Friday Reads: Books With Pulitzer Prize Potential 

I've never understood why the Pulitzer Foundation doesn't offer an international prize the same way the Booker Prize does.

The audiobook of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is fantastic!!

Please consider Ann Patchett’s nonfiction. It’s wonderful!!! This Is The Story of a Happy Marriage is a good place to start.

It would be fascinating if the Pulitzer board expanded the award criteria to include something akin to the "full range of the American experience" which might encompass citizens and non-citizens, writers in the U.S. and abroad etc. Thanks for raising this issue Greg! Looking forward to seeing what the board decides on this matter.

I watched this video on May 22, 2024. I watched an interview with Ann Patchett a few weeks ago. She did a lot of research about cherry orchards for Tom Lake. Every character in the book is named after someone in her life. She is friends with a family with three daughters named Emily, Maisie and Nell. I've read Commonwealth and I think you'll like it.

Didn’t see this until today. I look forward to reading “Absolution” by Alice McDermott. The hold list at the library is pretty long unfortunately. I know you were discussing this book as being a possible Pulitzer Prize winner which would be great. She did win the 1998 National Book Award for her novel “Charming Billy”. For her earlier 1987 novel, “That Night” she was Pulitzer Prize finalist. “That Night” is wonderfully atmospheric in depicting a 1970’s working class neighborhood in the suburbs of Nassau County, Long Island.

I am starting Tom Lake on audio after I finish The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. I love listening to this James McBride. I think it will make a lot of year-end lists and will be a contender for the Pulitzer. My thoughts are with Jamie.

I have an ARC to Absolution, so this gives me new resolve to finally get around to it. I've never read Alice McDermott before, but I knew that she was a former Pulitzer finalist. The Dutch House is excellent and worth your time reading.

You totally sold me on Tom Lake. Feels like exactly the book I need now. I enjoyed The Dutch House a lot, but I run away from anything marketed as a "pandemic novel" (still too fresh for me) so was quite cautious about this one! The themes you discussed are all things I'm currently grappling with, so excited to explore it!

I'm glad Tom Lake was one you really liked! As soon as you started talking about Absolution's link to memory, I was thinking about how that applied to Tom Lake too, so I loved that connection. It felt like such a simple book at times but in a way that I loved and that did hold a lot of deeper meaning. It was my first Patchett and I'll be back for more of her work! I'm going to see if I can get a copy of Absolution!

I listened to The Dutch House to give her a try and the only thing that made me finish it was Tom Hanks :D But honestly, I agree with you we shouldn't give up on an author after just one book, but it was more the plot than her writing I didn't like. And Tom Lake just sounds like that as well. Glad it worked out well for you.

It will be interesting to see if the Pulitzer Board will expand its criteria. I hope they do. I had a decent reading week. Finished The All Night Pharmacy and Medusa’s Sisters. Both were good but not great. I’d probably give them both 3.5 stars if I still used Goodreads. Sending Jamie (and her dads) continued good energy

I always thought the Newbery Award did inclusion quite well in that you can be a citizen, as was Sharon Creech, but living abroad for much of her time when awarded, but you can also be a resident as Neil Gaimen has been for his awards, though not a US citizen. They do still need to write in English, and when German writer Cornelia Funke moved here, I thought it was to boost her eligibility, but she was still writing in German, but then started to write in English. She’s since moved to Tuscany so the point has become moot. I know there were questions about Douglas Stewart, who’s Scottish, but I think resides in American about his eligibility for the NBA in past years. I’m actually reading the collective letters of poet Thom Gunn and it was interesting to find out that both he and Oliver Sacks, who followed him to the US, both lived here since they were in their twenties, but never became citizens and I guess were thus ineligible for many US literary prizes, though spending the bulk of their lives here as they both lived to old age. Of course many of these people are expats with choices where they live. Writers that maybe here for political reasons or ability for amnesty are caught more in a Catch 23 concerning eligibility for awards and I think that’s more along the lines of what they are asking to consider. If they are newer immigrants, especially for political reasons, that could very much be an incredibly American story that would be perfect for Pulitzer criteria, but they shouldn’t be locked out for eligibility. I would definitely like to see awards error on the side of inclusion rather then exclusion.

I love Ann Patchett books

Thanks for covering the new Ann Patchett. I also love her essay collection This is The Story of a Happy Marriage.

I have Tom Lake on hold at the library and cannot wait. I love Patchett. (Run is sitting on my shelf, unread. I have not heard good things.) but, The Dutch House, Commonwealth, Bel Canto … you have so many good books to catch up with! 😘❤️😘 to Jamie…

I love this! They should include the experience of the American Continent but works in English. Thanks for the development

If the criteria of the Pulitzer was to expand… that would be a very big playing field. It would make it potentially more interesting? The Dutch House narrated by Tom Hanks was a pleasure. I do have Commonwealth on my TBR. I love stories about families. Sagas that sweep through generations. Our own family stories are precious. Especially when we lose our parents. The stories that they passed on to us. That we pass on to our children. It’s why tv shows like Who Do You Think You are Family DNA Lost family Are so popular. We want to know where we came from and what made us.

