peacefully with e-readers. Our local bookstore is always crowded. E-readers are great for the road, or for those who need a certain font size (hello!), or for a quick download of a classic when your child tells you she has to read it tonight because she has a test tomorrow…But there is something about browsing a table of books and buying or checking out the real thing that can’t be surpassed. </p>
<p>As for A.J., of course he can exist in a world with e-books (that’s a silly question). He is a real book lover, yes, but more than that he is a knowledge lover. As long as there is something to read–in any format–A.J. would survive just fine. In the end, even A.J. finds the e-reader to be a necessary evil. </p>
<p>^^ That is a great interview with Richard Bausch—well worth reading in its entirety. I think SJCM had posted the link earlier in a different context – when referencing the story about his friend Roland Flint. Once you get to the Flint story, you’ll want to read Stubborn, which you can find here (scroll down to the second poem): <a href=“Beate Sigriddaughter – Wild about women's writing”>Beate Sigriddaughter – Wild about women's writing;
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<p>I loved, loved Lonesome Dove. (This group has never read a western, have we? Hmmmmmm.)</p>
<p>FYI, ignatius, my daughter is also working on her masters degree in Library Science!</p>
<p>^^^ Ha … unsurprising …</p>
<p>Oh, I didn’t mean to re-post a link. I hadn’t looked at it the first time because I had yet to get my hands on the short story and did not want to spoil it ahead of time. I forgot after that.</p>
<p>I love love love Lonesome Dove and am up for it as a book club choice. Regardless, I highly recommend it. I plan to go on to its sequel and the two prequels. Well, at least that’s the plan.</p>
<p>(I didn’t totally embarrass myself with the Pulitzer Prize winners list. #:-S Haven’t checked out the others.) </p>
<p>Oh, re-posting a link is always a good idea – especially since we don’t have post numbers to refer back to anymore (grrr).</p>
<p>Does it count if you know you read a book on the Pulitzer Prize list, but can’t remember a darn thing about it? I find that occurring more and more often as the years roll by…</p>
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<p>I have not read Lonesome Dove but I’d certainly be willing to do so. Years ago, I became obsessed with McMurtry’s 'Houston novels" Moving On, All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers and Terms of Endearment. They have a special place in my heart.</p>