Play Book Tag discussion
July 2017: Award Winners
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Announcing the July Tag

Hard to know what to recommend (sooo many good choices, but many I know folks here have already read), but I'm reading The White Tiger (Man Booker prize) right now and really think it is very good. Also, Arundhati Roy just came out with a new book, so it might be a good time to try The God of Small Things (also Man Booker) if you haven't gotten around to it yet.

You are so sweet, Susie! I really like this tag. I don't think it is unduly broad if people stick to books that actually won an award . . .I also think we are going to see some very good books being read which I'm excited to learn about.

I'll probably read Animal Farm, and 1984, which would be actually re-reads, but my first time in English.

For recommendations, I say Holes is a great one, and To Kill a Mockingbird if you haven't already yet.
I think I'll try some lighter reads myself. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is on my TBR, and I've been meaning to read The Night Circus for a long time now.
I might also re-read Speak and The Fault in Our Stars.

I will be reading The Power (won the Bailey's this year)
I will post my recommendations when I get to the office. Too hard on the app.

I'll probably..."
I liked all three of your recommendations . . .

Pulitzer winners I particularly loved:
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Killer Angels
The Good Earth
Lamb in His Bosom
Gone with the Wind
Angle of Repose
The Color Purple
Lonesome Dove
Breathing Lessons
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Interpreter of Maladies
The Known World
As for what I'll read.... Well, I may finally get to
The Road
or for nonfiction:
The Making of the President 1960 (book club selection for November)
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Half of a Yellow Sun
The Sea - only for those who love literary fiction and don't mind slower plots with lots of description. Not for everyone.
Invisible Man especially recommend the audio.
The Sellout Not for everyone. For those who like satire and books on race relations.
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear DisasterVoices from Chernobyl (non-fiction) Svetlana Alexievich
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Middlesex by Eugenides
March: Book One by John Lewis (graphic novel)
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Marra



The Narrow Road to the Deep North
The Sympathizer
Redeployment
or Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Award winners is an annual challenge over at LT (with different awards each month), so it's one I'll be reading anyway. It was definitely the easiest of the bunch.
I'm planning to read:
Dying Inside / Robert Silverberg
And a couple other options include:
Far North / Marcel Theroux
I Shall Wear Midnight / Terry Pratchett

Ah, award winners are usually ones that don't impress me (probably no surprise there!), so I will be keeping it broader. The options I've chosen... I don't remember if they've actually won something or been nominated.
ETA: I do enjoy some award winners. One book I've seen recommended that I really liked was Middlesex.

ETA: Looks like none of them won. Sigh.

Fortunately there are a lot of awards out there to win . . .

Yeah, for the LT challenge, it focuses only on certain awards, so I'll have to broaden that to look for the winners of other awards.

Cool Water / Dianne Warren

award winners
92% of the voters chose award winner as their choice, casting 139 participation points..."
I am sure you'll be shocked, then, when I say I voted for award winner and am quite pleased ;).
I have a number of award winners on my tbr. I read so much on education when I was homeschooling my children and for other things (I teach piano, so there is education related material for that, for example), that like retired teachers, etc, I wasn't going to choose it right now because it's SUMMER!

The One and Only Ivan
Roller Girl
A Newberry Award winner and a Texas Bluebonnet Award winner.
Don't forget this list! :-) /choiceaward...
I think I'm going to end up with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2 as it crosses off another square on my Litsy Bingo Card, a #20booksofsummer book and a year on my Birthday Challenge too!
I think I'm going to end up with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2 as it crosses off another square on my Litsy Bingo Card, a #20booksofsummer book and a year on my Birthday Challenge too!

Under the Harrow
All the Light We Cannot See
The Wangs vs. the World"
Moke!!
So good to see you . . .

For whatever it's worth, I loved Redeployment, the Narrow Road to the Deep North, not so much.

Your review put Redeployment on my radar. Thanks for the feedback on Deep

Me too! It got pushed by the wayside during the Prosperity Challenge, but July's the month!

Here are my recommendations:
The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin (2016 Hugo Winner)
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie (2014 Hugo, 2014 Nebula)
The City & the City - China Miéville (World Fantasy Award 2010)
The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell (Arthur C. Clarke Award, 1998)
Possible reads for me:
The Three-Body Problem - Liu Cixin (2015 Hugo)
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman (1976 Hugo, 1976 Nebula)
All the Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders (2017 Nebula)
Dune - Frank Herbert (1966 Hugo, 1966 Nebula)
Alif the Unseen - G. Willow Wilson (World Fantasy Award 2013)

I loved Middlesex - I finally got to it this year and gave it my highest ranking. I read The Handmaid's Tale ages ago and loved it then.

Excellent choice!

Pulitzer winner..."
I just finished The Road. It was good....stark, gray, interesting writing.

