Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

I read The Town by Conrad Richter. It won the Pulitzer but wasn't nearly as good as the first two books in this trilogy, The Awakening Land: The Trees, The Fields, & The Town.

I always presumed they gave the Pulitzer to The Town in recognition of the high quality of the entire trilogy. I had a similar feeling when they gave the Academy Award for Best Picture to the final movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

That is an excellent point Brian.

Sometime I enjoy other books from an Author than the one that won an award. Maybe it is me not being as intellectual as the Board that selects is!

That makes a lot of sense, Brian.

The following are the Goodreads ratings for each book of The Awakening Land:

The Trees - 4.01 avg rating — 3,585 ratings — published 1940
The Fields - 4.22 avg rating — 1,426 ratings — published 1946
The Town - 3.95 avg rating — 3,779 ratings — published 1950

While The Fields high rating can partially be explained by it having less overall readers and ones who are more likely to be fans of Richter's writing, The Trees gets rated slightly higher than The Town even though it has a similar amount of readers.
So, Rosemarie, the GR ratings seem to agree with your evaluation of the books of the trilogy.
I have bought all 3 books of the trilogy and will be reading them this spring/summer.

Thanks for sharing the info, Brian.

Kathy's Pulitzer Prize Winner List

📌1918 His Family - Ernest Poole
📌1919 The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington
📌1921 The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
📌1922 Alice Adams - Booth Tarkington
📌1923 One of Ours - Willa Cather
1924 The Able McLaughlins - Margaret Wilson
📌1925 So Big - Edna Ferber
1926 Arrowsmith - Sinclair Lewis
1927 Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady - Lewis Bromfield
📌1928 The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thornton Wilder
1929 Scarlet Sister Mary - Julia Peterkin
1930 Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story - Oliver La Farge
1931 Years of Grace - Margaret Ayer Barnes
📌1932 The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
1933 The Store - Thomas S. Stribling
1934 Lamb in His Bosom - Caroline Miller
📌1935 Now in November - Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 Honey in the Horn - Harold L. Davis
📌1937 Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
1938 The Late George Apley - John P. Marquand
1939 The Yearling - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
📌1940 The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
1942 In This Our Life - Ellen Glasgow
1943 Dragon's Teeth - Upton Sinclair
1944 Journey in the Dark - Martin Flavin
1945 A Bell for Adano - John Hersey
1947 All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
1948 Tales of the South Pacific - James A. Michener
1949 Guard of Honor - James Gould Cozzens
1950 The Way West - A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
📌1951 The Town - Conrad Richter
1952 The Caine Mutiny - Herman Wouk
📌1953 The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
1955 A Fable - William Faulkner
1956 Andersonville - MacKinlay Kantor
📌1958 A Death in the Family - James Agee
📌1959 The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters - Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 Advise and Consent - Allen Drury
📌 1961 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
1962 The Edge of Sadness - Edwin O'Connor
1963 The Reivers - William Faulkner
📌1965 The Keepers of the House - Shirley Ann Grau
1966 The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 The Fixer - Bernard Malamud
1968 The Confessions of Nat Turner - William Styron
1969 House Made of Dawn - N. Scott Momaday
1970 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford - Jean Stafford
📌1972 Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner
📌1973 The Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty
1975 The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara
1976 Humboldt's Gift - Saul Bellow
1978 Elbow Room - James Alan McPherson
1979 The Stories of John Cheever - John Cheever
1980 The Executioner's Song - Norman Mailer
1981 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
1982 Rabbit Is Rich - John Updike
📌 1983 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
📌1984 Ironweed - William Kennedy
📌1985 Foreign Affairs - Alison Lurie
📌1986 Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
1987 A Summons to Memphis - Peter Taylor
📌1988 Beloved - Toni Morrison
📌1989 Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
1990 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love - Oscar Hijuelos
1991 Rabbit at Rest - John Updike
1992 A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley
1993 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories - Robert Olen Butler
1994 The Shipping News - E. Annie Prolux
1995 The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields
1996 Independence Day - Richard Ford
1997 Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer - Steven Millhauser
1998 American Pastoral - Philip Roth
1999 The Hours - Michael Cunningham
📌2000 Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri
2001 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon
2002 Empire Falls - Richard Russo
📌2003 Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
2004 The Known World - Edward P. Jones
📌2005 Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
📌2006 March - Geraldine Brooks
📌 2007 The Road - Cormac McCarthy 5/6/21
2008 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
📌2009 Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
2010 Tinkers - Paul Harding
📌2011 A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
2013 The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson
📌2014 The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
📌 2015 All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr 9/4/18
2016 The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen
📌 2017 The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead 6/2/21
📌2018 Less - Andrew Sean Greer
📌2019 The Overstory - Richard Powers
2020 The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead
2021 The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich
2022 The Netanyahus - Joshua Cohen
2023 Trust - Hernan Diaz
2023 Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
2024 Night Watch - Jayne Anne Phillips

I double checked and my msg 12 is up to date.

