Prize Winning Novels!
A Suggested Reading List

Banville, John. The Sea
(Booker Prize, 2005)
Following the death of his wife, Max Morden retreats to the seaside town of his childhood summers, where his own life becomes inextricably entwined with the members of the vacationing Grace family. Fic Ban (West)

Brooks, Geraldine. March
(Pulitzer Prize, 2006)
In a story inspired by the father character in "Little Women" and drawn from the journals and letters of Louisa May Alcott's father, a man leaves behind his family to serve in the Civil War and finds his beliefs challenged by his experiences. Fic Brooks (Main)

Chabon, Michael. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: a novel
(Pulitzer Prize, 2001)
In 1939 New York City, Joe Kavalier, a refugee from Hitler's Prague, joins forces with his Brooklyn-born cousin, Sammy Clay, to create comic-book superheroes inspired by their own fantasies, fears, and dreams. Fic Cha (Main & West)

Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss
(National Book Critics Circle Award, 2006)
In a crumbling house in the remote northeastern Himalayas, an embittered, elderly judge finds his peaceful retirement turned upside down by the arrival of his orphaned granddaughter, Sai. Fic Des (West)

Diamant, Anita. The Red Tent
(Book Sense Book of the Year, 2001)
The story of Dinah, a tragic character from the Bible whose great love, a prince, is killed by her brother, leaving her alone and pregnant. The novel traces her life from childhood to death, in the process examining sexual and religious practices of the day, and what it meant to be a woman. Fic Dia (Main)

Doctorow, E. L. The March: a novel
(National Book Critics Circle Award, 2005)
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating march through Georgia and the Carolinas during the final years of the Civil War has a profound impact on the outcome of the war. Fic Doc (Main)

Haigh, Jennifer. Mrs. Kimble
(Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, 2003)
Follows twenty-five years in the life of Ken Kimble as seen through the eyes of his three wives, from Birdie, who struggles with his abandonment; to heiress Joan, who is recovering from a personal loss; to Dinah, who suffers from an unhappy past. Fic Kim (Main & West)

Hazard, Shirley. The Great Fire
(National Book Award, 2003)
In the aftermath of World War II, young men and women living in Europe and Asia reconstruct their lives, including a soldier who learns that material goods and success are not enough, and a woman in Japan who tends to her dying brother. Fic Haz (Main)

Jones, James. From Here to Eternity
(National Book Award, 1952)
Controversial (for the times) in it’s depictions of soldiers and sex, this classic novel tells the story of two soldiers who have love affairs in the early months of 1941. Fic Jon (Main); YA PB Jones (West)

Keyes, Marian. Anybody Out There?
(British Book Awards-Popular Fiction Award, 2007) When Anna Walsh--who has a job and husband in Manhattan--wakes up in her family's house in Dublin badly injured and with no memory of what has happened, she returns to New York to find clues to her memory loss. Fic Keyes (Main)

Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird
(Pulitzer Prize, 1961)
Scout's father defends a black man accused of raping a white woman in a small Alabama town during the 1930s. YA PB Lee (Main)

McEwan, Ian. Amsterdam
(Booker Prize, 1998)
In this contemporary morality play, a woman's death has major consequences for three men, all former lovers of the woman. Fic McE (Main); PB McE (West)

Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas: a Novel
(British Book Awards (the Nibbies)- Literary Fiction of the Year, 2005) Recounts the connected stories of people from the past and the distant future, from a nineteenth-century notary and an investigative journalist in the 1970s to a young man who searches for meaning in a post-apocalyptic world.
SF/PB Mitchell (West)

Rankin, Ian. The Naming of the Dead
(British Book Awards (the Nibbies)-Crime Thriller of the Year, 2007) Sent to man an abandoned police station during an international conference between the leaders of the free world, officer John Rebus investigates the suspicious falling death of a delegate at an Edinburgh banquet. Mys Ranking (Main)

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnin. The Yearling
(Pulitzer Prize, 1939)
A young boy living in the Florida backwoods is forced to decide the fate of a fawn he has lovingly raised as a pet. YA Raw (Main)

Roth, Philip. Everyman
(PEN/Faulkner, 2007)
A successful commercial artist with three very different ex-wives, a daughter who adores him, and two sons who despise him, the protagonist finds his confidence, sense of independence, and well-being undermined by an attack of illness in middle age. Fic Roth (Main)

Smiley, Jane. A Thousand Acres
(Pulitzer Prize, 1992)
Larry Cook, an Iowan farmer who has worked a thousand acre plot owned by his family for generations, abruptly decides to leave his farm to his three daughters and retire. His two eldest daughters are pleased with the decision but his youngest daughter has been cut out by her father and is angry. As the daughters' activity on the land progresses, they notice a change in their father. Events begin to unfold that will threaten and destroy the family and their farm. Fic Smi (Main)

Annotations courtesy of NoveList
Let us show you how to find more prize winners using this great readers’ tool!