Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2024 Reaction
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- Опубликовано: 5 май 2024
- What a surprise! The 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been announced at last. Let's look at my reaction, talk about what I wanted to win, who the winner was, and who the finalists were. Expand for more information 👇
Links 💻
The Pulitzer Website: www.pulitzer.org/winners/jayn...
The Official Announcement Video: • 2024 Pulitzer Prize An...
Jump to the Fiction Announcement: 09:32
Further Viewing 🎥
Last Year’s Reaction: • Watch Me Freak Out Abo...
My Predictions for This Year: • Pulitzer Prize Predict...
My Interpreter of Maladies Deep Dive: • My Pulitzer Prize Obse...
The Washington Post’s Best Books of 2023: • The Washington Post’s ...
The New York Times’ Best Books of 2023: • The New York Times Boo...
My Most Anticipated Books of Late 2023 (Featuring Night Watch): • My Most Anticipated Bo...
The Winner 🥇
Night Watch, Jayne Anne Phillips: bookshop.org/a/99775/97804514...
The Finalists 🥈
Wednesday’s Child: Stories, Yiyun Li: bookshop.org/a/99775/97803746...
Same Bed, Different Dreams, Ed Park: bookshop.org/a/99775/97808129...
Other Titles Mentioned 📚
North Woods, Daniel Mason: bookshop.org/a/99775/97805935...
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, James McBride: bookshop.org/a/99775/97805934...
Absolution, Alice McDermott: bookshop.org/a/99775/97803746...
Tom Lake, Ann Patchett: bookshop.org/a/99775/97800633...
Blackouts, Justin Torres: bookshop.org/a/99775/97803742...
Let Us Descend, Jesmyn Ward: bookshop.org/a/99775/97819821...
Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: bookshop.org/a/99775/97805934...
Witness, Jamel Brinkley: bookshop.org/a/99775/97803746...
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, Debra Magpie Earling: bookshop.org/a/99775/97815713...
This Other Eden, Paul Harding: bookshop.org/a/99775/97813240...
Open Throat, Henry Hoke: bookshop.org/a/99775/97803746...
My Affiliate Page on Bookshop: bookshop.org/shop/supposedlyfun
If you would like to support this channel, please feel free to use Super Thanks or the affiliate links to Bookshop, but please do not feel obligated. I appreciate your presence regardless.
But wait, there's more!
Email: supposedlyfungreg-at-gmail.com
Storygraph: app.thestorygraph.com/profile...
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Website: supposedlyfun.com/
See that you’re wearing your Parnassus shirt. RIP Sparky❤️
I’m still so sad about that!
I had the winner on my TBR and took it off after reading reviews. Back on now.
I didn't consciously take it off of my TBR at any point, but here we are.
Love your reaction, Greg! I was also nervously watching a couple of the dual-winners announced in other categories... it was a real shock to see neither James McBride nor Ann Patchett among the fiction finalists.
I’m hoping they both get across the finish line someday! Shocking to me that McBride hasn’t even been a finalist.
So much fun following the Pulitzer with you, take care!
Thanks so much!
One of my Facebook friends is an accomplished poet and he shared this news today, saying that she had been his mentor. 🎉
That’s so cool!
How cool is that!
@@SupposedlyFun It is indeed cool to be in his orbit.
I really appreciate your establishing your own extended short list, which is actually what I like most about Book Prizes and how they can open up my consideration of a completely unknown novel, which I end up loving. So thanks for your predictions and well I'll probably give the winner a read in the Autumn, after my favourite award, the HUGOs at the Science Fiction Worldcon.
I'm glad it helps! I do kinda love the surprise factor of the Pulitzer announcement, but it can be so useful to have something to grab onto in advance.
I love Jayne Anne Phillips! It's been on my "wishlist-desperate" list since September, 2023. Very excited about this! 💚
I look forward to getting to know her work better.
@SupposedlyFun Lark and Termite is so brilliant. 💚
@@onourpath I just found a copy at my local used bookstore!
