Book Awards Reading Challenge

The last book I read for this challenge was Prophet Annie, by Ellen Ricknor, winner of the 2000 Spur Award. Though it was slow starting, I ended up really enjoying the book. The writing is very true to the main character's personality, and quite evocative of time and place.

I blather on more about it here, if you are interested.

Thanks for a great experience for my first reading challenge!

Last month, I read The Undertaker's Wife, by Loren D. Estleman. It was the winner of the 2006 Spur Award, and I really enjoyed reading it. I originally chose it, because I thought it would be different than most of the other things I had decided to read for this challenge, and it was! The writing was evocative and still accessible, and - at least for me - the story never dragged.

I have written more about it here, if you are interested.

This title, winner of the 1942 Pulitzer Prize, appealed to me when I read the summary of the plot both on Amazon, and in my local library catalog. I requested the book from another branch of the library, and as of today, it has still not arrived!

However, I did find several more summaries, and also learned that it was made into a movie with Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, and George Brent. I ended up getting the movie from Netflix and watching it.

I posted about it here on my blog. I hope I do actually get to read the book someday!

I see that Petunia has read Atonement, by Ian McEwan, as her most recent Challenge book, and found the writing to be wonderful. I'll second that, as I kept reading for the pleasure of the language. My thoughts are posted here.

This was my November read, and I really enjoyed it! It won the 2001 Governor General's Award (Canada), and the 2001 Giller Prize. It's the journal and letters of the title character, writing to her sister who has moved to New York City, right before World War II. I found it to be a great read, and particularly evocative of time and place.

If you are interested in reading my ramblings, my review is here.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

I just finished The Impersonators, by Jessica Anderson, winner of the 1980 Miles Franklin Literary Award in Australia. I found it to be not only a good read, but an interesting group of characters. Maybe because it was closer in time to the previous book I read from Australia, but for whatever reason, this appealed to me much more, and I was engaged in the story from the beginning.

You can read more of my ramblings about it here, if you are interested. On to the next one!

This is my latest read for this challenge, which won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in Australia in 1962. It was interesting, but unfortunately I didn't like it as much as I was expecting to. If you want to read my thoughts on it, here's the post on my blog.

I just posted my review of Dance of the Happy Shades, by Alice Munro, on my blog (it's the second title discussed). This was the winner of the 1982 Governor General's Award in Canada, and is a collection of short stories. I really enjoyed reading this, and it has made me want to explore Munro's writing further.

Hello, I'm Bridget, from The Ravell'd Sleave, and this is my first book challenge. I [think] I have made my final decisions for my list. I tried to choose a few things I know about, and have wanted to read, but mainly things I may not otherwise have chosen. So we'll see how that works ...

1. Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill (1982 Costa/Whitbread)
2. Alice Munro, Dance of the Happy Shades (1968 Governor General)
3. Thea Astley, The Well-Dressed Explorer (1962 Miles Franklin Literary Award)
4. Jessica Anderson, The Impersonators (1980 Miles Franklin Literary Award)
5. Richard B. Wright, Clara Callan (2001 Governor General) (2001 Giller)
6. Ian McEwen, Atonement (2002 National Book Critics Circle Award)
7. Edward P. Jones, The Known World (2005 IMPAC/Dublin) (2004 Pulitzer)
8. Gina Berriault, Women in Their Beds (1997 PEN/Faulkner) (1996 National Book Critics Circle Award)
9. Geraldine Brooks, March (2006 Pulitzer)
10. Ellen Glasgow, In This Our Life (1942 Pulitzer)
11. Loren D. Estelman, The Undertaker's Wife (2006 Spur Award)
12. Ellen Recknor, Prophet Annie (2000 Spur Award)

(Is it a bad sign, if just typing all of it wears me out???)