The Book Awards III Challenge ran from July 1 to December 1, 2009.  I finished on October 31.  This is one of my favorite challenges, because it complements several of my other reading goals.  In the original Book Awards Reading Challenge, I read Booker and Pulitzer winners like there was no tomorrow.  For Book Awards II, I read 10 books representing 5 different awards. 

Book Awards III was a shorter challenge than its two predecessors, requiring only 5 books.  But the catch was, they had to represent 5 different awards!  Fortunately there are lots of literary prizes to choose from.  Here's what I read for this challenge:

1. Home, by Marilynne Robinson (Orange Prize) - review
   
2. Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout (Pulitzer Prize) - review
   
3. The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler (Edgar Award) - review
   
4. Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee (Booker Prize, Commonwealth Writers' Prize) - review
   
5. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel (Booker Prize) - review
   

Favorite Book of this Challenge:  If I had to choose just one, it would be Home, which I rated 5 stars.  However, both Olive Kitteridge and Wolf Hall were excellent 4.5-star reads.  I highly recommend all three of these books.

Least Favorite Book of this Challenge:  The Long Goodbye.  Although I don't read mysteries often, I don't dislike the genre.  But this book did nothing for me.  I found the characters unlikeable and the women were portrayed as stupid blonde stereotypes.

What I learned from this Challenge:  Since the challenge required reading from several different awards, I had to diversify beyond my usual Pulitzer, Booker, and Orange Prize winners.  I discovered the Edgar Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America.  And, thinking ahead to future Book Awards challenges, I'm looking forward to exploring prizes awarded in other countries.  Canada's Giller Prize and Australia's Miles Franklin Prize are just two possibilities.

Thanks to Michele (3M) for hosting this great challenge!

Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
532 pages

I was thrilled to get my hands on the 2009 Booker Prize winner within just a few weeks of its US release. The first ten pages included a detailed cast of characters and a Tudor family tree, a sure sign I was diving into a rich, detailed saga. I hunkered down and was hooked from the first line, uttered by Walter Cromwell to his young son Thomas: "So now get up." From this point -- lying dazed and bloody on the pavement -- Thomas Cromwell rises to become one of King Henry VIII's most trusted advisers. The opening scene inspired him to leave his alcoholic, abusive father and go abroad, even though he was only about 15 years old. Over several years Cromwell became an astute accountant and lawyer, and the trusted adviser of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who held the post of Lord Chancellor in Henry VIII's early court. When Wolsey fell out of favor with the King, Cromwell was savvy enough to stay out of the fray and position himself for greatness. Thomas More then became Lord Chancellor and campaigned against English Bible translations, most notably those by William Tyndale. Cromwell, as the King's chief minister, engineered the political hocus-pocus which allowed Henry to divorce his first wife Katherine and marry Anne Boleyn. This could only be done by establishing Henry's independence from the Catholic Church. More refused to accept this, and was executed.

But Wolf Hall is more than just a tale of political intrigue. Mantel takes the reader deep inside Cromwell's mind and heart. Far from being an unfeeling politician, Thomas Cromwell was a most human protagonist. He rose well above his lowly birth, and was not just literate but multi-lingual. He moved with ease among dukes and royalty, but never forgot his origins. And while he was a savvy negotiator, he also showed compassion, especially to those like More who would lose their lives as part of the English Reformation. Cromwell was also intensely devoted to his family, providing for nieces and nephews as well as his own children. As his wealth and influence grew, he was able to broker advantageous marriages for his family that continued to move them up in society. Almost single-handedly, he changed the course of history.
The fate of people is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase ... (p.499)

The novel ends in 1535 on a high note: Henry VIII was still married to Anne, and Cromwell was at the peak of his career. And yet, anyone with even a passing knowledge of Tudor history knows of Henry's mercurial behavior. Both Anne and Cromwell would eventually fall out of favor. But that's a story for another novel, one that Mantel has hinted she intends to write. I can't wait. ( )

Disgrace
J.M. Coetzee
220 pages

The Long Goodbye
Raymond Chandler
379 pages

For quite some time now, my husband had been urging me to read "hard-boiled" detective fiction. And I chose this particular book because it won an Edgar Award, and is on the list of "1001 Books you Must Read Before you Die." Well, I have to say the only reason I made it all the way to the end was because I love my husband, and wanted to give this book a fair shake. But it really wasn't my cup of tea.