@@SupposedlyFun Lucky you! I hope you enjoy. 💚
I have been waiting for your reaction to this!
Me too!!
Same!
I've been waiting for to someone to be as excited aboot this as me 🤪
My people! 😂
I hope it was worth the wait for everyone!
I loved seeing Ed Park as a finalist. Sad to see Ann Patchett left out.
Me too!
North Woods should’ve won. It was a remarkable book that instantly became one of my all time favs. But, I’ll give this one a chance at some point.
Same. I loved it so much I want to date the author 😄
But climate change was obviously not the hot topic this year for the judges.
I was more muted on North Woods, but even I can't deny that it would have made a solid winner. I'll catch up to Night Watch at some point soon!
Now that I know how corrupting the funding behind Columbia University's Pulitzer Prize is, I have nothing but disdain for it.
I still think you nailed it, Greg :)
Still loved your predictions video & found books to add to my TBR from it!
Thank you!
Great video! So much fun experiencing your reaction!!! Thanks so much!!!! 💕💕📚📚
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I don't like that the Pulitzer judges picked a lesser-known book simply to zag from the approach taken last year (shouldn't the objective be to select the "best" book of the year?), however you definitely get credit for seeing that coming.
I feel like I can't get annoyed by it since choosing the best is largely an arbitrary process anyway. There's always next year!
I began reading “Night Watch” today and the story is already reeling me in. Jayne Anne Phillips has managed to hook me. And yes, I give you credit for your prediction. Oh, and nice haircut, Greg.✂
Thank you on all counts! 🤗
@@SupposedlyFun I'm returning to say that although "Night Watch" was a good read, it pales in comparison to “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” and "North Woods" and "Tom Lake." Alas.
So fun you has this much passion for the PP! I literally checked at 6am, 8am, 10am,2pm....and it was finally announced late afternoon. I thought I had the wrong year at first, had never heard of any of the finalists! Guess I need to start paying more attention to the other long lists! The poetry winner Tripas, only has 49 reads on goodreads, and my Library does not even carry it (yet). Ah, the Pulitzer, another year of anticipation awaits!
It's going to be a long year before we get to the next finish line! I took a quick look for the drama winner earlier and couldn't find anything.
What the what?! Well, I’ll have to check it out.
Loved watching this and your response 😁❤
Thank you!
You made this fun. Ha! Your excitement is contagious.
Just bought the book.
Thank you so much!
This is a dramatic result. Listening to BookTube reaction videos is a fun consolation prize 😊
I’m glad it works as a consolation!
How exciting!
I always love a Pulitzer announcement!
The time has come! Love these videos Greg!
Thank you!
I am watching the announcement rn. Was waiting who would be the first booktuber (from my subscription list) to have a reaction. In my world - you WON :)
Woohoo! 🤗
I love your channel so much. You absolutely get credit for your predictions! ❤
Thank you so much!
Someone on Instagram had Same Bed Different Dreams as their Pulitzer pick. That's the best I saw anyone do as far as predictions. I have all three of the finalists on my bookshelf but have not read a single one of them. Lol. Night Watch was something I picked up from the National Book Award longlist but never got around to. I got Wednesday's Child as a recommendation from Ann Patchett. Same Bed Different Dreams is something that I've seen many people rave about and was the winner of the LA Times Book Prize. A surprising list, but I'm all for it!
The closest anyone in my Pulitzer group came to getting it right was guessing that Same Bed would be a finalist. Unpredictable year!
Years like this are my favorite!! I’ve never heard of this but am very excited to discover something new. I love the years where it’s left field. I actually prefer (and hope) they award books I haven’t read yet.
Hopefully this year is more of a discovery like Tinkers, where everyone is ultimately thrilled with the win.
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
Your passion is so infectious and your RUclips videos are always a must watch for me now. Safe travels on your trip too. I might be from Scotland (and slightly biased) but I think you’ll love it here. ♥️
Thank you so much! I'm so excited to go to Scotland.
