A pretentious reading quest.

I really haven't done enough reading since I graduated over a year ago. It's quite sad actually. I believe there is no better way to improve writing than by reading great writing, and it's no wonder I haven't really progressed as a writer lately. I always seem to make grand declarations of noble intentions, but I really do mean to make more time for reading. I have already finished two books this month (Persuasion by Jane Austen and Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist), but I know I can do better.

It's my current intent to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels. I realize this might sound pretentious, but I promise I'm doing this for a better reason than to be able to say, "I've read every novel that's ever won a Pulitzer." Though I must admit that wanting to be able to say that I had read War and Peace was one of the biggest reasons I started reading that gargantuan book, it was not, however, my reason for finishing the novel. I will someday share more about my experience reading War and Peace and how it profoundly affected me. My reason for wanting to read all the Pulitzer winners is this: I need to improve my writing, and I am confident these books can teach me a lot about writing.

I've taken the first step toward reading all the Pulitzer winners by buying a bunch of them. Borders has had some great deals the past month, and I have purchased a good number of the last fifteen Pulitzer-winning novels. I'm still unsure about how I want to go about selecting which novels to read first, whether I'll just go by the ones that interest me most or whether I'll read them in a reverse chronological order. I'm leaning towards reverse chronological order. In any way, I'm planning on reading the winners of the current decade before moving back any further. Fortunately, I have read three of this decade's winning novels. Here is a brief rundown of my future reading list.

• 2000: Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri; a collection of fantastic short stories. I was turned onto this book by an English grad student who taught one of my lower-level English courses. A very good read.
• 2001: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon; I've heard good things about Chabon, but I've never read any of his works. I'm looking forward to reading this some day.
• 2002: Empire Falls - Richard Russo; I really don't know anything about this book nor the author.
• 2003: Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides; I actually bought this book before assuming my quest to read all the Pulitzer winners. The book's blurb sounded interesting so I got it.
• 2004: The Known World - Edward P. Jones; another book I know nothing about.
• 2005: Gilead - Marilynne Robinson; I read this book in my Advanced Writing course, and it was amazing. A good chunk of the book is written as a letter from a dying Midwestern pastor to his infant son. As you would assume from that briefest of introductions, the book deals a lot with mortality and spirituality. It's a very moving book, and reading it was definitely the highlight of that course.
• 2006: March - Geraldine Brooks; hey look, another book I don't know anything about.
• 2007: The Road - Cormac McCarthy; I picked up this book after reading McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, a very bleak book. The Road is even darker, a bleak vision of post-apocalyptic life. It tells the story of a father and a son struggling to survive as the earth slowly dies each day. While McCarthy paints perhaps the bleakest picture of society's demise, he creates one of the purest and most poignant father-son relationships in all of literature. I was unable to put this book down and read it within twenty-four hours. It is both devastating and inspiring.
• 2008: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Juniot Diaz; I purchased this book six months ago, but I haven't picked it up yet.
• 2009: Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout; surprise surprise, another book I had never heard about until I decided to purchase it.

While writing this blog I have come to the decision that I will read at least this first decade of Pulitzer winners (the ones I haven't previously read) in reverse chronological order, meaning I will commence with Olive Kitteridge. I'll write at least a little something about each book as my quest progresses forward.

Here's to pretentious reading quests!