Pulitzer could expand to Central and South America without even changing the wording about "American Life". But I'd prefer to see a major sponsor start a whole new prize.

Great episode! ❤

I have a hold on Tom Lake at the library. I am going to try and finish Razorblade Tears this weekend. I took a break from it for a few days. People keep saying I will really like how it ends. I picked up Tinkers from the library yesterday. I started it and I am really excited to read it. I don't think it compares to This Other Eden. I loved This Other Eden. Where I go after these two I have no idea. Happy reading.

Wow, okay, I gotta put Temple Folk on my TBR based solely on that collection of author blurbs!

As for Patchett books, I really liked Commonwealth, but I found State of Wonder to be amazing -- a terrific story, unusual characters, and the Amazon portion of the book is fascinating.

I listened to the audiobook “The Dutch House” performed by Tom Hanks. Tom does a great job.

It was just a while ago when we were convincing you to try another Ann Patchett after your initial disappointment! Glad that you loved Tom Lake. I’m so excited to read it.

I've finished the first 3 stories in Temple Folk and I'm really enjoying it! Taking a little Booker break.

I enjoyed The Dutch House, Commonwealth not so much, mainly because of the themes.

I’m currently listening to The Bee Sting All The Little Bird Hearts Loving both.

Oh yeahhh I’m all over getting rid of that citizenship requirement. The Undocumented know American life from a perspective citizen stamped citizens typically don’t . Blahdiggityblah, ty for sharing , I’m glad to know ! Glad Jamie is ok - hoping for better than ok ASAP 📖🪱💚

Regarding the possible Pulitzer change, you’re talking about like refugee and DACA-type situations? Or long term residents, by choice, without citizenship? Interesting discussion. Didn’t Tom Hanks read the audiobook of The Dutch House? He’s another one of those actors who could probably read the phone book and make it beautiful. I bought the audiobook years ago when it was nominated for some prize, because of Hanks, but never got around to listening to it. I’m two-thirds of the way through A Little Luck by Claudia Pineiro. It’s very good so far. I’m thinking four stars, but it could go up based on what happens with the rest. I do love her writing. This one feels a lot like Elena Knows without having anything in common plot-wise. I’ve got a few more Women in Translation month reads that are probably next, but I got a super early delivery (not out until October!) of Janice Hallett’s new mystery, The Christmas Appeal, that I might dive into next. Blackwell’s sent me a couple of books way early. No idea why, but I won’t complain!

This week I read The Fawn by Magda Szabo Tr Len Rix, also There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job Kikuko Tsumura TR Polly Barton. No Such Thing was an excellent read. I didn’t find the jobs or work place, but as the book cover says. There is something unsettling about the jobs. Basically what appears to be an easy job really has more to it than the job description states. But the first job seems to weigh most heavily on her mind. I know you had some concerns with it and as you say your mileage may vary but I couldn’t put it down

Great video. I loved The Dutch House on audio (Tom Hank narrates) my thoughts are with Jamie.

Tom Lake: Pachett puts so much into this book about Lara's passionate personna as "mother" and the role of mother is such an important part of this book. But I am so intrigued that Pachett offers us almost no information about Lara's mother and if they had any relationship. Makes me think Pachett might be holding back for a prequel.

I don't know what to think about Alice McDermott, i loved Someone but i was totally indiferent towards the ninth hour

As someone who HATED Bel Canto by Patchett and never read another book by her, this really resonates with me. Maybe I will try Tom Lake. Also, I love including every American into the running for the Pulitzer.

I had a similar reaction to the only Ann Patchett book, but you might have convinced me to read Tom Lake.

Glad Pulitzer is determining this issue, I hope it's resolved peacefully. I just finished Tom Lake today as it happens and I found it good but slow or maybe that's just me?

Great video and very thoughtful, I appreciated it a lot. Maybe there could be a future for me and Kiley Reid then…(doubt it)

READ COMMONWEALTH! Definitly! :D

When are you going to start paying attention to us? 😂 I've seen Ann Patchett several times on book tours. She's also very funny.

My next audiobook is going to be … Tom Lake😊Thank you, Greg!🌷My favourite read this week, which I’m sure will be among my top ten for this year, is Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. Absolutely loved It!

Bel Canto by Ann Pachett

I just finished Absolution and I thought it was every bit as good as Demon Copperhead and Hamnet. I’d love to hear your take on the title. It also struck me as a white savior story. I can’t wait to discuss this book with others!

I hope the pulitzer board doesn't do it.there are plenty of awards for foreigners.