Greg shortly after you once mentioned Lark and Termite, I saw it in a second hand store and bought it and read it so this one time I’m ahead of you on a book lol
What's really funny is I saw Lark and Termite in my local used bookstore about a month ago and seriously considered picking it up based on all the good things i had heard about it when it was published. I called yesterday to see if it's still there and they had sold it! Oops.
Well deserved - Jayne Anne Phillips best novel is 'Machine Dreams', an absolute masterpiece but every one of her novels are multi-faceted gems.
That's good to know--thanks!
I was so excited to see Ilyon Woo's book win! I highly recommend Master, Slave, Husband, Wife. It was one of my nonfiction favorites of the year.
I’ve been very interested in Master Slave Husband Wife!
Greg, I echo your reaction to Night Watch as the winner this year, but your top four predictions prompted my reading them. Thank you, thank you!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the books you pick up.
I think you deserve some credit Greg! 🎉😊❤
Thank you!
As you haeve described, I have little opinion on fiction. I loved some of the non-fiction picks. I just finished Liliana's Invincible Summer and it was a 5 star read. The story was so personal and beautiful. I also loved The Best Minds (finalist). I felt King was going to be a winner from the second I heard of that book, but it was so deserving. Master Slave Husband Wife is a book I have talked about since last summer. I am so happy they tied.
The nonfiction prizes have been getting a lot more excitement for sure.
I predicted Jayne Anne Philips win years ago when I read MACHINE DREAMS. Finished NIGHT WATCH a few weeks ago and thought it had an unusual streak from the start.
YOU MAKE ME SMILE. I APPRECIATE YOUR EFFORTS.
JEANNIE PAWLOWSKI
I just found a copy of Machine Dreams at my local used bookstore! I'm so glad to help make you smile! Thank you for telling me. 🥂
I am underwhelmed
Mostly I just feel bummed for the books and authors that didn’t win. But maybe I’ll feel different after I read Night Watch.
I enjoy your commentary always, but I tune into this to make sure you don’t have an anxiety attack.
🤣
I literally laughed out loud. It’s so true! 😂🤣😂😂
Wow! I agree that a lot of us will be playing catch-up! I jumped on my library's site after watching your vid and each of these books has only 1-3 copies but all were available for me to put on hold. By comparison, my library has more than 3 dozen copies of Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, and 400 people are waiting in line to read it. Wild. I agree it's hard to know how to feel. I read a lot of the buzziest books and really loved some of them, so while this feels a bit like a stranger beating out my BFF, I look forward to exploring these with an open mind!
I hope we both like them!
This was such a wild journey! I started reading “literary” fiction last fall and stumbled onto your channel. You sucked me into the world of Pulitzer books. When your prediction video came out, I read as many as possible before today. I had such a wonderful time-so many great books! In fact, I honestly couldn’t pick a favorite to win. My final 3 I forced myself to pick this morning was Dearborn, Chain-Gang All-Stars, and Tom Lake to win, but would’ve been ecstatic if Heaven & Earth, North Woods, Lost Journals of Sacajawea, or Let Us Descend make the list.
And then I was so shocked watching the announcement! I feel like you, a bit flat…”well okay then, guess I’ll be reading those 3 books now.” I’m sure I’ll enjoy further reading. But yeah, I do feel a bit deflated that NONE of my favorites were mentioned.
But huge, huge thanks to you for your videos. I just adore how much my reading tastes have broadened. And yep! You totally called them picking lesser known books-I’d only vaguely heard of Same Bed Different Dreams recently. Off to order all 3…. Hi to Joel, and scritches to Teddy. 📚♥️
Thank you so much! That means a lot. I always knew there would be a day when the winner wasn’t on my prediction list. I’m kinda glad it happened so I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed so many of the books you picked up!
It definitely speaks to your passion, communication style and building of a virtual community that probably so many of us listened to the results and the first thing we thought was "Oh! What will Greg say??!?!?!?!" 😊😊
I love that! Thanks.
