And for my next trick: another prize winner. Wait, did I just do that? Apparently so. Well, this time we're hopping across the Pond for the Big American One. Or in this instance at least, a Canadian one. What's that all aboot, eh? Probably (definitely) a cheap shot, but let's not pretend that I'm above that.
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields, then. This choice was more of an accident than anything else – it was sat at the top of a stack of books on the bedside table of the Tiny Cave (the Tiny Cave being the dumping ground/room in which I now sleep when I'm back in Suffolk). So I figured it must be fate as it fitted into one of my categories and sounded good. It was good too.
A celebration of life told in the form of ten chapters covering the life of our protagonist from birth to death. Told in different styles, from multiple perspectives, it has everything you would expect – life, death, love, marriage, divorce, children, work, travel, moving – but what I liked most about it was its celebration of the ordinary. There weren't necessarily any big This is a Book About questions, nor any Meaning of Life answers, but there didn't need to be. Well told, through a variety of different narrative styles which only jarred a little, its strength lay in its simplicity and the fact that really we don't always know that much, much is outside of our control, and that life happens to all of us whether we want it to or not. All we can do is try and live it to the best of our abilities within the constraints placed upon us.
Book number: 67
Title: The Stone Diaries
Author: Carol Shields
Category: Pulitzer Prize winners
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