Welcome to The Pulitzer Trip!

 Day Trip, or Trip of a Lifetime   

This blog stems from my goal to read all the Pulitzers novels. (For my method, see the page "Sticks and Carrots.") I hope this blog helps you tackle the challenging books on your to-read lists. Or maybe even inspire you to read the entire Pulitzer list. You might use these entries singly, to plan reading selections for your book group. Seeing the movie version or taking a related field trip can be a powerful motivator for your club. The posts take you through each Pulitzer Novel and Fiction winner by winning year, with the following information for each title: 

Pulitzer Winning Year

Title

Page Count   

Summary

Adaptations (movies, plays, etc.) 

Related Activities 

FAQs

Why does the Pulitzer list include "Novels" and "Fiction"? In the first 31 years of the Pulitzer Prizes, the prize for "Novels" was awarded 27 times. In 1948 the Pulitzer Board recognized that excellent literature might take the form of collected short stories, so they broadened the category to "Fiction." For the purposes of this list, I treat Novels and Fiction as one continuous list of winners.  

Why are some years skipped? The Pulitzer committee process can be opaque and is vulnerable to fundamental disagreements. The yearly committee for Novels/Fiction has failed to reach consensus 11 times in more than 100 years. In the years of no award, instead of blogging about a book, I will attempt to explain why the award was not given. On the other hand, some years the committee announced double winners. For those years, I will treat the books as separate blog entries.

Activities? I'm located in the Midwest, so my field trips mostly center around Chicago and the Great Lakes. Chicago has a surprising number of tie-ins with the earlier Pulitzers, so that made things easier for me. However, you can find interesting activities and trips around your own geographic area. Please add them in the comments if you do!       

Happy Reading! 

     

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