@@SupposedlyFun That's so true, Shannon. Greg's reaction was my first thought.😀
@@MJ-in-Canada 🤗
Greg, love all your videos. I'm currently reading through all the Pulitzers that have won the Fiction Prize. I'm 1/3 of the way through the Stories of John Cheever ('79 winner), which is almost 700 pages. After the livestream video today, I saw Night Watch was available at my local library. It's not too long, so I'm going to set aside Cheever (they're short stories, so it's easy to resume again later without having to recall what you were reading) and see what I think of the new winner!
I hope your project is going well! I remember liking the Cheever but it’s been a long time. I hope you also like Night Watch.
I have put it on hold at my library. It sounds interesting.
I feel like I’ll be waiting a while for my ordered copy , but thankfully I’m going on vacation anyway. 🤣😂
@@SupposedlyFun have the best time on vacay!
Great fun watching your reaction. I also was a little less excited about Night Watch than I would have been for Heaven and Earth or Absolution. However, I remember you being so stocked for Night Watch in a video you did about books coming out. I hope as you set with it and as we all dig in to this book you get that feeling back. Actually, it will be a bit fun since it wasn't a favorite and hasn't been as BUZZED about, I think we will all be reading it at the same time. Another national/international bookclub / book tube feeling. Happy reading!
It will be fun to catch up to this one for sure! Hopefully, once we all catch up it will feel like a fun discovery.
First thing I thought when I saw the results was "I was not expecting that! I wonder what Greg thought!' You were right. I give you credit. It was a lesser known book! 👏The winners of Biography and General Non-fiction look interesting too.
The biography and nonfiction categories were more fun this year. Who knew?
Neat surprise for me. Interesting selection.
Very unexpected!
I was rooting for North Woods, never heard of the 3 finalists, but ordered Night Watch.
I’m guessing it will take a while for us all to get our copies of Night Watch!
I was rooting for James McBride, not familiar with any of the finalists :(
I really hope McBride gets one someday.
I really enjoyed The Night Watch ✅
That’s good to know!
I read Night Watch last year but hadn’t heard of it as a Pulitzer pick. Interesting story, enjoyed it, I’ve read Phillips for some time.
I'm excited to catch up to it!
Thanks to you I read two books I may never have - Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, and Tom Lake (which I so loved!). Well, now perhaps one more 👍🏽
I’m so glad you loved them!
I've reserved Night Watch at my library, I'll pick it up on the weekend, it sounds interesting. I picked up Tom Lake last week thinking it might have a chance, I will still read it, it also sounds interesting. I like reading from the Miles Franklin longlist, although, I think Praiseworthy might win it after also winning The Stella Prize, maybe I'll read that one again. But it limits the number of books I can read. Enjoy Ireland and happy reading!
I hope you like Tom Lake! I've heard good things about Praiseworthy. Happy reading!
Great video! Haven't read the winner, saw many mixed reviews....at the moment not very excited about the book, but I'm looking forward to your comments!
I'm interested to see how I feel about it once I dig in.
Wow! Disappointed Tom Lake and Heaven and Earth Grocery Store were not even finalists. Loved them both! Definitely will try Night Watch.
I’m looking forward to trying it, but I don’t think it will top Tom Lake or Heaven & Earth for me. We’ll see!
I loved The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li. It has Elena Ferrante vibes, but I preferred it to My Brilliant Friend.
That's high praise!
Adding the Yiyun Li to my TBR and love the Elena Ferrante series...4 books I loved and the TV adaptation as well. Thanks for the recommendation.
I probably will read Night Watch at some point… but It’s beginning to seem that the most fun I have with book prizes is during the Longlist Phase. And you’re right, the Pulitzer, though fascinating, doesn’t have that kind of lead up. Anyway, it’s all good fun. I hope you have a great vacation!!
I do get VERY excited for a longlist. Thank you!
I have to give you the win! You did say it would be a lesser known book and it was. I was rooting for Heaven and Earth Grocery Store myself!
I would have LOVED to see McBride get recognized.
@@SupposedlyFun I did order Night Watch and hope to love it!
I think we’re all going to be waiting a long time for our orders. We’ll see!
