THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2021. My enthusiasm for prize-winners is waning with the 2020s. I plan to focus my efforts on reading the winners up to 2020 then declare victory and move on to other bookish projects.
I am working my way through the Fiction winners. So far, I've read 46 of the winners. The winners through 2021 are listed below, with notes about whether I've finished a book, it is on my TBR shelf, or it is available as an audiobook from the library on Overdrive.
2020 Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu FINISHED
2019 Trust Exercise by Susan Choi ON OVERDRIVE
2018 The Friend by Sigrid Nunez FINISHED
2017 Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward FINISHED
2016 The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead FINISHED
2015 Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson ON OVERDRIVE
2014 Redeployment by Phil Klay ON OVERDRIVE
2013 The Good Lord Bird by James McBride ON OVERDRIVE
2012 The Round House by Louise Erdrich ON OVERDRIVE
2011 Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward FINISHED
2010 Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (reviewed here) FINISHED
2009 Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (reviewed here) FINISHED
2008 Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen TBR SHELF
2007 Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson FINISHED
2006 The Echo Maker by Richard Powers FINISHED
2005 Europe Central by William T. Vollmann TBR SHELF
2004 The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck TBR SHELF
2003 The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard FINISHED
2002 Three Junes by Julia Glass FINISHED
2001 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen FINISHED
2000 In America by Susan Sontag TBR SHELF
1999 Waiting by Ha Jin FINISHED
1998 Charming Billy by Alice McDermott FINISHED
1997 Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (reviewed here) FINISHED
1996 Ship Fever and Other Stories by Andrea Barrett FINISHED
1995 Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth FINISHED
1994 A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis
1993 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx FINISHED
1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (reviewed here) FINISHED
1991 Mating by Norman Rush FINISHED
1990 Middle Passage by Charles Johnson (reviewed here) FINISHED
1989 Spartina by John Casey FINISHED
1988 Paris Trout by Pete Dexter FINISHED
1987 Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann ON OVERDRIVE
1986 World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow TBR SHELF
1985 White Noise by Don Delillo ON OVERDRIVE
1984 Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist TBR SHELF
1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker FINISHED
1982 Rabbit is Rich by John Updike FINISHED
1981 Plains Song by Wright Morris TBR SHELF
1980 Sophie's Choice by William Styron (reviewed here) FINISHED
1979 Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien FINISHED
1978 Blood Tie by Mary Lee Settle FINISHED
1977 The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner (reviewed here) FINISHED
1976 JR by William Gaddis
1975 The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams (reviewed here) FINISHED
1975 Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone FINISHED
1974 Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon ON OVERDRIVE
1974 A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer TBR SHELF
1973 Augustus by John Williams ON OVERDRIVE
1973 Chimera by John Barth TBR SHELF
1972 The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor TBR SHELF
1971 Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow (reviewed here) FINISHED
1970 Them by Joyce Carol Oates TBR SHELF
1969 Steps by Jerzy Kosinski
1968 The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder ON OVERDRIVE
1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here) FINISHED
1966 The Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter TBR SHELF
1965 Herzog by Saul Bellow FINISHED
1964 The Centaur by John Updike (reviewed here) FINISHED
1963 Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers FINISHED
1962 The Moviegoer by Walker Percy FINISHED
1961 The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter
1960 Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth (reviewed here) FINISHED
1959 The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud FINISHED
1958 Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever FINISHED
1957 The Field of Vision by Wright Morris TBR SHELF
1956 Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara FINISHED
1955 A Fable by William Faulkner
1954 The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (reviewed here) FINISHED
1953 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison FINISHED
1952 From Here to Eternity by James Jones FINISHED
1951 The Collected Stories by William Faulkner ON OVERDRIVE
1950 The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren (reviewed here) FINISHED
NOTES
2017 Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward FINISHED
2016 The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead FINISHED
2015 Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson ON OVERDRIVE
2014 Redeployment by Phil Klay ON OVERDRIVE
2013 The Good Lord Bird by James McBride ON OVERDRIVE
2012 The Round House by Louise Erdrich ON OVERDRIVE
2011 Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward FINISHED
2010 Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (reviewed here) FINISHED
2009 Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (reviewed here) FINISHED
2008 Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen TBR SHELF
2007 Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson FINISHED
2006 The Echo Maker by Richard Powers FINISHED
2005 Europe Central by William T. Vollmann TBR SHELF
2004 The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck TBR SHELF
2003 The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard FINISHED
2002 Three Junes by Julia Glass FINISHED
2001 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen FINISHED
2000 In America by Susan Sontag TBR SHELF
1999 Waiting by Ha Jin FINISHED
1998 Charming Billy by Alice McDermott FINISHED
1997 Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (reviewed here) FINISHED
1996 Ship Fever and Other Stories by Andrea Barrett FINISHED
1995 Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth FINISHED
1994 A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis
1993 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx FINISHED
1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (reviewed here) FINISHED
1991 Mating by Norman Rush FINISHED
1990 Middle Passage by Charles Johnson (reviewed here) FINISHED
1989 Spartina by John Casey FINISHED
1988 Paris Trout by Pete Dexter FINISHED
1987 Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann ON OVERDRIVE
1986 World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow TBR SHELF
1985 White Noise by Don Delillo ON OVERDRIVE
1984 Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist TBR SHELF
1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker FINISHED
1982 Rabbit is Rich by John Updike FINISHED
1981 Plains Song by Wright Morris TBR SHELF
1980 Sophie's Choice by William Styron (reviewed here) FINISHED
1979 Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien FINISHED
1978 Blood Tie by Mary Lee Settle FINISHED
1977 The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner (reviewed here) FINISHED
1976 JR by William Gaddis
1975 The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams (reviewed here) FINISHED
1975 Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone FINISHED
1974 Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon ON OVERDRIVE
1974 A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer TBR SHELF
1973 Augustus by John Williams ON OVERDRIVE
1973 Chimera by John Barth TBR SHELF
1972 The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor TBR SHELF
1971 Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow (reviewed here) FINISHED
1970 Them by Joyce Carol Oates TBR SHELF
1969 Steps by Jerzy Kosinski
1968 The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder ON OVERDRIVE
1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here) FINISHED
1966 The Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter TBR SHELF
1965 Herzog by Saul Bellow FINISHED
1964 The Centaur by John Updike (reviewed here) FINISHED
1963 Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers FINISHED
1962 The Moviegoer by Walker Percy FINISHED
1961 The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter
1960 Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth (reviewed here) FINISHED
1959 The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud FINISHED
1958 Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever FINISHED
1957 The Field of Vision by Wright Morris TBR SHELF
1956 Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara FINISHED
1955 A Fable by William Faulkner
1954 The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (reviewed here) FINISHED
1953 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison FINISHED
1952 From Here to Eternity by James Jones FINISHED
1951 The Collected Stories by William Faulkner ON OVERDRIVE
1950 The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren (reviewed here) FINISHED
NOTES
Updated October 26, 2023. This is a redo of the list I first posted in 2009.
RELATED POSTS
If you would like your related posts to be listed here, please leave a comment with links to your reviews of these books or the like and I will add them here.
If you would like your related posts to be listed here, please leave a comment with links to your reviews of these books or the like and I will add them here.