I am reading currently:
1935 Now in November - Josephine Winslow Johnson

Hope to add at least one more this year.

How is Now in November, Lesle? I've had it on my list but haven't read it yet.

This year, I hope to read:
His Family and The Magnificent Ambersons, the first two winners.

No additions since March 2022. I’d line to add a couple in 2022, but will see what moves me.

Kathy wrote: "How is Now in November, Lesle? I've had it on my list but haven't read it yet...."

She has written a book about the depression yet different than Steinbeck. Perspective from 3 women who have anxieties about sun, wind and rain for life to succeed.
She is a smooth writer and I am really enjoying it.

Lesle wrote: "Kathy wrote: "How is Now in November, Lesle? I've had it on my list but haven't read it yet...."

She has written a book about the depression yet different than Steinbeck. Perspective..."

That's good to hear. Maybe I can get to it in 2022.

Updated msg 42:
This year I hope to read "Now in November" (1935), "Andersonville" (1956), and "Beloved" (1988). I marked these three with a flower to mark this challenge to myself 🙂

Good luck, Anne. I like the way the books you chose are written in three different decades, well spaced out.

Anne wrote: "Updated msg 42: This year I hope to read "Now in November" (1935)"

I am reading this now and am almost done. Loving it so far!

I read Now in November shortly after joining goodreads in 2016. I remember that here descriptive writing was amazing-the farm before and after the terrible times is so clearly shown.

ooh im currently reading my second ever Pulitzer prize winner - The Goldfinch by my fav author Donna Tartt

Lesle & Rosemarie, I read “Now in November” last year & enjoyed it, possibly because it’s different from many of the books I usually read. But I thought the best thing about it was the comparison between it & The Grapes of Wrath. The background places & situation were very similar, but the actual stories were very different.

I finished the 1919 Pulitzer Prize winner, The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. I disliked the main character George Amberson Minifer throughout a lot of the book, but thought he was a very American character, brash and arrogant.

I did not like the main character either, Kathy.

Kathy I have had that on my wish list for a while now. It sounds like the main character is a turd! lol

George Amberson Minifer definitely is, Lesle!

These are Pulitzer Prize-winning books that I have read so far. (+ = books in trilogy or series that I have read, strike text= DNF)

1918: His Family by Ernest Poole
1919: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
1921: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton
1922: Alice Adams, by Booth Tarkington
1923: One of Ours by Willa Cather
1924: The Able McLaughlins
1925: So Big by Edna Therber 
1927: Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield
1928: The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder
1929: Scarlet Sister Mary, by Julia Peterkin
1930 Laughing Boy by Oliver LaFarge
1932: The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck
1933: The Store, by T. S. Stribling+
1936: Honey in the Horn by H.L. Davis
1940: The Grape of Wrath by John Steinbeck
1943: Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair
1944: Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
1945: A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
1948: Tales of the South Pacific, by James A. Michener
1949: Guard of Honor by James Cozzens
1951: The Town by Conrad Richter+
1952: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
1953: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
1958: A Death in the Family by James Agee
1959: The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
1961: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1965: The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
1967: The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
1969: House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
1972: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
1973: The Optimist Daughter by Eudora Welty
1975: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
1976: Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
1979: The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
1981: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
1984: Ironweed by William Kennedy
1985: Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
1986: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
1987: A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor
1993: A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler
1996: Independence Day by Richard Ford
1997: Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser
1998: American Pastoral by Philip Roth
2000: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
2002: Empire Falls by Richard Russo
2005: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
2007: The Road by Cormac McCarthy
2008: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2010: Tinkers by Paul Harding
2011: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
2014: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
2015: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2016: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh+
2018: Less by Andrew Sean Greer
2020: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
2022: Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
2023: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
2023: Trust by Hernan Diaz

updated 2/21/2025

A nice list already Pharmacdon!

You've read a lot of good books so far, Pharmacdon!

I added A Bell for Adano by John Hersey

Some Pulitzer Prize winners are a series or trilogy. Do you read the other books in the series? I have tried, but my TBR stack is getting more extensive than expected. I also find it interesting that a lot is part of a series.

I would think reading one in a series Pharmacdon is ok. I am sure the rest will be read eventually!

