Supposedly Fun is Certainly Mad!

I checked just now and I'm surprised that I've actually read ten Pulitzer winners. I thought it was way fewer. They're all books I have good opinions of, so I'd be up for reader more Pulitzer winners, though I don't think I'd have the will to go through with such a massive project as reading all of them would be!

Like Lukas I checked the list and I've read twenty (I think). I saw Greg's video and am more than happy to cheer him on from the sidelines. I wont be doing anything like this anytime soon though.

oh, i shudder ar the idea of reading all the Rabbit books. One and done for me. i have to guess the Pulitzer winners are a tellng history of the nomality / pervasiveness / ordinariness of sexism and misogyny (amomg other de facto marginalizations). That alone would deter me.

Noooo!! We missed all your Pulitzer rant videos! That would have been awesome. :)

I love that the rest of us are blithely saying sure 'go ahead do it!' not having to tackle a mound of old prize books. But you are "DON'T DO IT, MAN!" LOL. Your concern for Mark is wonderful and hard-won! Yes, he is INVADING your space but you get to be the elder stateswoman dispensing your wisdom on high. You know, the Steve Donoghue of reading Pulitzer Prizes. (Though actually Steve is the Steve Donoghue of reading everything!)

Your videos always make me feel better -- whatever the topic.

I’ve read 16 of them. The Grapes of Wrath and The Road are tops for me, followed closely by Gilead and Angle of Repose.

Wow! That’s a great achievement for both of you! I’m going to check out the list, but I doubt I’ve read many of them.

My favorite Pulitzer winner is Empire Falls by Richard Russo. After completing my degree (which was focused around a lot of ancient classics and 17th/18th century British-American literature), I was wanting to get into modern fiction. Empire Falls was my gateway into literary fiction. Love it and it's always one of my go-to recommendations for when people are wanting to get into lit fic.

I’ve read 19 novel winners, and I look forward to following Greg, but am sad that your Pulitzer exploration was before Booktube!

I think you're both mad! 😉Actually no, I've read twenty and loved all the ones I read except for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Dao and I think finding gems is one of the great things about reading past winners, I know people who have read all the Booker shortlist books and have discovered some great forgotten titles.

I’ve read 19 of the Pulitzer Prize winners for fiction, 6 history, and 3 biography. Combing through the lists, there’s many that I want to read. I’m not a completist though. Thank you for introducing me to Supposedly Fun. I’ll be a cheerleader and hearing their reviews might inspire me to pick up some I would otherwise overlook.

I like how you shared how many books you gave each rating to (not sure how to write that sentence correctly 😂). Thanks so much for sharing more about your experience! I'd take your advice for sure. 😀

This sounds like a huge workload! Definitely not my cup of tea, but I love hearing about your experience with it!

I haven't read many of the Pulitzer winners but the ones I have read and enjoyed are The Old Man and the Sea, To Kill a Mockingbird, Roots (which won a Special Pulitzer from what I see), The Color Purple and The Road. I didn't really enjoy The Hours but Daniel really liked it a lot. We both disliked the movie version though. I still have a lot on my shelf that I want to read but I don't know if I'm as crazy as you and Greg and want to read them all. :D

Hello!

Surprisingly,I’ve read seven Pulitzer winners. I read them all in my 20s back when I was more of a “serious” reader.

This video made me laugh and smile more than any other booktube video I've seen, so thank you for that. The funny thing is that ever since I posted the video and people started commenting, I've been quietly panicking because I feel like I really committed myself to the idea of reading them in order. Because in my head I was thinking "at some point I'll probably want to jump to a book I'm interested in, but that will be no big deal"--as if I haven't just made myself accountable to everyone who watches my video. I always think of my reading goals as fluid, but obviously, no one else would be able to just know that. Maybe that's the dangerous thing about doing this with a booktube channel. What if I get sick of labor unions?? :-)


And you're right! It's absolutely possible to get a sense of how a book fit into its time without going in order--I listen to a podcast where the two hosts watch all of the AFI top 100 movies of all time, and they literally roll a 100-sided die to figure out which movie they're doing next. It's very possible I started reading through plot descriptions of the early winners and allowed enthusiasm over similarities to get the better of me. I think I'm going to try starting in order, but depending on how that goes I may alter my strategy.


Another thing I haven't worked out yet is how much to be a completist about the project, and your wisdom has been super helpful there. Knowing that I can skip the first two Lanny Budd books by Upton Sinclair is, honestly, a relief--especially knowing that there are FOUR John Updike books and Gravity's Rainbow to get to. I hadn't realized Stribling's book is a sequel--so thank you for that. I haven't made up my mind on rereads yet. I may use this as an excuse to reread some, but I don't think I'll make it a rule. Oh, and you exposed the perils of relying on Wikipedia because I think your winner tally is correct. I was referencing the Wikipedia page while shooting my video and a quick count of the actual winners looks more like your number.


Finally (for now), I wouldn't redo your booktube newbie video, because the Pulitzer Project is definitely still your thing--I honestly don't think I would have committed to doing it without seeing your video or getting some wisdom from you on it. It's absolutely still one of the many things that makes you special or unique on booktube because it inspired me to follow suit! Part of the appeal of the project was finally getting to books I've wanted to read anyway (like The Good Earth), but what really made me want to do it was seeing you talk about some of the lesser known books or books that have fallen out of print (The Late George Apley immediately comes to mind). I think it would be fun to keep reacting to each other on these books (bearing in mind that my timeline for this project will probably be similar to yours).