To continue our monthly series of book lists, the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library would like to recommend the following books that have recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
2009 Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Thirteen short stories set in a small community on the Maine coast are linked by the presence of Olive Kitteridge, retired teacher and pharmacist's wife. Some strong language. 2008. Cassette book RC 67392. Digital book DB 67392.
2008 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. This often humorous novel explores the childhood of nerdy and overweight Oscar, who is constantly teased for not living up to the ideal of Dominican American manhood. Oscar dreams of becoming a famous science fiction writer, which may be easier than finding a girl who will fall in love with him. Bestseller. Cassette book RC 65402. Large Print book LP 23920.
2007 The Road by Cormac McCarthy. A father and his young son journey south after the destruction of the civilized world. Their survival kit consists of a few blankets, a pistol, a cart of scavenged food, and their love for each other. Their values are tested by occasional encounters with other desperate survivors. Bestseller. Braille book BR 17072. Cassette book RC 63649. Large Print book LP 23510.
2006 March by Geraldine Brooks. Reverend March, the husband and father from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (RC 58830) leaves Connecticut to become an army chaplain during the Civil War. An assignment to teach freed slaves on a plantation changes March's view of humanity while hardship hurts his family. Strong language and some violence. Cassette book RC 64617. Large Print book LP 21656.
2005 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. 1950s. Dying seventy-six-year-old Gilead, Iowa, minister John Ames writes a parting letter to his young son. John reflects on the tensions between his pacifist father and militant abolitionist grandfather (both preachers), the death of his first wife and child, the gospel, a friend's transgressions, and life's eternal mystery. Bestseller. Braille book BR 16160. Cassette book RC 59561. Large Print book LP 21142.
2004 The Known World by Edward P. Jones. Manchester County, Virginia, 1855. At his death Henry Townsend, a thirty-one-year-old former slave who maintains a relationship with his owner William Robbins, owns more than thirty slaves himself and fifty acres of land. But now his plantation begins to fall apart as slaves betray one another. Bestseller. Cassette book RC 56918.
2003 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. At forty-one, hermaphrodite Cal Stephanides examines the rare genetic mutation that has caused his gender to change since his birth as a girl in 1960. He describes his teenage revelations, his Greek grandparents' guilty secret, and his coming-of-age in Detroit. Explicit descriptions of sex and some strong language. Bestseller. Cassette book RC 54934. Large Print book LP 19971.
2002 Empire Falls by Richard Russo. Empire Falls, Maine, was once a thriving town with three mills. But the owners, the Whitings, have allowed their vast holdings to become decrepit real estate. Miles Roby, who runs the Empire Grill for Mrs. Whiting, recounts the tale of this dying town with bemused regret. Some strong language. Bestseller. Cassette book RC 52601. Large Print book LP 18342.
2001 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. 1939. An eighteen-year-old artist and magician flees Czechoslovakia for his cousin's New York home. With their love of legend and fantasy, the boys launch a superhero comic book series. The golden age of comic art is at hand, but so are the horrors of global war. Some descriptions of sex and some strong language. Bestseller. Cassette book RC 50950.
2000 Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Nine tales of brief encounters with lasting effects, set in India and America. Each emphasizes cultural transition and loss. In the title piece, while American-born Mr. and Mrs. Das and their three young children are tourists in India, Mrs. Das confides a disquieting secret to their guide. Bestseller. Cassette book RC 50087. Large Print book LP 20802.