The Road

The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
2007 Pulitzer Prize

He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke.

I pulled the book review out of Time Magazine and added it to my gotta read pile many moons ago. It took a while but I finally read it Monday. Only after it won the 2007 Pulitzer. And it was amazing.

It's the story of a man and his son traveling across the country on foot. The world is a postapocalyptic cinder, now sparsely populated by roaming bands of scavengers trying to survive. The travelers are trying to get to the coast, not knowing what they may find there.

It's a disturbing scenario. And McCarthy leaves so much to the imagination. We're not told what happened to the planet. We don't know when it's set; we only know it's cold. We're not even given the name of the boy or his son. All you know is the only world left for the two of them is each other.

BookAwardsChallenge

After 4 days of deliberation, I have finally made my list. I have a couple of favorites I'm going to reread. It's been a while. And there are two I enjoyed as a child I want to reread. It's been a looong whiiile. I followed the Yahoo Pulitzer_literature link and picked up a couple there. I got one from my ClassicClub list. There are two from my Book of Great Books. I wandered around the house and found a couple I already own. And finally, I picked the Pulitzer Prize winning books by 5 Nobel Prize winning authors. There was another eligible for this particular criteria but it's too soon to reread "The Old Man and the Sea."

Booker
1.) The Remains of the Day---Kazuo Ishiguro---1989

National Bood Award
2.) Cold Mountain---Charles Frazier---1997

Newbery Medal
3.) Up a Road Slowly---Irene Hunt---1967
4.) From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler---E L Konisburg---1968

Nobel Author W/ Pulitzer
5.) Sinclair Lewis 1930---Arrowsmith 1926
6.) Pearl S Buck 1938---The Good Earth 1932
7.) John Steinbeck 1962---The Grapes of Wrath 1940
8.) Saul Bellow 1976---Humbolt's Gift 1976
9.) Toni Morrison 1993---Beloved 1988

Pulitzer
10.) The Executioner's Song---Norman Mailer---1980
11.) Lonesome Dove---Larry McMurty---1986
12.) The Road---Cormac McCarthy---2007
13.) To Kill a Mockingbird---Harper Lee---1961
14.) Gone With the Wind---Margaret Mitchell---1937
15.) The Known World---Edward P Jones---2004
16.) Gilead---Marilynne Robinson---2005
17.) Middlesex---Jeffrey Eugenides---2003

The Secret Life of Bees

"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

"I'll write this all down for you," I said. "I'll put it in a story."
I don't know if that's what he wanted to ask me, but it's something everyone wants--for someone to see the hurt done to them and set it down like it matters.

Lily Owens lives in South Carolina with her cruel father and her substitue mother, Rosaleen. After the Civil Rights Act is enacted, Rosaleen and Lily head for town so Rosaleen can register to vote. After Rosaleen insults three heckling bigots she is thrown in jail. Lily's father comes for her, but Rosaleen is left in jail and beaten. Lily returns to town and helps Rosaleen escape from the hospital where she is getting stitches but is still in custody.

The two of them head to Tiburon, where Lily believes her mother once was. Following a clue on the back of a picture of a black Madonna, Lily and Rosaleen find haven at the home of three black women who raise bees. Here Lily learns to live with the secrets of her past.

This was a delightful book. Being a Southern girl myself, Kidds writing brought back memories from clidhood. Hot summer days, waterhose fights, potluck funerals. I just flew through the pages, but the images are still with me.

Here on Earth

"Here on Earth" by Alice Hoffman
As one of the comments in the front cover says "Here on Earth" is a "Wuthering Heights" for the 90's. Trouble is I didn't much care for "Wuthering Heights." March's father found a young boy during a trip to the city and brought him home to raise. March gets a crush on him. Big brother Alan is jealous and hateful. Dad dies. Alan is king of the castle and treats the boy, Hollis, like a servant. Hollis leaves town. March gets married. Yup..."Wuthering Heights."

March Murray and her 14-year old daughter return to March's hometown for a funeral. Hollis squirms back into her life. Much more from me and you'll know Rosebud is a sled.

Anyway, the book kept my interest. I read it in one day. I was curious about what would happen to the characters but I didn't care for them. The book left an unpleasant aftertaste. But I liked Hoffman's writing enough to give her another try. So I'll be looking for good recommendations.

BookAwardsChallenge


I've found a book challenge that fits me to a T. I visited Stephanie while playing The Blogroll Game and there it was. Meets so many of my needs, you'd be amazed.

1. I found a site that offers to-do lists for you to complete. The Pulitzer and National Book awards are two of the lists I've chosen. And this challenge will take 5 off of the Pulitzer list.

2.
I've set the goal to read all 100 of the books listed in "The Book of Great Books" and "The Good Earth" and "The Grapes of Wrath" will come off that list.

3. I've needed an excuse to reread a couple of my favorite books. These are "The Executioners Song," Lonesome Dove" and "Flowers for Algernon."

4. I'm in a book club and I've decided to read everything they read before I joined. This includes "Gone With the Wind."

5. And finally, I've decided to read two of my favorites from childhood. "From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" and "Up a Road Slowly" are two that I remember enjoying. They very likely started me down the path that led to my love of books. Who knows?

So, all-in-all, this is the challenge for me. So far between this challenge and recommendations I've picked up from the Blogroll Game I've got 17 more books to buy. I seriously need another book shelf.

Vanishing Acts

"Vanishng Acts" by Jodi Picoult

"Vanishing Acts" is the story of what happens to the world around Delia once the fact she was kinapped as a child comes to light. Delia makes a living finding missing people with her search-and-rescue dog never dreaming she's been missing for 28 years. Her father took her, changed their names and moved across country. As Delia plans her wedding, memories cause a chain reaction that causes her to question her entire life. After his arrrest, her father is extradited to Arizona where Delia meets the mother she was told was dead.

I really enfoyed this book. I read it in one day. It was a normal day at the office were I was. The good news is the office girl there is going on vacation next week. I'll be there 55 hours and I'll probably only have to work about 10 of them. I'm hoping to get at least 3 books off my TBR books next week. Plus overtime.

Moby Dick

"Moby Dick" by Herman Melville

After finishing "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick I decided to read "Moby Dick" while I still had all of the whaling terminology in my head. I needn't have bothered. As the blurb on the Barnes & Noble edition tells you, the book is a virtual enyclopedia of whales and whaling. Melville doles out the whaling life in mind-numbing detail.

The first quarter of the book was fast reading. The middle lost me.
The last quarter went quicker, but by then I just wanted to finish. But, it's on my Book of Great Books TBR list. So if I set a voluntary goal for myself I have to just bite the bullet and take the good with the long, drawn-out. Not one of my favorites.