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Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about award winning books…
Do you feel compelled to read prize-winning (Giller/Booker/Pulitzer etc) books? Why, or why not? Is there, perhaps, one particular award that you favour? (question courtesy of MizB)
This is easy for me. My answer is No. That is not to say I don't make a mental note of their accomplishment and even jot down the title in my reading journal for future reference. I just don't seek out award-winning novels when I choosing a book. When I pick up a book to read, the story is what grabs me first. If the book also happens to be an award winner, then all the better, but it's not a criteria I consiously seek out. I have, in the past, read award winning books that, for one reason or another, I didn't care for all that much. Case in point: Last year I read OUT STEALING HORSES, an award-winning novel that I found just OK. (Even though I'm sure there are a lot of other readers who loved it). Earlier I read THE GOD OF ANIMALS by Aryn Kyle, another award winner and really like it, but heard next to nothing about it from the reading community. I feel that just because a book won an award, doesn't mean I'm guaranteed to like it. I think that's impossible.
How do you feel about award-winning novels? Do you follow a particular list and try to read them? I can see where that might be an interesting 'challenge' to try, but it's not something that I do.
Once again, I need to apologize for the craziness that Blogger has inflicted on my blog. Hopefully it will get straightened up soon!
ReplyDeleteI have liked Costa Prize winners and then books by Nobel Prize winners and lot more..
ReplyDeleteMondays: Musings/Mailbox/whereabouts
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. If you are interested, here is my response to this week's question:
http://tjbook-list.blogspot.com/2009/06/monday-musings-puffed-up-prize-winners.html
Take care,
Sassy
:)
Total agreement with you, Lisa. I just look for books that interest me and sound promising. It could be some obscure book, who knows where you will find a gem. My niece bought a book at a yard sale and we had never heard of the author but what a wonderful book it turned out to be. Of course, now I can't remember the full correct title or author. The Ginger Tree, maybe. Author Wynde ?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it was an excellent story.
Hope all is well with you this week.
It's funny, but I had the same experience with the examples you used. I didn't finish Out Stealing Horses (I may give it another chance in case it was just 'right book, wrong time') and I loved the audio version of The God of Animals. I am always curious to see which books win the awards, but I don't rush out to read them once they do.
ReplyDeleteI don't seek out award winners either, but don't avoid them either.
ReplyDeleteI don't choose books because of an award either. Sometimes I don't get why certain books got one and others didn't.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I don't choose books based on the awards they win. Sometimes I notice but I usually don't add them to my tbr pile just because of the awards.
ReplyDeleteI guess I have read too much about how awards are decided upon...and thus I place very little value in book awards. I would never read a book just because it won an award ("Out Stealing Horses" is one that I was unable to finish, too). But I always get a warm fuzzy when a book I loved wins an award (I am thinking of "Olive Kitteridge", which I loved and which won a Pulitzer for fiction).
ReplyDeleteI'll check out what books are winning the awards but I by no means pick them to read. I actually would much rather read the ones not being heard about. If it sounds good to me, that's when I want to read it.
ReplyDelete