Thomas Cromwell is now a little over forty years old. he is a man of strong build, not tall. Various expressions are available to his face, and one is readable: an expression of stifled amusement. His hair is dark, heavy and waving, and his small eyes, which are of very strong sight, light up in [...]
Posts under ‘Prize Winning Books’
Sunday Salon – February 7, 2010
February 7, 2010
9:00 AM
Good morning and happy Sunday Salon! Today is a clear, crisp winter day with cerulean blue skies and a bit of frost on the ground. We’ve got the coffee on and a fire in the wood stove – a perfect morning for catching up on my reading. Later today we’ll be working [...]
NBCC Announces Finalists…
Do you haunt the prize lists like I do? Well, if you do, then you’ve probably already seen the finalists for the National Book Critics Circle. If not, I thought I’d share them with you:
Autobiography:
Somewhere Towards the End, by Diana Athill (Norton)
Live Through This: A Mother’s Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love, by Debra [...]
BookAwards II Challenge
August 1, 2008 – June 1, 2009
May 30, 2009 – CHALLENGE COMPLETED
I read 10 award winners from the following prize lists:
Pulitzer Special Awards
Anthony Award
Orange Prize for Fiction
Booker Prize
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
IMPAC Dublin Award
Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature
Whitbread/Costa Award
Commonwealth Writers Prize
My favorite reads of the bunch included: Maus I & II, Rebecca, Out Stealing Horses, The [...]
The Ghost Road – Book Review
Hallet was lying on his back, hands clasped behind his head, nothing much visible from Prior’s angle except his chin. How appallingly random it all was. If Hallet’s father had got a gleam in his eye two years later than he did, Hallet wouldn’t be here. he might even have missed the war altogether, [...]
Perpetual Challenges – The Award Winners
I participated in a lot of time restricted reading challenges in 2008 – and completed many of them – but, in 2009 I want to make a bigger dent in my perpetual reading challenge lists…especially those involving the award winners. To help me keep organized, I’ve decided to make a list of books I currently [...]
Man Booker Prize Challenge
January 1 – December 31, 2008
Here is the perfect compliment to Laura’s Complete Booker Challenge … The Man Booker Challenge, hosted by Dewey, challenges participants to read 6 books from the short, long or winner lists for the Man Booker Prize. Readers can change their lists at any time and overlaps are fine.
So here’s my list (subject to change):
1. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Moshin Hamid – 2007 Shortlist (finished January 11, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
2. The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters – 2006 Shortlist (finished February 12, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
3. The Gathering, by Anne Enright – Winner 2007
4. In the Country of Men, by Hisham Matar – 2006 Shortlist
5. The Secret River, by Kate Grenville – 2006 Shortlist
6. Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood – 1989 Shortlist (finished February 29, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
7. Life and Times of Michael K, by J.M. Coetzee – Winner 1983 (finished February 17, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
So here’s my list (subject to change):
1. The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Moshin Hamid – 2007 Shortlist (finished January 11, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
2. The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters – 2006 Shortlist (finished February 12, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
3. The Gathering, by Anne Enright – Winner 2007
4. In the Country of Men, by Hisham Matar – 2006 Shortlist
5. The Secret River, by Kate Grenville – 2006 Shortlist
6. Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood – 1989 Shortlist (finished February 29, 2008; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
7. Life and Times of Michael K, by J.M. Coetzee – Winner 1983 (finished February 17, 2008; rated 4/5; read my review)
Book Awards Reading Challenge
July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008
I know, I know – I said I wasn’t going to join anymore challenges. BUT, I couldn’t pass this one up. Michelle’s Book Awards Reading Challenge runs from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008 and challenges participants to read 12 award winning books over 12 months. I’m picking mostly books I either already have on my shelf, am reading for other challenges, or plan on reading for book groups.
We are allowed to pick any book by a Nobel Prize winning author, but at least six of the twelve books read must have WON A PRIZE.
Here’s my FINAL list (Books whose author won Noble Prize only are highlighted in pink):
1. The Bone People, by Keri Hulme – Booker 1985 – COMPLETED July 12, 2007; read a review here.
2. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood – Governor Generals Award (Canada) 1985 – COMPLETED November 5, 2007; read a review here.
3. The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood – Booker 2000 – COMPLETED August 1, 2007; read a review here.
4. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy – Booker 1997 – COMPLETED September 29, 2007; read a review here.
5. The Echo Maker, by Richard Powers – National Book Award 2006 – COMPLETED September 6, 2007; read a review here.
6. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides – Pulitzer 2003 – COMPLETED November 1, 2007; read a review here.