Lesle wrote: "I think reading one in a series Pharmacdon is ok. I am sure the rest will be read eventually!"

I just finished reading The Magnificent Ambersons and noticed it was part of a trilogy! Yikes! My trilogy reading was because of reviews where the other books were better (as in The Awakening Land in the above messages 101+), but I realize some of the trilogy reading is going to the back of the TBR list. Thanks for your input!

Pharmacdon my son Larron and I are clearing a lot. Slowly but surely...He just said this morning the more he cut down the more we uncovered another issue.

What you said kind of reminded me of what he said!

Pharmacdon wrote: "I just finished reading The Magnificent Ambersons and noticed it was part of a trilogy!"

Since I read The Magnificant Ambersons and all 3 of my Booth Tarkington novels a decade before joining Goodreads in 2014, I never noticed it ever being listed as part of The Growth Trilogy. In my reading on Tarkington, I don't remember ever hearing about The Growth Trilogy. So this is fascinating - the discovery of an unknown, to me, trilogy. As the 3rd volume of The Growth Trilogy National Avenue has a whopping 64 GR reviews this trilogy has been read slightly less times than that Lord of the Rings one.

In any event, thank you Pharmy for bringing this new info and discovery to light, As I've now learned my one big thing for the day. I can now turn my brain off. (yes, it had been turned on before)

Lesle wrote: "Recommended but No Award Given

The fiction jury had recommended the 1941 award go to Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Although the Pulitzer Board initially agreed with that judgment, th..."

This is an article that gives more clarity and information about the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The system seems to go from The Jury, who decides on and then submits the candidates to the Pulitzer Board who chooses one from the jury's candidates. The Columbia President presents the P Board's choice to the Board of Trustees of Columbia University who endorse the P. Board selection.

This article gives a clearer and more thorough story than I had heard. It shows that the Pulitzer Jury had recommended The Trees at the top of their 5 submitted candidates for the prize. The Pulitzer Board, as is its right, changed the Jury's recommendation and recommended the Hemingway, which was one of the 5 books the Jury presented. A few other worthy candidates are in there too. Then, the college President just refused to submit the "offensive" book to the school Board of Trustees for their approval. Here's the story:

https://pulitzernovels.wordpress.com/...

The Trees by Joseph Conrad and The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, and called the decision that year particularly difficult because “we find little to choose between the two.”

What is that suppose to mean? They just flipped a coin?

AND just because a book has 1000 pages makes it better?
Very partisan!

Lesle wrote: "The Trees by Joseph Conrad and The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, and called the decision that year particularly difficult because “we find little to choose between the two.”
What is that suppose to mean? They just flipped a coin?.."

Officially, no coin flipping was involved. The article states in the next line after the one you quoted that one member of the jury preferred Richter’s The Trees, so that's why they presented it as their primary recommendation. But that's just what the jury stated -in reality, it could have been a coin flip - but who admits to that.
The writer of the blog mistakenly referred to Joseph Conrad when he meant Conrad Richter as The Trees author. He must have been thinking like a Wheel of Fortune Before and After board: "Joseph Conrad Richter."

Brian wrote: "Lesle wrote: "The Trees by Joseph Conrad and The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, and called the decision that year particularly difficult because “we find little to choose between the ..."

And The Town (part of the trilogy that contains The Trees) winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1951 must have felt like a vindication.

Your probably right!
This is a series I would like to read. I looked into them not even a month ago.

Maybe we can add it to next years reads?

I finished Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge. I am starting Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin. I managed to get a library book as it is out of print. The bad thing about ordering through the library system is that the books show up unpredictably. I might be planning to read another book, such as a group read, and have it show up. Anyway, at least the book is free!

You are correct. You do get a free book. It might not be in the time frame you were hoping for.

I have at times had to turn a book in that was colored on by a child or missing a page which is disheartening.

Congrats on reading another Pulitzer!

Hello,

Just stumbled across this challenge … I always love a good list, and I think I’ll start tackling this one … I’m going to start backwards, though, with the most recent … here goes!

Happy reading, Abyssdancer!

Abyssdancer wrote: "Hello,

Just stumbled across this challenge … I always love a good list, and I think I’ll start tackling this one … I’m going to start backwards, though, with the most recent … here goes!"

I like your suggestion; I think I'll go through them backwards too. Some I have already read.

Best of luck Abyssdancer!
I have never thought of approaching a list backwards! What a great idea.

I added another book today (message #88):
Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington 1922 prize

It’s one of my favourites so far. It’s a fascinating story as the characters develop, there’s gentle humour & in the later part of the book I was desperate to know how the story ended but at the same time didn’t want it to end! The best classic I have read for a while.

