Prize-winning books

Never judge a book by its cover. Good advice. But I think it’s fair to judge a book by its prize.
Give me any Booker Prize winner and I’ll enjoy it. The Bone People, Possession, True History of the Kelly Gang. You really can’t go wrong with this list. These novels all have a very strong and individual voice. Quirky British books.
I’ve read the highest percentage of Nebula Award winners. A precocious child reader, I read all the kids’ books in our small town library before I finished grade school. My parents turned me on to Agatha Christie and classic SF. I outgrew the mysteries, but still love science fiction.
So the Hugo award winners are also dear to my heart. These are the cream of the science fiction crop. Neal Stephenson’s 1996 novel, The Diamond Age, ranks as one of my favorite books of all time. I’ve read it almost as often as I’ve read Alice in Wonderland (and I first read Alice when I was 8).
Pulitzer Prize novels are a mixed bag. With prizes given since 1918, thit’s a very long list with a broad sweep–“fiction in book form by an American author and preferably dealing with American life.” I hated The Shipping News, but it dominated the prize lists in 1993-94. On the other hand, who doesn’t love A Confederacy of Dunces?
I’ve not read many of the titles awarded by PEN/Faulkner or the National Book Awards. Ha Jin’s 1999 novel, Waiting, is on both and I found it a tiny bit slow but a worthwhile read.
On the other hand, I’ve never read a Nobel Prize novel that I liked but I’m sure that’s my own fault. The prize is awarded to “the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency” and I ought to know that I prefer adventure to idealism.
I’m slogging my way through 2000 Nobel winner Gao Xingjian’s “One Man’s Bible” right now. It’s really tedious, though I’ve read other novels about the Chinese cultural revolution that I’ve enjoyed very much so I suspect it isn’t the topic but the approach.
As soon as I’m done with this stinker, I will reward myself with another Booker novel.