Philip Marlowe is a private eye in 1940s Hollywood, California. The Long Goodbye opens with Marlowe encountering a couple outside a bar. The man is quite drunk; the woman drives off in their car, leaving the man in a pretty sad state. Marlowe takes him home, gets him sober, and is drawn into friendship with this mysterious man, Terry Lennox. They meet for drinks several times. Then one night, Lennox visits Marlowe and asks to be taken to Tijuana. His wife has just been killed and although Terry didn't commit the murder, he knows he will be implicated. Marlowe helps him get away, but Terry's story is far from over. Meanwhile, Marlowe takes up another case involving an alcoholic writer. The two cases turn out to have a connection, which is gradually revealed.

But I didn't really care, and that was my problem with this book. If there's one thing I've learned about my reading, it's that I enjoy character-driven novels. In The Long Goodbye, every single character was a stereotype. The central characters were fabulously wealthy (except for Marlowe, who still managed to move within their society with relative ease). There were a few seedy characters who acted suspiciously, just to keep the reader interested. The local police were violent, ineffetive, or both. Most characters had some level of dependency on alcohol or drugs, and associated behavioral issues. There were few women in this book, but all of them were blonde bombshells with only one real function in life.

It's a shame -- Raymond Chandler is quite famous for this type of novel, and some of the film adaptations make for interesting viewing. But I think I'll take a pass on his other books. ( )

Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout
270 pages

Elizabeth Strout's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel centers around Olive and Henry Kitteridge, an older couple living in a small town in Maine, grappling with aging and the changes in the world around them. Good friends have died; young people are a mystery. Their son Christopher has married and moved away. The novel is actually a baker's dozen of short stories, each featuring Olive in some way. Sometimes the story is all about Olive; at other times she is but a passing figure seen on the stairs or on a balcony, or a casual observer of another's life story.

Olive is a former middle school math teacher both feared and respected by her students. She's a large woman, grown even more so in her sixties and seventies. She has difficulty showing her emotions, keeping her son's estrangement to herself rather than sharing this grief with friends. She can also be a bit brusque and abrasive. But despite this I couldn't help liking Olive. The stories flow chronologically through Olive's later years. I found a few especially memorable:

• Pharmacy: This is the first story, and introduces Olive and Henry and is also the only story focused primarily on Henry's thoughts and feelings. The reader meets Olive first from Henry's point of view.
• Starving: An amazing story of Harmon, who is in a lifeless marriage with Bonnie and befriends another woman named Daisy. She helps him discover himself, and he takes a significant decision in hopes of happiness, but the story ends a bit unresolved.
• A Different Road: A traumatic incident disrupts Olive and Henry's peaceful lives and has a lasting impact.
• Security: Olive visits her newly-married son after a long time apart. They have difficulty relating to one another as adults and this further strains their relationship.

While each of these stories can stand on its own, this book is wonderful when read cover-to-cover, as a novel. Full of rich characters and emotional impact, it will remain with me for some time. ( )

It seems I can't resist challenges sponsored by 3M at 1MoreChapter. The Book Awards III Challenge runs from July 1 to December 1, 2009.  The book awards challenges are a favorite of mine, and 3M is just devious enough to "raise the bar" each time, encouraging us all to rise to new heights in reading prizewinners.  And I keep taking the bait ... In the original Book Awards Reading Challenge , any 12 award-winners would do, and I read Booker and Pulitzer winners like there was no tomorrow.  For Book Awards II , 3M expected us to read 10 books representing 5 different awards.  Well, OK, still plenty of options there , and plenty of room for overlap with long-term challenges. 

Book Awards III is a shorter challenge than the first two, but this time we must read 5 books from 5 different awards.  This required a bit of thinking, but I found some books in my reading plan and on my shelves that fit the bill:

1. Home, by Marilynne Robinson (Orange Prize) - review
   
2. Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout (Pulitzer Prize) - review
   
3. The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler (Edgar Award) - review
   
4. Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee (Booker Prize, Commonwealth Writers' Prize) - review
   
5. Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel (Booker Prize) - review
   

Book Awards III is just a warmup to 2010, when Book Awards IV will come along and require 10 books from 10 awards.  Bring it on ... !