7. The True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey – Booker 2001 AND Commonwealth Writers Prize 2001
8. Disgrace, by J. M. Coetzee – Booker 1999 AND Commonwealth Writers Prize 2000 AND Nobel Prize awarded to author in 2003 – COMPLETED December 14, 2007; read review here.
9. Breathing Lessons, by Anne Tyler – Pulitzer 1989
10. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya – Premio Quinto Sol (National Chicano Award 1972)
11. Atonement, by Ian McEwan – National Book Critics Circle Award 2002
12. East Of Eden, by John Steinbeck – Author won Nobel Prize in 1962 – COMPLETED October 12, 2007; read a review here.
Alternates (or extras):
13. Crime in the Neighborhood, by Berne – Orange Prize 1999
14. The Tenderness of Wolves, by Stef Penney – Costa/Whitbread 2006
15. A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth – Commonwealth Writers Prize 1994
16. The Secret River, by Kate Grenville – Commonwealth Writers Prize 2006
17. We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver – Orange Prize 2005
18. Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner – Pulitzer 1972
19. A Bend In The River, by V.S. Naipal – Author won Nobel Prize in 2001
20. Cairo Trilogy, by Naguib Mahfouz – Author won Nobel Prize in 1988
21. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway – Author won Nobel Prize in 1954
22. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Author won Nobel Prize in 1982
23. A compilation of The O’Henry Awards 2001 Prize Stories (published by Anchor Books – edited by Larry Dark)
24. Scared Hunger, by Barry Unsworth – Booker 1992
25. The Known World, by Edward P. Jones – Pulitzer 2004, National Book Critics Circle 2003, IMPAC Dublin 2005
26. The Great Fire, by Shirley Hazzard – National Book Award 2003, Miles Franklin 2004 – COMPLETED August 8, 2007; read a review here.
27. The Borrowers, by Mary Norton – Carnegie Medal 1952 – COMPLETED December 30, 2007; read a review here.
28. Behind the Scenes at the Museum – Whitbread Book of The Year (First Novel Award) 1995
29. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett - Pen/Faulkner 2002
30. The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson – Edgar Award (Best Fact Crime) 2004 – COMPLETED September 12, 2007; read a review here.
31. The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck – Pulitzer 1932; Nobel 1938 – COMPLETED November 28, 2007; read a review here.
32. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder – Pulitzer Prize 1928 – COMPLETED December 23, 2007; read a review here.
32. The Giver, by Lois Lowry – Newbury Medal 1994 – COMPLETED January 1, 2008; read a review here.
33. So Big, by Edna Ferber – Pulitzer Prize 1925 – COMPLETED January 17, 2008; read a review here.
34. Life and Times of Michael K, by J.M. Coetzee – Booker Prize 1983, Nobel Laureate 2003 - COMPLETED February 17, 2008; read a review here.
The Complete Booker
The Complete Booker
An Ongoing Challenge to Read All the Booker Prize Winners
An Ongoing Challenge to Read All the Booker Prize Winners
My bookie soul-mate, Laura at Musings, is hosting an ongoing challenge with no time limit. The goal: to read every Booker Prize Winner. She’s started a group blog called The Complete Booker for participants to track their progress and post their reviews.
I’ll be posting there, but also keeping track here on my blog.
Read in 2007:
The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai – won in 2006 (completed March 16, 2007; rated 4.25/5; reviewed here)
The Bone People, by Keri Hulme – won in 1985 (completed July 12, 2007; rated 4.5/5; reviewed here)
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood – won in 2000 (completed August 1, 2007; rated 4.5/5; reviewed here)
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy – won in 1997 (completed September 29, 2007; rated 5/5; reviewed here)
Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee – won in 1999 (completed December 14, 2007; rated 4.5/5; reviewed here)
I’ll be posting there, but also keeping track here on my blog.
Read in 2007:
The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai – won in 2006 (completed March 16, 2007; rated 4.25/5; reviewed here)
The Bone People, by Keri Hulme – won in 1985 (completed July 12, 2007; rated 4.5/5; reviewed here)
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood – won in 2000 (completed August 1, 2007; rated 4.5/5; reviewed here)
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy – won in 1997 (completed September 29, 2007; rated 5/5; reviewed here)
Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee – won in 1999 (completed December 14, 2007; rated 4.5/5; reviewed here)
Read in 2008:
Life and Times of Michael K, by J.M. Coetzee – won in 1983 (completed February 17, 2008; rated 4/5; reviewed here)
National Book Award Project
Sharon from Ex Libris is hosting this perpetual challenge (no time limit) to read from the National Book Award fiction list (winners and nominees). The National Book Award Project allows flexibility in the guidelines. Looking through the list, I’ve discovered I have already read several winners and nominees…so my goal will to keep reading through the list (good thing there is no time limit!). I don’t promise to read all the nominees, but I would like to get through all the winners – and if I do that, I will consider this challenge a success.
