Completed Challenge: Book Awards II

I've been putting off writing a wrap-up post for the Book Awards II Challenge, because I hadn't written reviews for all the books I read for the challenge. Well, I'm still working on that. But since the challenge ended June 1, I thought I should go ahead and say "that's that," even though I'll still be adding reviews over the next week or so.

I didn't have a set list when I began the challenge (see my original post); and I ended up reading several books that I hadn't thought about when I started out. Here's a list of what I read, with links to the reviews:

The Age of Innocence. Edith Wharton (Pulitzer Prize, 1921)
The Great Victorian Collection. Brian Moore (Governor General's Award, 1975)
Hotel du Lac. Anita Brookner (Man-Booker Prize, 1984)
The Master. Colm Tóibín (IMPAC Dublin Award, 2006)
The Way Through the Woods. Colin Dexter (Gold Dagger Award, 1992)
The Optimist's Daughter. Eudora Welty (Pulitzer Prize, 1973)
Ellen Foster. Kaye Gibbons (Sue Kaufman Prize, American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters, 1988)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Robert C. O'Brien (Newbery Medal, 1972)
To Dance with the White Dog. Terry Kay (Outstanding Author of the Year, Southeastern Library Association, 1991)
Moon Tiger. Penelope Lively (Man-Booker Prize, 1987)

I'm a little reluctant to pick a "best book" from those – I enjoyed all of them very much. But The Age of Innocence is a book I'd been intending to read for many years, and it's turned out to be one of my all-time favorites – one I know I'll return to in the future.

This was a fun challenge – and one of my favorites. I want to thank Michelle at 1 More Chapter for hosting, and the many other participants for all those inspiring reviews. Now I just have to decide if I've got the nerve to sign up for Book Awards III.

Book Awards Reading Challenge II

I know this is madness. And I keep promising myself, "no more reading challenges." But 3M at 1 More Chapter is hosting the Book Awards Reading Challenge II, to run from 1 August 2008 through 1 June 2009. And since I missed the first go-round, I'm going to give myself permission to take part in this second incarnation.

The full guidelines plus listings of some of the eligible awards, can be found on the challenge announcement page. Participants will read ten books from at least five different award groups. Overlaps with other challenges are allowed, and there are hundreds of books to choose from!

My list is (as usual) subject to change and also (as usual) a lot longer than it really needs to be, but these are the titles I'm considering:

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller (Hugo Award, 1961)
An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro (Costa/Whitbread Prize, 1986)
Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner (Pulitzer Prize, 1972)
Atonement, by Ian McEwan (National Book Critics' Circle Award, 2002)
The Blue Flower, by Penelope Fitzgerald (National Book Critics' Circle Award, 1997)
Central Europe, by William Vollmann (National Book Award, 2005)
The Double, by José Saramago (Nobel Prize, 1998)
The Golden Notebook, by Doris Lessing (Nobel Prize, 2007)
The Great Victorian Collection, by Brian Moore (Governor General's Award, 1975)
Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively (Man-Booker Prize, 1987)
The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene (James Tait Black Memorial Award, 1948)
The Mandelbaum Gate, by Muriel Spark (James Tait Black Memorial Award, 1965)
The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot, by Angus Wilson (James Tait Black Memorial Award, 1958)
The Spectator Bird, by Wallace Stegner (National Book Award, 1977)
Them, by Joyce Carol Oates (National Book Award, 1970)
Three Junes, by Julia Glass (National Book Award, 2002)
The Wapshot Chronicle, by John Cheever (National Book Award, 1958)
The Way Through the Woods, by Colin Dexter (Gold Dagger Award, 1992)
The Wench is Dead, by Colin Dexter (Gold Dagger Award, 1989)

As well as a few that I'm already reading for other challenges:

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle (Newbery Award, 1963)
Hotel du Lac, by Anita Brookner (Man-Booker Prize, 1984)
The Master, by Colm Tóibín (IMPAC Dublin Award, 2006)
The Old Devils, by Kingsley Amis (Man-Booker, 1986)