I was going to recommend The Road, but figured everyone might have already read it. Blueberry's assessment is on the money in my opinion. If ever a book's tone and writing style matched the material, this book is it. Unforgettable.

Other books on my list (doesn't mean I'll get to them) will knock some books off my High Notes challenge.
And the Mountains Echoed
Columbine (I have the audio and I've been doing a lot of quilting)
The Other Boleyn Girl
....and finally I've been wanting to get to this one for ages: Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America which is a non-fiction Pulitzer Winner and is about a town in our county in FL. The audio version won an Audie Award so I really want to get my hands on that. Again, our County library doesn't own it in audio but they do have it in print and ebook. I really want the audio considering the award, so I've put a request in for it. Fingers crossed.

Beloved
The Grapes of Wrath - which would be great because it's also rory gilmore, but who am I kidding? I'm doing Man Booker again this year so this probably won't make the cut
recommended:The Orphan Master's Son
absolutely second Jen's recommendation of Invisible Man on audio

I hope to get to The Sympathizer or
A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Once again, I'm going to recommend Republic Of Dirt : A
Return to Woefield Farm by Susan Juby!!! You can read it even if you haven't read the book that comes before it, and it's funnier even than the first (which is why it won the humour award). Of course, I read the first one first and am glad I did. No doubt I'll keep recommending this every time it fits until someone else reads it and likes it! If you prefer y/a, her second y/a novel is also an award winner, but I haven't read it (I'm going to be reading it, but not as my main choice for this; it's in the Alice trilogy). It's also funny, apparently
Naturally, I agree with everyone who is recommending All the Light We Cannot See and there are other excellent award winners.
WHAT I PLAN TO READ
Water for Elephants - finally!!! I saw the movie, so think I will read it for sure.
And, of course, probably among other things, since I'm reading Susan Juby's y/a Alice trilogy to rack up a number of points on another group, Miss Smithers

Here are my recommendations:
The Fifth Season - [author:N..."
Read Dune a million (!) years ago - but I loved it!

Other books on my list (doesn't mean I'll get to ..."
I have a pristine copy of Hot Milk, happy to mail it to you. LMK if you're interested and we will make arrangements offline.


I would encourage readers to consider non-fiction award winners for a challenge.
For my reading I have my eye on Walter's Citizen Vince (Edgar award winner) and Hyperion and Downbelow Station for Hugo Award winners.

I'm currently reading from my prosperity list Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich which won the John Burroughs Medal in 2000 - so that would fit. The next on the prosperity list is Columbine by Dave Cullen, which won a number of awards. Maybe I'll go and pick up one of the list of International Prize for Arabic Fiction that Nicole R. posted. Interesting stuff on that list. If there is time left over after all the other plans...

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx (Pulitzer 1994)
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Pulitzer 2011)
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (Man Booker 1988)
And most likely for me will be one of these that I already own and that fit in with various challenges or goals:
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Neuromancer
The Night Circus
A Wrinkle in Time


The Shipping News by Annie Proulx (Pulitzer 1994)
[book:A Visit from the Goon Squ..."
The Shipping News is excellent.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North
The Line of Beauty
All That I Am
Life After Life
All the Birds, Singing
The Broken Shore
Olive Kitteridge
The Natural Way of Things
All the Light We Cannot See
The Goldfinch (particuularly if you are an audio person)
A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing (though not for everybody - don't go anywhere near if you don't like stream-of-consciousness writing)
The Road (❤️❤️❤️)
and I could go on and on forever so I'll stop there!
I will be trying to read at least a few of the following -
Black Rock White City
Days Without End
The Luminaries
The White Tiger
The Gathering
The Strays
& The Power.
In terms of my listening for the month, I am trying to decide between A Brief History of Seven Killings (I tried reading it and just couldn't connect and I thought audio might work better), and The Sellout, because it is narrated by Prentice Onayemi and I could listen to him reading a shopping list and like it. ;-)

I have this one sitting on my coffee table right now and am waiting for the perfect opportunity to dive in!

Other books on my list (doesn't mean I'll get to ..."
Devil in the Grove has been on my list for a while as well!
Books mentioned in this topic
Watership Down (other topics)Lonesome Dove (other topics)
Lonesome Dove (other topics)
The God of Small Things (other topics)
Black Rock White City (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Susan Juby (other topics)N.K. Jemisin (other topics)
Ann Leckie (other topics)
China Miéville (other topics)
Mary Doria Russell (other topics)
More...
award winners
92% of the voters chose award winner as their choice, casting 139 participation points toward it. Arabic was a distant second with 30 participation points case. Poor education received one lowly vote.
Please share your reading plans and recommendations below!
Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as award winners on ŷ, or be a book that is not yet shelved that way but you feel should be.
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