Finished, In the Nick of Time!

I finished the Book Awards Reading Challenge last night, and just a week ahead of the deadline. The challenge involved reading 12 books in the 12 months from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008.

My completed reads:

1. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Pulitzer 2003)
2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Nobel Laureate, also Banned Books Challenge)
3. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (National Book Award 1997)
4. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (Alex Award 2006)
5. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington (Pulitzer 1919)
6. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman (Carnegie 1995)
7. His Family by Ernest Poole (Pulitzer 1918)
8. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Pulitzer 2007)
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (Costa/Whitbread 2003)
10. The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson (Pulitzer 1924)
11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Pulitzer 1961)
12. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (Pulitzer 2001)

I have to say that I really enjoyed all of these books and for very different reasons. His Family, the first winner of the prize in 1918 is a rambling tale of an upper class white family in New York City and the changes they all go through as life changes during the early 20th century. Their world is almost a different planet away from The Road, a post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son traveling through a wasted USA. These books could not be more different, yet each captured my attention and held it throughout. I've never enjoyed writing book reports, so I'll leave it at that.

On to the next challenge!