Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: 2014 Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced

The 2014 Pulitzer Prize Winners were announced yesterday (April 14, 2014) at Columbia University in NYC. The book winners in the fiction, history, poetry, biography and general nonfiction categories are listed below - congrats to all!

Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall

Category: Fiction

Title/Author: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Summary: "Young Theo survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, he lives with a friend's family in New York, where his obsession with a small painting that reminds him of his mother leads him to the art underworld." - Library Journal Reviews

Category: History

Title/Author: The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia,1772-1832 by Alan Taylor

Summary: "Drawn from new sources, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian presents a gripping narrative that recreates the events that inspired hundreds of slaves to pressure British admirals into becoming liberators by using their intimate knowledge of the countryside to transform the war." - Provided by Publisher

Category: Poetry

Title/Author: 3 Sections by Vijay Seshadri

Summary: "This new collection of poetry from the author of Wild Kingdom and The Long Meadow ponders the complex divisions of modern life - an errant history, an uncertain future and a present condition of wanting to outthink time." - Provided by Publisher

Category: Biography

Title/Author: Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall

Summary: "This intimate portrait of Thoreau's editor and Emerson's friend, who was also a daring war correspondent and a crusader for women's rights brings to life this American heroine's passion for her life's work, which was eclipsed by tragedy and scandal after her death at the age of 40." - Provided by Publisher

Category: General Nonfiction

Title/Author: Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin

Summary: "Recounts the decades-long saga of the New Jersey seaside town plagued by childhood cancers caused by air and water pollution due to the indiscriminate dumping of toxic chemicals." - Provided by Publisher

Click here for more information on current and past Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as nominated finalists.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

2014 Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced

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