I’ll be keeping track of my progress at the official challenge blog; and also here.
You may notice that there are a few DNF’s (Did not Finish). These were books which I disliked so much, I couldn’t make my way through them. I have no intention of trying them again…chalk it up to not enough time in my life to read books I hate.
Below are the lists. Winners are in bold print. Books I’ve read are highlighted in Red with links to my reviews when available.
1950
- Nelson Algren – The Man with the Golden Arm
1951
- William Faulkner – The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
- Brendan Gill – The Trouble of One House
1952
- James Jones – From Here to Eternity (No review)
- James Agee – The Morning Watch
- Truman Capote – The Grass Harp
- William Faulkner – Requiem for a Nun
- Caroline Gordon – The Strange Children
- Thomas Mann – The Holy Sinner
- John P. Marquand – Melville Goodwin USA
- J. D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye
- William Styron – Lie Down in Darkness
- Jessamyn West – The Witch Diggers
- Herman Wouk – The Caine Mutiny
1953
- Ralph Ellison – Invisible Man
- Isabel Bolton – Many Mansions
- H. L. Davis – Winds of Morning
- Thomas Gallagher – The Gathering Darkness
- Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea
- Carl Jones – Jefferson Selleck
- Peter Martin – The Landsman
- John Steinbeck – East of Eden (Read October 15, 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
- William Carlos Williams – The Build Up
1954
- Saul Bellow – The Adventures of Augie March
1955
- William Faulkner – A Fable
- Harriet Arnow – The Dollmaker
- Hamilton Basso – The View from Pompey’s Head
- Davis Grubb – The Night of the Hunter
- Randall Jarrell – Pictures from an Institution
- Milton Lott – The Last Hunt
- Frederick Manfred – The Last Grizzly
- William March – The Bad Seed
- Wright Morris – The Huge Season
- Frank Rooney – The Courts of Memory
- John Steinbeck – Sweet Thursday
1956
- John O’Hara – Ten North Frederick
- Paul Bowles – The Spider’s House
- Shirley Ann Grau – The Black Prince
- MacKinlay Kantor – Andersonville
- Flannery O’Connor – A Good Man is Hard to Find
- May Sarton – Faithful are the Wounds
- Robert Penn Warren – Band of Angels
- Eudora Welty – The Bride of the Innisfallen
- Herman Wouk – Marjorie Morningstar
1957
- Wright Morris – The Field of Vision
- Nelson Algren – Walk on the Wild Side
- James Baldwin – Giovanni’s Room
- Saul Bellow – Seize the Day
- B. J. Chute – Greenwillow
- A. B. Guthrie – These Thousand Years
- John Hersey – A Single Pebble
- John Hunt – Generations of Men
- Edwin O’Connor – The Last Hurrah
- J. F. Powers – The Presence of Grace
- Elizabeth Spencer – The Voice at the Back Door
- James Thurber – Further Fables for Our Time
1958
- John Cheever – The Wapshop Chronicle
- James Agee – A Death in the Family
- James Gould Cozzens – By Love Possessed
- Mark Harris – Something About A Soldier
- Andrew Lytle – The Velvet Horn
- Bernard Malamud – The Assistant
- Wright Morris – Love Among the Cannibals
- Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
- Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged
- Nancy Wilson Ross – The Return of Lady Brace
- May Sarton – The Birth of a Grandfather
1959
- Bernard Malamud – The Magic Barrel
- J. P. Donleavy – The Ginger Man
- William Humphrey – Home from the Hill
- Vladimir Nabokov – Lolita
- John O’Hara – From the Terrace
- J. R. Salamanca – The Lost Country
- Anya Seyton – The Winthrop Woman
- Robert Travers – Anatomy of a Murder
1960
- Philip Roth – Goodbye Columbus
- Louis Auchincloss – Pursuit of the Prodigal
- Hamilton Basso – The Light Infantry Ball
- Saul Bellow – Henderson the Rain King
- Evan S. Connell, Jr. – Mrs. Bridge
- William Faulkner – The Mansion
- Mark Harris – Wake Up, Stupid
- John Hersey – The War Lover
- H. L. Humes – Men Die
- Shirley Jackson – The Haunting of Hill House (no review)
- Elizabeth Janeway – The Third Choice
- James Jones – The Pistol
- Warren Miller – The Cool World
- James Purdy – Malcolm
- Leo Rostyn – The Return of H*Y*M*A*N*K*A*P*L*A*N*
- John Updike – The Poorhouse Fair
- Robert Penn Warren – The Cave
- Morris West – The Devil’s Advocate
1961
- Conrad Richter – The Waters of Kronos
- Louis Auchincloss – The House of Five Talents
- Kay Boyle – Generation without Farewell
- John Hersey – The Child Buyer
- John Knowles - A Separate Place (no review)
- Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird (Read March 21, 2007; rated 5/5; read my review)
- Wright Morris – Ceremony in a Lone Tree
- Flannery O’Connor – The Violent Bear It Away
- Elizabeth Spencer – The Light in the Piazza and Other Italian Tales
- Francis Steegmuller – The Christening Party
- John Updike – Rabbit, Run
- Mildred Walker – The Body of a Young Man
1962
- Walker Percy – The Moviegoer
- Hortense Calisher – False Entry
- George P. Elliott – Among the Dangs
- Joseph Heller - Catch 22 (DNF)
- Bernard Malamud – A New Life
- J. D. Salinger – Franny and Zooey
- Isaac Bashevis Singer – The Spinoza of Market Street and Other Stories
- Edward Lewis Wallant – The Pawnbroker
- Joan Williams – The Morning and the Evening
- Richard Yates – Revolutionary Road
1963
- J. F. Powers – Morte D’Urban
- Vladimir Nabokov – Pale Fire
- Katherine Anne Porter – Ship of Fools
- Dawn Powell – The Golden Spur
- Clancy Sigal – Going Away
- John Updike – Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories
1964
- John Updike – The Centaur
- Bernard Malamud – Idiots First
- Mary McCarthy – The Group
- Thomas Pynchon – V
- Harvey Swados – The Will
1965
- Saul Bellow – Herzog
- Louis Auchincloss – The Rector of Justin
- John Hawkes – Second Skin
- Richard Kim – The Martyred
- Wallace Markfield - To an Early Grave
- Vladimir Nabokov – The Defense
- Isaac Bashevis Singer – Short Friday
1966
- Katherine A. Porter – The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
- Jesse Hill Ford – The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones
- Peter Matthiessen – At Play in the Fields of the Lord
- James Merrill – The (Diblos) Notebook
- Flannery O’Connor – Everything that Rises Must Converge
- Harry Petrakis – Pericles on 31st Street
1967
- Bernard Malamud – The Fixer
- Louis Auchincloss – The Embezzler
- Edwin O’Connor – All in the Family
- Walker Percy – The Last Gentleman
- Harry Petrakis – A Dream of Kings
- Wilfrid Sheeds – Office Politics
1968
- Thornton Wilder – The Eighth Day
- Norman Mailer – Why Are We in Vietnam?
- Joyce Carol Oates – A Garden of Earthly Delights
- Chaim Potok – The Chosen
- William Styron – Confessions of Nat Turner
1969
- Jerzy Kosinski – Steps
- John Barth – Lost in the Funhouse
- Frederick Exley – A Fan’s Notes
- Joyce Carol Oates – Expensive People
- Thomas Rogers – The Pursuit of Happiness
1970
- Joyce Carol Oates – Them
- Leonard Gardner – Fat City
- Leonard Michaels – Going Places
- Jean Stafford – The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford
- Kurt Vonnegut – Slaughterhouse Five (Read December 2006; rated 4/5; no review)
1971
- Saul Bellow – Mr. Sammler’s Planet
- James Dickey – Deliverance
- Shirley Hazzard – The Bay of Noon
- John Updike – Bech: A Book
- Eudora Welty – Losing Battles
1972
- Flannery O’Connor – The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor
- Frederick Buechner – Lion Country
- E. L. Doctorow – The Book of Daniel
- Stanley Elkin – The Dick Gibson Show
- Tom McHale – Farragan’s Retreat
- Joyce Carol Oates – Wonderland
- Cynthia Ozick – The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories
- Walker Percy – Love Among the Ruins
- Earl Thompson – A Garden of Sand
- John Updike – Rabbit Redux
1973
- John Barth – Chimera
- John Williams – Augustus
- Brock Brauer – The Late Great Creature
- Alan Friedman – Hermaphrodeity
- Barry Hannah – Geronimo Rex
- George V. Higgins – The Friends of Eddie Coyle
- R. M. Koster – The Prince
- Vladimir Nabokov – Transparent Things
- Ishmael Reed – Mumbo Jumbo
- Thomas Rogers – The Confession of a Child of the Century
- Isaac Bashevis Singer – Enemies, A Love Story
- Eudora Welty – The Optimist’s Daughter
1974
- Thomas Pyncheon – Gravity’s Rainbow
- Isaac Bashevis Singer – A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories
- Doris Betts – Beasts of the World and Other Stories
- John Cheever – The World of Apples
- Ellen Douglas – Apostles of Light
- Stanley Elkin – Searches and Seizures
- John Gardner – Nickel Mountain
- Tom McGuane – Ninety-Two in the Shade
- Wilfrid Sheed – People Will Always Be Kind
- Gore Vidal – Burr
- Joy Williams – State of Grace
1975
- Robert Stone – Dog Soldiers
- Thomas Williams – The Hair of Harold Roux
- Donald Barthelme – The Guilty Pleasures
- Gail Godwin – The Odd Woman
- Joseph Heller – Something Happened
- Toni Morrison – Sula
- Vladimir Nabokov – Look at the Harlequins!
