Updated Pulitzer Hopefuls

Here is the newly updated list of Pulitzer Prize for fiction predictions from PPrize.com.  It doesn't look too different from their initial list except one less Joyce Carol Oates title, and the order is a tiny bit different. 

1.  My Father's Tears: And Other Stories by John Updike 
2. Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips 
3. Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow 
4. The Humbling by Philip Roth 
5. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann 
6. The Maple Stories by John Updike 
7. American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell 
8. Spooner by Pete Dexter 
9. Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers 
10. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin 
11. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver 
12. A Good Fall by Ha Jin 
13. The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich 
14. Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem 
15. Dear Husband by Joyce Carol Oates

My progress through the Pulitzer possibles has been disrupted by a recent bout of American Lit. Classics that I have been unable to put down.  But, I have read a few of the remarkable short stories in American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell.  Stark, vivid, and compelling, these are not for the faint of heart.  Set in Michigan, Campbell's stories chronicle the decay of morality and the American Midwest.  Abuse, drug use and poverty abound, and should it win the big award, I think American Salvage will make the perfect compliment to last year's far sunnier winner, Olive Kitteridge.