Trisha wrote: "I added another book today (message #88):
Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington 1922 prize

It’s one of my favourites so far. It’s a fascinating story as the characters de..."

That is just wonderful Trisha!

I definitely enjoyed Penrod by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Booth Tarkington. I liked it more than his The Magnificent Ambersons.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

If you are an Audible-UK-Plus member it's free. It is read by the talented Stefan Rudnicki. Don't miss it. I explain in my review who I believe it will appeal to. Not necessarily everyone.

I finished reading The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson today, added to my list in message #88. I thought it was fascinating, a good story written beautifully. Although it was mainly serious, there were some lovely touches of humour that brought the characters to life.

My updated January 10, 2024 status on Pulitzer Reads with Star rating (# means read)

8/21/21 - 50 read
7/30/22 - 53 read
7/15/23 - 56 read
1/10/24 - 57 read

#1918 - His Family by Ernest Poole - 4
#1919 - The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington - 4
#1921 - The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - 5
#1922 - Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington - 3
#1923 - One of Ours by Willa Cather - 4
#1924 - The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson - 3
#1925 - So Big by Edna Ferber - 4
#1926 - Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis - 4
1927 - Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady by Lewis Bromfield
#1928 - The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder - 3
1929 - Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin
#1930 - Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story by Oliver La Farge - 3
1931 - Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
#1932 - The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - 3
1933 - The Store by Thomas S. Stribling
1934 - Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller
#1935 - Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson - 3
1936 - Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis
1937 - Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
#1938 - The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand - 3
#1939 - The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - 4
#1940 - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 4
1942 - In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow
1943 - Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair
1944 - Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin
#1945 - A Bell for Adano by John Hersey - 4
#1947 - All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren - 3
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener
1949 - Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens
#1950 - The Way West by A.B. Guthrie, Jr. - 4+
#1951 - The Town by Conrad Richter - 5
#1952 - The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk - 4
#1953 - The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - 3
1955 - A Fable by William Faulkner
1956 - Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor
#1958 - A Death in the Family by James Agee - 4
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 - Advise and Consent by Allen Drury
#1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - 4
1962 - The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
1963 - The Reivers by William Faulkner
#1965 - The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau - 4
1966 - The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter
1967 - The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
#1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron - 3
1969 - House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
1970 - The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford
#1972 - Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner - 5
#1973 -The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty - 4
#1975 - The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - 5
1976 - Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow
1978 - Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
1980 - The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
1981 -A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
#1982 - Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike - 4
#1983 - The Color Purple by Alice Walker - 3
#1984 - Ironweed by William Kennedy - 3
1985 - Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
#1986 - Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry - 4
#1987 - A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor - 3
#1988 - Beloved by Toni Morrison - 3
1989 - Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
1990 - The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
#1991 - Rabbit at Rest by John Updike - 4
1992 - A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories by Robert Olen Butler
#1994 - The Shipping News by E. Annie Prolux - 3
#1995 - The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields - 4
#1996 - Independence Day by Richard Ford - 4
#1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser - 5
#1998 - American Pastoral by Philip Roth - 3
#1999 - The Hours by Michael Cunningham - 3
#2000 - Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri - 4
#2001 -The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon - 4
#2002 - Empire Falls by Richard Russo - 4
#2003 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides - 5
2004 - The Known World by Edward P. Jones
#2005 - Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - 3
#2006 - March by Geraldine Brooks - 4
2007 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy
#2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - 4
#2009 - Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - 4
2010 - Tinkers by Paul Harding
#2011 - A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 3
#2013 - The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson - 4
#2014 - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - 3
#2015 - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - 4
#2016 - The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen - 3
2017 - The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
#2018 - Less by Andrew Sean Greer - 3
#2019 - The Overstory by Richard Powers - 4
2020 - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
2021 - The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
2022 - The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
2023 - Trust by Herman Diaz
#2023 - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - 4

4/25/20 - 45 read
1/28/21 - 47 read (added A Death in the Family & Laughing Boy)
4/01/21 - 48 read (added His Family)
6/21/21 - 49 read (added The Sympathizer)
7/24/21 - 50 read (added Now in November)
12/28/21- 51 read (added A Bell for Adano)
6/11/22 - 52 read (added The Caine Mutiny)
6/24/22 - 53 read (added The Late George Apley)
7/15/23 - 56 read (added The Town, The Way West & The Killer Angels)
1/10/24 - 57 read (added Demon Copperhead)

