The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

I read it late last year. It's definitely not a kids book.

It's an entertaining read. I felt it could be a bit slow in parts, but the authors writing is quite impressive. It's worth a read, but I didn't love it.

As for other Pulitzer winners, I also read Middlesex last year and I absolutely loved it. I'd highly recommend that one. I liked it a lot more than Kavalier & Clay.

If you're looking for book recommendations then you should check out the "What are you reading" thread. Lots of good stuff in there. I'm currently reading 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' series. A great series and very deserving of the hype.

If you're into techno-thrillers at all, Daemon and the sequel Freedom TM are a couple of other books I've read recently that I really enjoyed.

 

A slow start, but an good read. Been a while since I read it, but Basically the life story of two boys, cousins (IIRC), one who comes to New York to escape the war and Nazi occupation of his home. The superhero stuff comes into play as they get older and use their artistic talent to start a comic company.

It really picks up when they begin down this path; a little history of the birth of the comic industry back then, and the evolution of the characters parallel to their careers. One of the boys really puts everything into his creations, sees them as a way to strike back at Hitler and the Nazis.

Good stuff, but like I said you have to stick with it. Not a kids book at all.

 

Most of you guys would love Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

The Pulitzer Prize, by the way, is considered kind of curse by some literally types. I know a lot of english prof types who will swear the pulitzer means the book sucks.

I read Kav & Clay, and I agree with the first response. It's a fine book, Middlesex is a better option, plus dozens of others.

 

If you just want to "dip your toes" in the pool and give Michael Chabon a try, The Final Solution was a pretty decent and very short novel by the author.

 

I have Kav & Clay, but have yet to read it. It came very highly recommended by a co-worker.

Girl With a Dragon Tattoo is INCREDIBLE - I read it in two days.

Water for Elephants is great.

The Road is a bit slow, but still a good read.

And, last but certainly not least, if you haven't read Pillars of the Earth, by gosh GO OUT AND GET YOURSELF A COPY TODAY.

 

I've read quite a few of Pullitzer winners, but mostly non-fiction. I'm think it is limited to authors from the USA, so not perhaps the ultimate prize?

Anyway, Kavalier and Clay came highly recommended to me, and I have it on my bookshelf at home waiting to read.

Some other Pulllitzer winners (or finalists)

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found - Suketu Mehta
The Devil's Highway: A True Story - Luis Alberto Urrea
Ghost Wars - Steve Coll

 

Kavalier and Klay was a pretty entertaining read. If you're into comics or at least have a cursory knowledge of it, Chabon paints a pretty vivid picture of the advent of comic books, peppering it with real life cameos like Stan Lee.

B-Bob, did you like Cloud Atlas that much? I thought the concept was really cool, but ultimately it didn't tie together very well. A few of the sections (post apocalyptic Hawaii, etc.) were also incredibly dense reading. It's disappointing because I felt a really outstanding novel was lurking in there, but the author just couldn't pull it all together.

I enjoyed Middlesex, which won a Pulitzer. Kind of weird subject material, but it was a fascinating read. We read that for a book club a few months ago, and we all enjoyed it and had a good discussion about it.

I suggested a few other books in your Life of Pi thread, but I have to say once more that you need to read Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. That's the best book I've read. It's a haunting story set in Barcelona in the 50's, and Zafon's writing is absolutely beautiful.

Orson Scott Card has won some awards (Hugo, etc.) for his writing. The most famous is Ender's Game, but my favorite is Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak also picked up a bunch of awards. It chronicles the story of a teenage girl growing up outside of Munich with her foster parents during WWII. It's a crime that this book is classified as young adult. Don't be fooled by that. It's a beautiful, mature story that any adult should appreciate. Bonus: you get to learn some cool German swear words.

I suggested this in the Life of Pi thread, but Khaled Hosseini has won awards for his two novels: Kite Runner and a Thousand Splendid Suns. Both paint fascinating pictures of life in Afghanistan. Kite Runner was really good, but A Thousand Splendid Suns was phenomenal and is one of the best books I've read.

Sorry to keep steering you to the What Are You Reading threads, but there are a ton of good book ideas in them.

[2010] What Are You Reading?

[2009] What Are You Reading?

 

I second The Book Thief and Shadow of the Wind. Read both based on Scribo's recommendation and they are stellar.

I would also recommend Heat, which is about an editor of New Yorker Magazine who drops everything and talk's his way into becoming a line cook in Mario Batali's kitchen. Fascinating if you have any interest in cooking or the restaurant industry.

One other recommendation, Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True. About identical twins where one brother has schizophrenia. Emotionally draining but interesting.

 

Glad you enjoyed those two books. I just reread The Book Thief for a book club, and it was just as enjoyable the second time around.

I'll have to read I Know This Much I Know Is True. I have identical twin aunts who are both schizophrenic. I admire the hell out of my grandmother, who raised them alone after she divorced her alcoholic husband (pre-diagnosis). Sometimes, I wonder how the hell she did it and remained such a classy, energetic lady.

EDIT: I've heard good things about Heat. My wife is a chef, and I've heard her co-workers talking about it. You should check out Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, which is a hysterical, raunchy look at the restaurant industry.