Which is exactly what I did. And here it is:
I was recently tagged with a Facebook survey. The instructions were to go through a list of 50 books, indicating which ones I’d read. The list was a mess: classics mixed with airport trash; books every schoolchild should have read mixed with Oprah-esque book club titles, repetitive entries like “the complete works of Shakespeare” and “Hamlet.” The list, supposedly taken from a BBC survey, looked more like the contents of some anonymous Facebook user’s bookcase.
I decided to compose some serious surveys for serious readers. This is my first, and it focuses on American literature. Of course, American literature covers a lot of ground: from Hawthorne to Cussler, from detective novels to Harlequin romances, from The Catcher in the Rye to James and the Giant Peach. To give the survey definition and structure, I limited it to National Book Award winners from 1950 to 2010: 60 years’ worth of the best American fiction. Unlike the books listed in other Facebook surveys, the books in this survey were not randomly chosen. Each was the subject of a rigorous annual selection process, chosen by panels of readers, authors, and publishers.
I’m ashamed to say I scored poorly in my own survey. I’ve read only a few of the books on this list, and only know others from watching the movie version. But the books on the list that I have read were all great, and not only great but memorable. Each of them made a lasting impression on me. I guess that explains why they received the National Book Award! If the few I’ve read are any indication of the excellence of other National Book Award winners, then I guess I owe it to myself to read them all!
Instructions: bold the books you’ve read, italicize ones you’ve partially read (or have seen in movie form), add explanatory notes as you see fit. When you’re done, post your list to your Facebook profile page as a note, and tag your literary friends. Don’t forget to tag me back!
Survey: National Book Award Fiction Winners, 1950-2010
1950: The Man with the Golden Arm, by Nelson Algren (movie only)
1951: The Collected Stories of William Faulkner, by William Faulkner (have read many individual Faulkner stories, but not this collection)
1952: From Here to Eternity, by James Jones
1953: Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
1954: The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow
1955: A Fable, by William Faulkner
1956: Ten North Frederick, by John O’Hara
1957: The Field of Vision, by Wright Morris
1958: The Wapshot Chronicle, by John Cheever
1959: The Magic Barrel, by Bernard Malamud
1960: Goodbye, Columbus, by Philip Roth (movie only)
1961: The Waters of Kronos, by Conrad Richter
1962: The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy
1963: Morte D’Urban, by J.F. Powers
1964: The Centaur, by John Updike
1965: Herzog, by Saul Bellow
1966: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, by Katherine Anne Porter
1967: The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud
1968: The Eighth Day, by Thornton Wilder
1969: Steps, by Jerzy Kosinksi
1970: them, by Joyce Carol Oates
1971: Mr. Sammler’s Planet, by Saul Bellow
1972: The Complete Stories, by Flannery O’Connor
1973: Chimera, by John Barth
1973 (tie): Augustus, by John Williams
1974: Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
1974 (tie): A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories, by Isaac Bashevis Singer
1975: Dog Soldiers, by Robert Stone
1975 (tie): The Hair of Harold Roux, by Thomas Williams
1976: JR, by William Gaddis
1977: The Spectator Bird, by Wallace Stegner
1978: Blood Tie, by Mary Lee Settle
1979: Going After Cacciato, by Tim O’Brien
1980: The World According to Garp, by John Irving (movie only)
1980 (tie): Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron (movie only)
1981: The Stories of John Cheever, by John Cheever (have read many individual Cheever stories, but not this collection)
1981 (tie): Plains Song, by Wright Morris
1982: So Long, See You Tomorrow, by William Maxwell
1982 (tie): Rabbit Is Rich, by John Updike (have read Rabbit, Run, but not the rest)
1983:The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
1983 (tie): The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, by Eudora Welty
1984: Victory Over Japan, Ellen Gilchrist
1985: White Noise, by Don DeLillo
1986: World’s Fair, by E.L. Doctorow
1987: Paco’s Story, by Larry Heinemann
1988: Paris Trout, by Pete Dexter
1989: Spartina, by John Casey
1990: Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson
1991: Mating, by Norman Rush
1992: All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
1993: The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx
1994: A Frolic of His Own, by William Gaddis
1995: Sabbath’s Theater, by Philip Roth
1996: Ship Fever and Other Stories, by Andrea Barrett
1997: Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
1998: Charming Billy. by Alice McDermott
1999: Waiting, by Ha Jin
2000: In America, by Susan Sontag
2001: The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen (I have this book but haven’t read it yet)
2002: Three Junes, by Julia Glass
2003: The Great Fire, by Shirley Hazzard
2004: The News From Paraguay, by Lily Tuck
2005: Europe Central, by William T. Vollmann
2006: The Echo Maker, by Richard Powers
2007: Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson
2008: Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiessen
2009: Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
2010: Lord of Misrule, by Jaimy Gordon??