one thing i would really like to do is read more award-winning books from my lifetime. in 2016 i decided i would read all the booker winners until i realized i didn’t really like many of the booker winners. late in 2017 i realized i was drawn to winners of other awards, like the national book award and the newbery medal, to name a few. armed with that knowledge i compiled a list of various award winners, figuring i could find at least one book from each year that piqued my interest.

the lists i pulled from:

• the national book award
• the pulitzer prize for fiction
• the john newbery medal
• the printz award [awarded since 2000]

below are the ones i chose to read* with links to my reviews:

1983 – the color purple, alice walker [national book award; pulitzer]

1984 – dear mr henshaw, beverly cleary [newbery medal]

1985 –

1986 –

1987 –

1988 – beloved, toni morrison [pulitzer prize]

1989 –

1990 – number the stars, lois lowry [newbery medal]

1991 –

1992 –

1993 –

1994 – the giver, lois lowry [newbery medal]

1995 –

1996 –

1997 –

1998 –

1999 –

2000 – interpreter of maladies, jhumpa lahiri [pulitzer prize]

2001 –

2002 –

2003 –

2004 – the tale of despereaux, kate dicamillo [newbery medal]

2005 –

2006 –

2007 –

2008 –

2009 – the graveyard book, neil gaiman [newbery medal]

2010 – just kids, patti smith [national book award]

2011 –

2012 –

2013 –

2014 – the goldfinch, donna tartt [pulitzer]

2015 – all the light we cannot see, anthony doerr [pulitzer]

2016 – the underground railroad, colson whitehead [national book award; pulitzer 2017] / the sympathizer, viet thanh nguyen [pulitzer prize]

2017 – sing, unburied, sing, jesmyn ward [national book award]

2018 –

and as a note: some of the books i have read and written about it recent years, so i linked to those earlier posts.

have you read any of these? which were your favorites?

xx

*i’m not reading chronologically, so they’ll be filled in as and when i read them.