Looking for another Pulitzer Prize Winning Book?

Are you looking for more Pulitzer Prize Winners or Finalists to read? Remember that there are Pulitzer Prize Awards for books in categories other than fiction. 

One of the more interesting book categories is General Nonfiction which is awarded to “a distinguished and appropriately documented book of nonfiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category.” As this is the "other" category, the winners and finalists are quite eclectic and include interesting topics such as science, culture, finance, crime, politics, death, civil rights, and more. Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists in this category include past Donnelly Library reading group selections such as The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winner in General Nonfiction, and Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, by S.C. Gwynne, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in General Nonfiction.

You can read about all of the General Nonfiction winners and finalists at the Pulitzer Prizes' website here: http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/223 or you can visit the book display on the first floor of Donnelly Library and check a winner or finalist out for the winter break!

Another Pulitzer Prize category for books is Biography or Autobiography which is awarded to “a distinguished and appropriately documented biography or autobiography by an American author.” The subjects of these biographies include figures such as John Adams, W.E.B. Du Bois, Edith Wharton, and more. You can read about all of the Biography or Autobiography winners and finalists at the Pulitzer Prizes' website here: http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/222.

So, if you are looking for more to read, check out our Pulitzer Prize Winners and Finalists in General Nonfiction book display and the Pulitzer Prize Winners and Finalists in Biography or Autobiography book display on the first floor of Donnelly Library next to the Popular Reading section.

Donnelly Library's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Discussion Highlights

Donnelly Library had its fifth meeting of the Pulitzer Prizes Reading Group on Thursday, December 01, 2016 when we got together to discuss Junot Díaz’s novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

This was our reading group’s final meeting and discussion focused on several different themes from the novel. Discussion highlights included the below.

• The style of the book. Díaz’s novel is full of 1980s popular culture references. Reading group members who grew up around the 1980s understood most of these references, but reading group members who grew up before or after this time period mostly missed them. This could be Díaz’s way of disorienting many of his readers and making them feel like outsiders to the characters’ lives and cultures.
• The shifting tone of this novel also made for interesting discussion. The story starts out being very funny and then shifts to being a very serious tale. This causes a complex response in the reader as she or he follows the various characters through the different strands of the narrative.
• The title of the novel was another highlight of the discussion. Reading group members could agree that Oscar’s life is certainly brief, but it is up for debate if his life could be called wondrous.
• The reading group scholar brought up the parallels in Oscar’s desire for women and the dictator Trujillo legendary womanizing. This led into a discussion of whether or not the reader is supposed to find the title character Oscar likable or not. Most reading group members did not find him likable, but rather found the narrator the more sympathetic character.

What did you find most interesting about the fifth meeting’s discussion or about the novel? Please post in the comments below.

Now Reading in Albuquerque

Participants at the South Broadway Library will be discussing Beloved by Toni Morrison, on Saturday, December 17, from 2-3:30 pm.