Challenge Wrap Up: Battle of the Prizes

The Battle of the Prizes Challenge ended yesterday on Labor Day. This was the first challenge I hosted and I want to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated. To recap: This challenge pitted winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction against the winners of the National Book Award. The goal was to read one Pulitzer winner, one National winner, and one that won both prizes; to read all three books between May Day and Labor Day; and to post reviews and comments here. A list of all the reviews follows (if I missed one, please leave a comment with a link). Also, a couple of people did wrap up posts with some comparing and contrasting of the prizes. For those who signed up but did not finish the challenge, I am still so pleased that you participated -- good intentions definitely count when it comes to reading challenges. REVIEWS Sophie's Choice on Chaotic Compendiums The Optimist's Daughter on Joy's Blog Middle Passage on Living Life and Reading Books Advise and Consent on Rose City Reader Empire Falls on Chaotic Compendiums Gilead on Tip of the Iceberg Olive Kitteridge by J.G. on Hotch Pot Cafe The Fixer on Rose City Reader The Fixer on Hotch Pot Cafe The Great Fire also on Hotch Pot Cafe The Magic Barrel on Book Psmith The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter on Chaotic Compendiums The Fixer on Book Psmith March on Remember to Breath The Fixer on Remember to Breath Sophie's Choice on Remember to Breath Invisible Man on Tip of the Iceberg WRAP UP POSTS J.G. on Hotch Pot Cafe Mine here on Rose City Reader Remember to Breath Book Psmith THOUGHTS? IDEAS? COMMENTS? Hosting this challenge was a lot of fun for me. It helped focus my attention on a couple of the lists I am working on and it was fun to "hang out" with other list-obsessive readers. I plan to host the same challenge again next year (there are still many Pulitzer and National winners I haven't read yet). But I might expand the dates. This was "the Sunshine Smackdown" this year because I didn't think of the challenge until the spring and tried to contain the dates somehow. But I might make it a year-long challenge in 2010. Also, as Psmith guessed in her wrap up post, this was "the American version." I have plans for the British version of a Battle of the Prizes Challenge. That one would pit Booker Prize winners against . . . I don't know yet. Costa winners? Too short and too dissimilar to the Booker, I think. Probably James Tait Black winners. But I can't launch that challenge until I get the JTB list added to my List of Lists there in the right hand column. What are your thoughts and suggestions? .