Reading more Pulitzer winners is a current goal, so I was glad to find this thread!
By the end of this year, I hope to add Keepers of the House, Able McLaughlins, The Good Earth, Rabbit is Rich and I'm currently reading The Yearling.
Darn, I've got a lot to read since I'm in my late 60's. As Willie Nelson would say "I've got a long ways to go and a short time to get there"!
But it's the journey isn't it??
(edited Jan 2025 to include 10 Pulitzer winner read in 2024)

Grace's Pulitzer Reads

✅1918 His Family - Ernest Poole
✅1919 The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington
✅1921 The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
1922 Alice Adams - Booth Tarkington
1923 One of Ours - Willa Cather
✅1924 The Able McLaughlins - Margaret Wilson
1925 So Big - Edna Ferber
1926 Arrowsmith - Sinclair Lewis
1927 Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady - Lewis Bromfield
✅1928 The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thornton Wilder
1929 Scarlet Sister Mary - Julia Peterkin
1930 Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story - Oliver La Farge
1931 Years of Grace - Margaret Ayer Barnes
✅1932 The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
1933 The Store - Thomas S. Stribling
1934 Lamb in His Bosom - Caroline Miller
1935 Now in November - Josephine Winslow Johnson
1936 Honey in the Horn - Harold L. Davis
✅1937 Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
1938 The Late George Apley - John P. Marquand
✅1939 The Yearling - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
✅1940 The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
1942 In This Our Life - Ellen Glasgow
1943 Dragon's Teeth - Upton Sinclair
1944 Journey in the Dark - Martin Flavin
1945 A Bell for Adano - John Hersey
✅1947 All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
1948 Tales of the South Pacific - James A. Michener
1949 Guard of Honor - James Gould Cozzens
1950 The Way West - A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
1951 The Town - Conrad Richter
✅1952 The Caine Mutiny - Herman Wouk
1953 The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
1955 A Fable - William Faulkner
1956 Andersonville - MacKinlay Kantor
1958 A Death in the Family - James Agee
1959 The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters - Robert Lewis Taylor
1960 Advise and Consent - Allen Drury
✅1961 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
1962 The Edge of Sadness - Edwin O'Connor
1963 The Reivers - William Faulkner
✅1965 The Keepers of the House - Shirley Ann Grau
1966 The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter - Katherine Anne Porter
1967 The Fixer - Bernard Malamud
1968 The Confessions of Nat Turner - William Styron
1969 House Made of Dawn - N. Scott Momaday
1970 The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford - Jean Stafford
✅1972 Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner
✅1973 The Optimist's Daughter - Eudora Welty
1975 The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara
1976 Humboldt's Gift - Saul Bellow
1978 Elbow Room - James Alan McPherson
1979 The Stories of John Cheever - John Cheever
1980 The Executioner's Song - Norman Mailer
✅1981 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
✅1982 Rabbit Is Rich - John Updike
1983 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
1984 Ironweed - William Kennedy
✅1985 Foreign Affairs - Alison Lurie
1986 Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
✅1987 A Summons to Memphis - Peter Taylor
✅1988 Beloved - Toni Morrison
✅1989 Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
1990 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love - Oscar Hijuelos
✅1991 Rabbit at Rest - John Updike
✅1992 A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley
1993 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories - Robert Olen Butler
✅1994 The Shipping News - E. Annie Prolux
1995 The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields
1996 Independence Day - Richard Ford
1997 Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer - Steven Millhauser
✅1998 American Pastoral - Philip Roth
1999 The Hours - Michael Cunningham
2000 Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri
✅2001 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon
✅2002 Empire Falls - Richard Russo
✅2003 Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
2004 The Known World - Edward P. Jones
✅2005 Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
✅2006 March - Geraldine Brooks
✅2007 The Road - Cormac McCarthy 5/6/21
✅2008 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
✅2009 Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
2010 Tinkers - Paul Harding
2011 A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
2013 The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson
✅2014 The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
✅2015 All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr 9/4/18
2016 The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen
✅2017 The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead 6/2/21
2018 Less - Andrew Sean Greer
✅2019 The Overstory - Richard Powers
✅2020 The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead
✅2021 The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich
2022 The Netanyahus - Joshua Cohen
✅ (tie) 2023 Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
2023 Trust - Herman Diaz (tie)
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Happy reading, Grace! You've made good start!

Thank you for the list, Grace! I copied it into a Word document to keep on hand. I, too, am older and feel the same way--so much to read and so little time left. I'm reading a lot more, but mostly mysteries, crime, and thrillers. But, I do like the classics. Reading your list reminded me of one of the best books I ever read: Advise and Consent. I didn't think I would like it. It was in a Reader's Digest condensed version I had bought at a garage sale. I liked it so much I borrowed the full version from the library and read that!