- Grace Paley – Enormous Changes at the Last Minute
- Philip Roth – My Life as a Man
- Mark Smith – The Death of a Detective
1976
- Wiliam Gaddis – JR
- Saul Bellow – Humboldt’s Gift
- Hortense Calisher – The Collected Stories of Hortense Calisher
- Johanna Kaplan – Other People’s Lives
- Vladimir Nabokov – Tyrant’s Destroyed and Other Stories
- Larry Woiwode – Beyond the Bedroom Wall
1977
- Wallace Stegner – The Spectator Bird
- Raymond Carver – Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
- MacDonald Harris – The Balloonist
- Ursula K. Le Guin – Orsinian Tales
- Cynthia Propper Seton – A Fine Romance
1978
- Mary Lee Settles - Blood Ties
- Robert Coover – The Public Burning
- Peter De Vries – Madder Music
- James Alan McPherson – Elbow Room
- John Sayles – Union Dues
1979
- Tim O’Brien – Going After Cacciato
- John Cheever – The Stories of John Cheever
- John Irving – The World According to Garp (Read multiple times; rated 5/5; no review)
- Diane Johnson – Lying Low
- David Plante – The Family
1980
- William Styron – Sophie’s Choice
- James Baldwin – Just Above My Head
- Norman Mailer – The Executioner’s Song
- Philip Roth – The Ghost Writer
- Scott Spencer – Endless Love
1981
- Wright Morris – Plains Song
- Shirley Hazzard – The Transit of Venus
- William Maxwell – So Long, See You Tomorrow
- Walker Percy – The Second Coming
- Eudora Welty – The Collected Stories
1982
- John Updike – Rabbit is Rich
- Mark Helprin – Ellis Island and Other Stories
- John Irving – The Hotel New Hampshire (Read multiple times; rated 5/5; no review)
- Robert Stone – A Flag for Sunrise
- William Wharton – Dad
1983
- Alice Walker – The Color Purple (Read January 12, 2007; rated 4.25/5; read my review)
- Gail Godwin – A Mother and Two Daughters
- Bobbie Ann Mason – Shiloh and Other Stories
- Paul Theroux – The Mosquito Coast
- Anne Tyler – Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (Read January 24, 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
1984
- Ellen Gilchrist – Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories
- Alison Lurie – Foreign Affairs
- Philip Roth – The Anatomy Lesson
1985
- Don DeLillo – White Noise
- Ursula K. Le Guin – Always Coming Home
- Hugh Nissenson – The Tree of Life
1986
- E. L. Doctorow – World’s Fair
- Norman Rush – Whites
- Peter Taylor – A Summon to Memphis
1987
- Larry Heinemann – Paco’s Story
- Alice McDermott – That Night
- Toni Morrison – Beloved
- Howard Norman – The Northern Lights
- Philip Roth – The Counterlife
1988
- Peter Dexter – Paris Trout (no review)
- Don DeLillo – Libra
- Mary McGarry Morris – Vanished
- James F. Powers – Wheat That Springeth Green
- Anne Tyler – Breathing Lessons
1989
- John Casey – Spartina
- E. L. Doctorow – Billy Bathgate
- Katherine Dunn – Geek Love
- Oscar Hijuelos – Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
- Amy Tan – The Joy Luck Club
1990
- Charles Johnson – Middle Passage
- Felipe Alfau – Chromos
- Elena Castedo – Paradise
- Jessica Hagedorn – Dogeaters
- Joyce Carol Oates – Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart
1991
- Norman Rush – Mating
- Louis Begley – Wartime Lies
- Stephen Dixon – Frog
- Stanley Elkin – The MacGuffin
- Sandra Scofield – Beyond Deserving
1992
- Cormac McCarthy – All the Pretty Horses