Its as though the Pulitzer Board just found 3 more books for us to read and discuss! I wasn't all that jazzed about North Woods, Heaven & Earth or Tom Lake. They are all fine books--but maybe Night Watch is better! You get 1/3 credit for predicting you wouldn't predict the winner...but only if you read the winner and give us a deep dive before the year is out. Bon Voyage. Thanks for the reaction video.
I’ll do my best to get a deep dive when I get back. Thanks!
Thanks, Greg!🌷I’m now looking forward to your review of Night Watch (after your wonderful holiday of course😊). It was your enthusiasm which made me discover Tom Lake, North Woods and The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. I think they’re three great novels which will stay with me for a very long time and I may not have picked them up if it hadn’t been for you. I’m now wondering whether Night Watch can beat any of them😅
I feel like it will be difficult for any book to top Tom Lake and Heaven & Earth Grocery Store for me, but we'll see!
Im happy about King the life, such a great biography.
That feels like a great win.
I haven’t read it and my library doesn’t have it yet so I’ll just have to wait and see if they get with the program.
Currently reading: Deep Freeze, Burma Sahib, and Tusks of Extinction.
My library didn’t have it either.
Commenting before I finish watching but I am about 30% in to King and it's fabulous, and I also read Master Slave Husband Wife this year and LOVED it. You'd really enjoy that one Greg! So happy it won! Ok back to the video 😊
Honestly, that category was 🔥
I'm excited by the news, however also a bit stunned. I was really thinking it would be Heaven and Earth, North Woods and Chain Gang All stars. I have Night Watch and Same Bed Different Dreams. I haven't read either and can't quite recall why i purchased them. I am looking forward to reading all three, then afterward deciding if they were more deserving than the favorites
I look forward to your thoughts on them!
I’m extremely happy that Liliana’s Invincible Summer won for memoir, it and How to Say Babylon are my two front runner for reading this year. It is a heartbreakingly beautiful book, and the fullest presentation of a murder victim in biography/memoir.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll have to check it out.
I've read Night Watch and I do not understand why it won. Controversial early scene took off points for me and even without that, the book was very underwhelming.
The Transallegheny Lunatic Asylum is partially restored and an awesome experience to visit. Highly recommended.
Wow, I didn't realize it's an actual place you can visit. Thanks for letting me know.
The only book of the finalists that I own is Same Bed, Different Dream. I think I first heard of it on one of your videos. One of the list ones. NY Times or the ALA. I'm partial to Sci-fi, especially literary Sci-fi. I haven't read it yet. I should move it up the TBR queue.
It definitely sounds like something you might like!
I loved Night Watch. I listened to it and didn't want to arrive at my destinations so I could keep listening!
That’s good to hear!
I saw the results and thought it’s really not fair to pull these results out of their bums when people like Greg and others put so much honest effort into evaluating the books. Just not fair.
I did however watch last year’s video earlier, so that joy made today’s results less salty.
EEK! You called it! 👏👏👏👏👏
😂 😂 Nothing will ever top last year's reaction.
@@SupposedlyFun But you called it on the lesser known book!
Wondering if your Huh? look was anything like my WTF did they do again reaction.
👯😂🤣
I’ve never heard of any of the fiction selections and this is a first for me too. They sound good though!
They do sound good!
I have gotten it from the library.
This book doesn't super excite me but I do apperciate a lesser known novel.
I look forward to your thoughts on it!
I'll give you credit for your prediction.
I appreciate that!
I’ll give you credit, plus you have to pick one. I have not read Night Watch but will now. I’m excited by the short list, chance to get excited for a couple of lesser known. I’m all in on Lin so I’ve read Wednesday Child and thought they were very good stories. Actually I’m more excited than last year. (PS The Family Chao was an enjoyable book)
Family Chao was another book I had on my list that fell off my radar. Now it’s back!
I saw Night Watch on a “new” shelf in the library. It was there all the time I visited. Don’t think it was ever borrowed :) (might not be true, looked this way). I was interested, but also didn’t pick it up. I guess, tomorrow it won’t be there :D
I’m guessing there will be a hold list for it now!
