Book Awards Reading Challenge

By Earlene Fowler © 1999
Published by Penguin Books Ltd.
1999 Agatha Award Winner

Review posted at my blog, Needles and Pens.

Murphy's Law / Rhys Bowen
St. Martin's, 2002 - 978-0-312-98497-7 (paperback)

I'm not a big mystery fan. Apart from a few Agatha Christie classics, I've never felt compelled to explore the genre. In fact, if not for the Book Awards Reading Challenge, I'd probably never even realize there were awards dedicated to the genre, and more tragically, I would never have come across Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen, a fantastic historical mystery and winner of the 2001 Agatha Award for Best Novel.

The rest of the review (because I got a little wordy) can be found here.

Here is my challenge list after days of deliberation. I'm so excited about this challenge. I've decided to use it to branch myself out into genres I don't usually read and to expose myself to new authors I haven't encountered yet. I've also selfishly included some Pulitzer-prize winners to further my own personal goal of working my way through all of those. But I kept the number down to three to keep the spirit of a challenge.

1. On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Orange)
I've been wanting to read this for awhile and recently bought White Teeth, which I haven't read yet, either.

2. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (Nebula)
Having recently finished the Earthsea books, I am a renewed fan of LeGuin's. (I remember liking her as a kid after reading the first Earthsea book.) I'm curious about her other works.

3. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (Pulitzer)
This is the third Pulitzer winner. I'm planning on having finished the first two in June.

4. Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington (Pulitzer)
This the fourth Pulitzer winner. Again, to pursue the completion of my personal goal.

5. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Newbery)
I like YA and children's novels. I'm curious about the most recent winner.

6. Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (Newbery)
If you read the most recent winner, you might as well read the next to most recent winner. You never know when you'll want to finish that list, too, one day.

7. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear (Agatha)
I never read mysteries so this is a genre I wanted to represent in this challenge. I checked through the Edgar winners but they looked too scary for me (probably why I tend to shy away from mysteries). But on the Malice Domestic website Agatha winners are described as "...mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence; usually featuring an amateur detective, they have a confined setting and characters who know one another." Sounds like my cup of tea.

8. Possession by A.S. Byatt (Man Booker)
I recently bought this at the used bookstore. Thought I'd throw in a few TBRs.

9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (Costa/Whitbread)
My brother and his fiancée read this in Iraq while they were stationed in Fallujah and they liked it. I've been wanting to read it for awhile.

10. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (Hugo)
Branching out into science fiction

11. Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip (World Fantasy)
Further explorations into the fantasy genre

12. The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton by Jane Smiley (Spur)
Definitely new territory for me, the western-set novels. Plus I started Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel but have never read any of Jane Smiley's fiction.

Alternates

1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Man Booker)
own it-TBR
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Nebula)
TBR
3. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Nebula)
I keep hearing about Neil Gaiman from other book bloggers.
4. Dune by Frank Herbert (Nebula)
I think I remember my dad reading this in the early 80s. I never had an interest but now I'm curious.
5. Sophie's Choice by William Styron (National Book Award)
TBR
6. One of Ours by Willa Cather (Pulitzer)
Pulitzer goal; 5th winner

2010 - Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
2009 - A Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
2008 - The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
2007 - A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
2006 - The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
2005 - The Body in the Snowdrift by Katherine Hall Page
2004 - Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
2003 - Letter From Home by Carolyn Hart
2002 - You've Got Murder by Donna Andrews
2001 - Murphy's Law, Rhys Bowen
2000 - Storm Track, Margaret Maron
1999 - Mariner's Compass by Earlene Fowler
1998 - Butchers Hill by Laura Lippman
1997 - The Devil In Music by Kate Ross
1996 - Up Jumps The Devil by Margaret Maron
1995 - If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him by Sharyn McCrumb
1994 - She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
1993 - Dead Man's Island by Carolyn Hart
1992 - Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron
1991 - I.O.U. by Nancy Pickard
1990 - Bum Steer by Nancy Pickard
1989 - Naked Once More by Elizabeth Peters
1988 - Something Wicked by Carolyn G. Hart