- Dorothy Allison – Bastard Out of Carolina (Read August 1, 2007; rated 3/5; read my review)
- Cristina Garcia – Dreaming in Cuban
- Edward P. Jones – Lost in the City
- Robert Stone – Outerbridge Reach
1993
- E. Annie Proulx – The Shipping News (no review)
- Amy Bloom – Come to Me
- Thom Jones – The Puligist at Rest
- Richard Powers – Operation Wandering Soul
- Bob Shacochis – Swimming in the Volcano
1994
- William Gaddis – A Frolic of His Own
- Ellen Currie – Moses Supposes
- Richard Dooling – White Man’s Grave
- Howard Norman – The Bird Artist
- Grace Paley – The Collected Stories
1995
- Philip Roth – Sabbath’s Theater
- Madison Smartt Bell – All Souls’ Rising
- Edwidge Danticat – Krik? Krak!
- Stephen Dixon – Interstate
- Rosario Ferre – The House on the Lagoon
1996
- Andrea Barrett – Ship Fever and Other Stories
- Ron Hansen – Atticus
- Elizabeth McCracken – The Giant’s House
- Stephen Millhauser – Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
- Janet Peery – The River Beyond the World
1997
- Charles Frazier – Cold Mountain
- Don DeLillo – Underworld (DNF)
- Diane Johnson – Le Divorce
- Ward Just – Echo House
- Cynthia Ozick – The Puttermesser Papers
1998
- Alice McDermott – Charming Billy
- Allegra Goodman – Kaaterskill Falls
- Gayl Jones – The Healing
- Robert Stone – Damascus Gate
- Thomas Wolfe – A Man in Full
1999
- Ha Jin – Waiting
- Andre Dubus III – The House of Sand and Fog
- Kent Haruf – Plainsong
- Patricia Henley – Hummingbird House
- Jean Thompson – Who Do You Love
2000
- Susan Sontag – In America
- Charles Baxter – The Feast of Love
- Alan Lightman – The Diagnosis
- Joyce Carol Oates – Blonde
- Francine Prose – Blue Angel
2001
- Jonathan Franzen – The Corrections
- Dan Chaon – Among the Missing
- Jennifer Egan – Look at Me
- Louise Erdrich – The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse
- Susan Straight – Highwire Moon
2002
- Julia Glass – Three Moons
- Mark Costello – Big If
- Adam Haslett – You Are Not A Stranger Here
- Martha McPhee – Gorgeous Lies
- Brad Watson – The Heaven of Mercury
2003
- Shirley Hazzard – The Great Fire (Read August 9, 2007; rated 4/5; read my review)
- T. C. Boyle – Drop City
- Edward P. Jones – The Known World
- Scott Spenser – A Ship Made of Paper
- Marianne Wiggins – Evidence of Things Unseen: A Novel
2004
- Lily Tuck – The News from Paraguay
- Sarah Shun-lien Bynum – Madeleine is Sleeping
- Christine Schutt – Florida
- Joan Silber – Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories
- Kate Walbert – Our Kind
2005
- William T. Vollman – Europe Central
- E. L. Doctorow – The March
- Mary Gaitskill – Veronica
- Christopher Sorrentino – Trance
- Rene Steinke – Holy Skirts
2006
- Richard Powers – The Echo Maker (Read September 6, 2007; rated 4.5/5; read my review)
- Mark Z. Danielewski – Only Revolutions (DNF)
- Ken Kalfus – A Disorder Peculiar to the Country
- Dana Spiotta – Eat the Document (Read May 22, 2007; rated 3.5/5; read my review)
- Jess Walter – The Zero
2007
- Denis Johnson – Tree of Smoke
- Mischa Berlinski – Fieldwork
- Lydia Davis – Varieties of Disturbance
- Joshua Ferris – Then We Came to the End
- Jim Shepard – Like You’d Understand, Anyway
= Excellent
= Good/Very Good
= Okay read
= Not recommended
= Ugh! Don't waste your time.
