Award Winners

The Pulitzer Prize, named after Hungarian newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, honors books which address the largest themes in life, the raw passion and tragedy of the human condition. Prizes in letters are awarded in the categories of fiction, general nonfiction, history, poetry.

1986 Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Simon & Schuster, 1985. An epic of the frontier, Lonesome Dove is a grand novel written about the American West by noted author Larry McMurtry. Two former Texas Rangers drive cattle from Texas to Montana in the post-Civil War years of the nineteenth century. Along the trail the reader not only meets such classic characters as cowboys, call girls and lawmen, but also views the spirit and condition of the American West. A Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction in 1986, Lonesome Dove is recommended for anyone interested in American culture and history, particularly that of the West.

1992 A Thousand Acresby Jane Smiley. Alfred A Knopf, 1991. The 1992 Pulitzer Prize Winner for fiction, and the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award Winner. A father, his three daughters and their friends and relations on an Iowa farm of about A Thousand Acres will have you wondering what could possibly happen next as this story unfolds. The father suddenly decides to stop farming and gives his land to his daughters Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. Perceived irrational acts by the father and daughters start a chain reaction of events and a dredging up of old memories and old wounds that will keep this story in your mind for a long time after reaching the end of the book. Told from the perspective of the oldest daughter, this story is considered to be a modern day version of Shakespeare's King Lear. Read it and decide for yourself.

1993 Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Gary Wills. Simon & Schuster, 1992. The 1993 Pulitzer Prize Winner for general non-fiction and the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award Winner. This book examines and brings to life the historical and cultural significance of the Gettysburg Address. If you are at all interested in the short, memorable and compelling address delivered by Abraham Lincoln, this is the book for you. The writing and rendering of this address was thoroughly researched, put into historical context and presented as much more than a history lesson.

2002 Middlesex by Jefferey Eugenides. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002. Audio version that I listened to is published by Audio Renaissance, 2002. Unabridged. 14 cassettes (23 hrs.). Read by Kristoffer Tabori. From Publishers Weekly Reviews 12/2002: "Without a doubt, this audio edition of Eugenides's long-awaited second novel (after The Virgin Suicides) represents an acme of the audiobook genre: the whole equals much more than the sum of its parts. This is simultaneously the tale of a gene passed down through three generations and the story of Calliope Stephanides, the recipient of that gene. Never quite feeling at home in her body, Callie discovered at the age of 14 that she is, in fact, genetically, if not completely anatomically, a boy. From this point on she becomes Cal, and it is Cal, the 41-year-old man, who narrates the story, dipping all the way back in history to the time of his grandparents' incestuous relationship in war-torn Turkey. Tabori's performance of the text is phenomenal. His somewhat high-register, wavering voice, reminiscent of a young Burgess Meredith, is completely convincing as both the young female Callie and the older male Cal. Not only are his interpretations of the characters astonishingly credible, but his internalization of the narrative is nothing short of amazing. Listeners will feel this exhilarating story is being told personally to them for the very first time. Additionally, the intro music at the beginning of each of the 28 sides is different, with each snippet offering a different style of music, reflecting the current timeline and mood of the story. This adds a subtle but wonderful effect." I selected this book because it was the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winner, but after listening to the audio version I knew it would also win an Audie Award (2003). The story itself can't be wrapped up in a few words so I recommend that you check it out for yourself. If the description given here makes you think you will like it, then I predict that you will not be disappointed. Find out why it won the Pulitzer. *** Also an AUBIE WINNER

Rita Award: The Rita Award is the highest award of excellence in the romance genre given by the Romance Writers of America. Each year hundreds of romance novels are entered in the RITAs by authors, editors, agents, and readers. Each title entered is read and judged by a panel of five of the toughest judges in existence—the author's fellow romance authors. From this round the finalists are selected for each category, then those finalists are judged again, by a second panel of five authors, to determine the winners. The RITA winner for each category is announced at RWA's annual Awards Ceremony, held at our annual national conference, in a different city each summer.

1999 Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. G.K. Hall, 1998. Dream a Little Dream is the story of a widow and single mother named Rachel Stone who is financially destitute but determined to live her life with dignity. She meets the hero of the story, Gabe Bonner, when her car breaks down outside his North Carolina shop. Their love story ensues amidst family and town bitterness caused by Rachel’s former ties to the community. There are subplots in the story as well. Gabe has two brothers who have love interests just as he does, and they are trying to live lives of moral and financial integrity. But they are pious and self-righteous, and they face their prejudices as the story progresses. The author uses vivid descriptions of the setting and humorous dialogue among the characters to make her story both delightful and memorable. Because this book is about single parenthood, financial depravity, and Christian hypocrisy, it is a mirror of contemporary society. No doubt it is a woman’s story first because it is a genre romance, but it addresses problems that we face today and shows how they can be resolved. Dream a Little Dream is both a serious and enjoyable read worthy of the reward it received.

World Fantasy Awards: World Fantasy Awards were established in 1975 to recognize all fantasy types, from supernatural horror to Tolkienesque to sword & sorcery to the occult, magic realism, and beyond.

1988 Replay by Ken Grimwood. 1986. Replay is one of my favorite books of all time. The novel opens in 1988, with the main character, 43-year-old Jeff Winston slumping at his desk and dying of a heart attack. The next thing that happens is incredible: he wakes up in his college dorm room. It is 1963; Jeff is 18 all over again, his memory of the next two decades is completely intact. Jeff has begun to "replay" another lifetime. He becomes rich in the stock market, he marries someone else, he has children this time around, he becomes a health-fanatic and does everything he knows to avoid another fatal heart-attack that claimed him previously. Yet he dies again at 43, on the same day at the same time of a fatal heart attack. And he awakens up again in 1963 just as he had before and lives again and dies again -- in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle -- each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: "What if you could live your life over again?"

1992 Boy’s Life by Robert R. McCammon. Pocket Books, 1991. Written by Birmingham author Robert McCammon, this tale of an 11-year-old's struggle between innocence and evil begins with the discovery of a gruesome murder and ends with the revelation that, even in Zephyr, Alabama, life is not safe and simple--and most things and people are not what they seem to be. Boy’s Life is narrated by aspiring writer, eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson. Cory lives with his family in Zephyr, Alabama, an idyllic home for a young boy... a place where monsters swim in the belly of the river, and friends are forever. Then, on a cold spring morning in 1964, as Cory accompanies his father on his milk route, they see a car plunge into a lake some say is bottomless. A desperate rescue attempt brings Cory's father face-to-face with a vision that will haunt him: a murdered man, naked and beaten, handcuffed to the steering wheel, a copper wire knotted around his neck. As Cory struggles to understand the forces of good and evil at work in his hometown, from an ancient woman called the Lady who conjures snakes and hears the voices of the dead, he realizes that not only his life but his father’s life, too, may hang in the balance. Boy's Life is a masterpiece of magic and mystery, of the splendors of growing up in a small town, and of the wonders beyond.