For those of you who believe there's always room for another fun reading challenge (and heck, who doesn't believe that!), Rose City Reader has announced the Sunshine Smackdown - Battle of the Prizes.
Cool logo, huh?
With only 3 books required, this is so do-able, even if you are hoping to reduce the pace of life over the summer. The challenge runs May 1 to September 7 (May Day to Labor Day, get it?).
The overall idea is to compare and contrast (my favorite method!) a sample of Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, to get a feel for whether the books from one prize list are more entertaining, more educational, or just plain "better." When all the reviews are posted, it should provide a pretty good sampling from both lists. You know, for future reading.
The best part is: one of the books is a dual winner, so if you are reading the Pulitzers or NBAs already, you get 4 check-offs for reading 3 books. What's not to like about that? I'm psyched!
The rules are posted in detail here. So hustle over there and sign up!
Meanwhile, here are the books I have chosen.
Dual Winner: The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud. I've read The Natural and thought it was awfully well done. Now I am looking forward to testing my fondness for Malamud in a non-baseball context.
National Book Award Winner: The Great Fire, by Shirley Hazzard. I meant to trade this book (it's a paperback copy that C.S. gave me, after replacing it with a hardback upgrade), but every time I touched it, I just couldn't bear to part with it. It's been on the TBR bookcase for a while; now the perfect excuse to prioritize it has arrived.
Pulitzer Prize Winner: Olive Kittridge, by Elizabeth Strout. I admit my head's been turned by the charm of great reviews for this year's winner and a comparison to Winesburg, Ohio. I'm also a sucker for summertime in small-town New England. If I can't be there, at least I can read about it!
I have no idea where you find the time. Jealousy. Could you post the secret???
ReplyDeleteThanks for spreading the word! I posted your link.
ReplyDeleteI'd say small chunks of time are my reading secret, Oreneta. Fifteen minutes here and there really add up. I tend to carry the current book everywhere, just for that reason.
ReplyDeleteI also try to stop everything else at 9 or 10 p.m. every night, to read for an hour or so.
Having challenge goals helps, too (thanks, Rose City!).