I’m feeling like a heathen–I have no idea who Han Kang is, the author who was just awarded the Pulitzer Prize in literature. Yesterday, writing about the prize, A. O. Scott wrote in the NYT:
“The great books are the ones you’re supposed to feel bad about not having read. Great writers are the ones who matter whether you read them or not.”
Not me. I don’t feel bad. I’ve never read Ulysses and I have no plans to–not even for 0.29! I have, of course, read many great books. Of Pulitzer prize winning books, published in the last 75 years, I’ve read 28. I consider that respectable.
That said, I tend to NOT read a Booker Prize winner. In the past 25 years, I’ve read seven and very few recent ones. The Bookers always seem to me to be so grim.
How about you? Do you read prize winners? What’s your fave? Do some prizes work better for you than others?