I loved Wednesday's Child and would have been thrilled if it had won. I remember reading about Night Watch when it came out and was only mildly interested in reading it. The reviews on GR are not encouraging especially with some of the difficult subject matter and my pet peeve in contemporary novels, no dialogue quotation marks....drives me crazy!
I didn’t see Dwight Garner’s review of Night Watch until my sister sent it after I had finished editing. It’s worth a Google!
I had an inkling the finalists and winner might come from left field this year. Night Watch is not available here for another couple of months, but I remembered it had been longlisted for the National Book Awards. I have really heard nothing about the two finalists.
I have a copy of Night Watch ordered, but I imagine it will be a while before it comes in.
You are so adorable. I love your excitement and it’s made me more invested in book award season. With that said, I remember you talking about this book and it didn’t move me at all. I’m sure it’s great but this year’s winner and finalists are just meh for me.
I was pulling for James McBride and Jesmyn Ward.
There’s always next year! I’m pretty sure this year won’t seem exciting even after I read Night Watch.
I was surprised but also not completely shocked due to the curve ball history you mention. My library has all three of these and they sound interesting so I'll try them and also Liliana's Invincible Summer and Master Slave Husband Wife. Never a dull moment with the Pulitzer!
I look forward to your thoughts on them!
A bit shocked! Well, I have a new book to order as soon as I get out of the hospital! This book does sound interesting!Awesome video Greg!❤
I hope you’re okay!
Im felling meh too! Dont know if i will get to it. My next read is North Woods 😂😂😂
I hope you like it!
Thought it was weird the Amazon ratings were just above 4 stars for Night Watch and the finalists and in the high 3s for all three on Goodreads. As people check them out, I wonder how/if it will change.
From Pulitzer description alone, Same Bed, Different Dreams seems more my thing, but Night Watch has a fascinating angle to the Civil War. Might check it out. Unfortunately the tbr list keeps getting longer.
The TBR has a way of doing that. I’m always suspicious of star ratings, but it would be interesting to track them after an announcement like this.
Pretty deflating win, but whatever, you can't win them all. I was Team North Woods all the way, and I think time will be on its side moving forward when this one takes its place amongst the more forgotten titles. It feels like a career achievement win for Jayne Anne Phillips, similar to Louise Erdrich without the prior citations. Also, Tayari Jones blurbed Night Watch, calling it a "tour de force!", so there's that. I recall Esi Edugyan's major endorsement on one of This Other Eden's covers, and that book went far with the Booker jury last year. Always found that fishy. Cool that Justin Chang won Criticism and Zadie Smith of all people was a finalist! That's crazy. King: A Life had to win from the moment it was released last year. Nice tie there. Yeah, other than that, quite the middling affair overall.
It’s kind of fun that you don’t know who the jury is until the announcement because you can’t look for clues like that. Or maybe it’s infuriating?
Yes, I'm also Team North Woods all the way!
I looked up reviews of Night Watch on Storygraph, and I'm glad they were honest. It sounds way too rapey for me to ever check it out.
@@MsPixieD Reviews do seem mixed--and the content sounds like it could be a challenge--but I'm looking forward to catching up to Night Watch to see which side I fall on.
I was cringing a little watching your excitement in the beginning, because I'd already seen the winner! But yes, I think you can definitely count this as a win. As a friend said, I don't think anyone had this on their dance card. I've heard lukewarm things about it, and it feels so random, I think the judges must have just thrown darts! I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts when you get a chance to read it, though.
I've heard amazing things about Same Bed, Different Dreams, so I'm looking forward to that. And I do like Yiyun Li, so I'll need to pick up the story collection. The descriptions seem interesting.
Not one person in my Pulitzer group predicted Night Watch! No one even had it on their list of potential finalists.
Nightwatch serious and 1st rate-some similarity to Lincoln in the Bardo by Saunders; The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang also 1st rate
Well I did enjoy Lincoln in the Bardo, so that’s promising. Thanks!
