These books have won the five 2009 Pulitzer Prizes for books:
Fiction: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
History: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed
Biography or Autobiography: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham
Poetry: The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin
General Nonfiction: Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon
For more information and a list of the finalists, visit the 2009 awards page for the Pulitzer Foundation.
I just picked up Strout’s Olive Kitteridge from the library. Have you read it? Is it worth the time?
- R. Prince
Comment by rprincess — April 22, 2009 @ 12:51 pm |
Funny you should ask. I put my name on the reserve list at the library as soon as the Pulitzers were announced and just got a note saying my copy had come in. So I’m off to pick up my copy, too.
I read a few chapters of Strout’s Abide With Me that made clear that she is a thoughtful and intelligent writer. But I didn’t finish the novel because the pace was a bit too “languid,” as one review on Amazon aptly described it. I might have finished it had I read it at a different time but picked it up during a hectic week when I needed something else from a book.
I hope to write about Olive Kitteridge and also about All Souls, a finalist, which also awaits me at the library. Thanks for asking.
Jan
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — April 22, 2009 @ 1:56 pm |
Great, can’t wait to hear your review!
-R. Prince
Comment by rprincess — April 22, 2009 @ 3:27 pm |
Very nice to see W. S. Merwin here this year.
Malcolm
Comment by knightofswords — April 22, 2009 @ 4:32 pm |
I haven’t read all the contenders for this year’s Pulitzer for poetry, but I did think, as the announcement approached: “I feel so sorry for any great collections that are up against Merwin’s.” Because that one looked like a shoo-in …
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — April 22, 2009 @ 5:14 pm |