How I Started My Pulitzer Shelf

I decided to start a blog about my experiences in collecting and reading the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction because of the enjoyment and satisfaction this pursuit has given me over the last seven years. Right up-front I want to make it clear that I am not an expert in American literature. I am a clinical professor of counseling psychology and work in a university counseling center. I read for the love of reading that I started developing as a little kid reading the Landmark series of biographies of great people like George Washington and Babe Ruth. I don't let a day go by without reading a work of fiction just for the enjoyment of it. Reading the Pulitzer Prize winners has been a wonderful way to pursue my love of reading. Here is how I started on this adventure.

On a Saturday in January of 2004 I came across a book that caught my eye while rumaging around in our local used bookstore. One of Ours written by Willa Cather in 1922 was the book. I had never heard of it though I had read other works by Cather including her well-known My Antonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop. I was not familiar with One of Ours and decided to read it.

I didn't know at the time that I was about to start an adventure in reading great American fiction, much of it seemingly forgotten or, at least, not known to me. Not only would I read One of Ours but would go on to read many other works of fiction that I might have overlooked. This is because I noticed "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize" on the top of the cover of One of Ours. As I read and enjoyed the book, I started wondering what other works of fiction had won the Pulitzer Prize and if I would find them as satisfying as One of Ours. These questions have led me into a fun search for the other winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and a great experience in reading them. I have been able to collect an early copy, in many cases a first edition, of all of the Pulitzer Prize winners for fiction, starting with His Family by Ernest Poole that won in 1918 through Tinkers by Paul Harding that won in 2010.

Because of my focus on Pulitzer winners for fiction, I have become acquainted with many authors and their prize-winning works that I probably would never had learned about. This seems to be a good reason for giving awards to books and I am grateful that the Pulitzer Prize, endowed by Joseph Pulitzer, was launched in 1917. You can learn more about the Pulitzer Prize at http://www.pulitzer.org/history.html. In the Pulitzer website you can find the winners for fiction and the many other areas where awards are given annually.

In this blog, I will share some of my experiences in collecting and reading the Pulitzer prize-winning works of fiction. A large part of the fun is looking for the books. I will list some bookstores and online sources where you can start your own Pulitzer shelf. I will also post some of my opinions of the Pulitzer winners. I don't mind sharing my opinion but I remind you that I am an amateur. So, if you are involved in reading Pulitzer winners or are just getting interested, your comments are welcome.