I haven't read any of these books, so I have little opinion on them. I feel kind of sorry that one you wanted didn't win, but the winner sounds kind of interesting.
It definitely sounds interesting!
Might be the only person alive with this opinion but I really disliked The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store and I'm kind of glad it wasn't a finalist. Very interested in reading Same Bed, Different Dreams.
I’ve heard from a bunch of people who weren’t as into Heaven & Earth as I was, so you’re not alone!
I think you have an intelligent take on how the books are chosen and if the winners are mainstream or obscure and why that may matter. Your enthusiastic for good books is contagious and gun. Thanks for doing this. Making a list from your suggests. I’m a big fan of non fiction. The Best Minds is an astonishingly good book about the author’s friendship with a brilliant friend who has schizophrenia and eventually murders his girlfriend. Astonishingly good read. Look for it.
Thank you for the kind words. Now that you’ve said that I remember an interview about it The Best Minds. It sounded incredible!
Looks like the year of unlikable characters! How interesting, I DNF'd two of these. The Reformatory beat Night Watch on my pile of possibilities, prison/institution stories are best enjoyed sparingly.
I’m in the middle of The Reformatory now and really enjoying it!
It will be interesting to see where I fall with Night Watch. Response has been a bit mixed.
NBA longlistees arguably make for the least exciting Pulitzer winners: not mainstream enough to have a large faction rallying behind it, but also not obscure enough to be a surprise breakout or brand new discovery.
I love SBDD though, so I’m grateful to have that to be excited about this year.
I do think the biggest cause for celebration is seeing another story collection among the finalists. Hopefully one will take the prize again before long.
I’m hopeful that a story collection will get through soon. We’ll see!
You definitely predicted that a surprise book would win…I’m not disappointed because I didn’t have a favorite to root for…I love watching your excitement though…
I’m glad it’s enjoyable!
Well, what do I know, I read this book when reading the National Book Award long list and gave it 3.5. It didn’t even make it to the NBA shortlist
How funny!
Did not read any of those 3 finalists. My finalist was Heaven and Earth. Glad I read Master/Slave.
I would like to get to Master Slave at some point.
It’s worth your time. It really weaves the couples’ incredible story into the fabric of the time.
@@susanb4481 That's good to know!
Ironically, I currently have a copy of this book from the library, but haven’t started it yet. I really did enjoy the authors book Lark and Termite.
That happened to me when Less won! I had just picked it up from the library when it won.
What?! WHAT??!!!
I’m so bummed for James McBride and Ann Patchett.
I am a bit disappointed. Now I'm rooting for Brotherless Night to win the Women's or Carol Shields prize.
That would be fun!
Is it me, or is it just criminal that The Heaven And Earth Grocery Store did not win ?
I was really hoping for the Lost Journals of Sacajewa, but I expected it to be North Woods.
Lost Journals would have been a fun winner.
Never even heard of this book
I think a lot of people are in the same boat!
I'm more astonished that they had two interconnected short story collections and two women, one of them not white, as finalists. And I kind of like that it was a list of books that weren't on my radar. In part because, yay more books for my tbr, and in part because I wasn't 100% feeling most of the books that people were prediction. With the exception of Tom Lake. I'm sad about Tom Lake not even being a finalist.
I do hope both Patchett and McBride get a Pulitzer someday soon. They would have been worthy winners this year. But I look forward to giving Night Watch a try! It does feel like the story collections that get in with the finalists are always immediately pushed to the side. Maybe someday!
I liked Tom Lake
Such a good book!
Give yourself credit. Predictions are for fun anyway, supposedly!! You did great.
That's a good point! You'd think I would remember that with my channel name. 😉
Yo😊ù get credit for reading period. This book did come out of left field. You get E for EFFOŔT.
I love an E for Effort!
Finished Night Watch yesterday. The writing took me a while to get into. The book picks up once the two main characters get to the asylum. There is a lot of sexual content in the novel, some of it disturbing. I felt the writing was purposefully obscure. It is three stars. I ranked it 32nd out of the 37 Pulitzers I have read so far.