This week’s prompt: September is a busy month for literary events and book awards. Are there any award-winning books or authors you’re eager to read, or any forthcoming book events you intend to go to or cover on your blog?
My relationship with book prizes has been on and off. I find that my interest very much depends on the books that are selected in a given year, and how much they appeal to me. Prizes I have followed in the past are The Women’s Prize for Fiction (there was one year I read and enjoyed every shortlisted selection), The Booker Prize (I’ve never read a whole list, but I have read a selection and have found some great books there), Canada Reads (I love the format, but again, it depends on the celebrities and books that are being featured – some have been absolutely brilliant, others just okay) and, of course, The BookTube Prize which I have judged several times in the past (I missed the sign up this year, much to my disappointment – damn ADHD and the whole forgetting dates and things I need to do thing!) and am a huge fan of. Of all of these, I’d have to say that The BookTube Prize is closest to my heart. Not only because of my participation, but because of what it is. I love that it was created by the online book community for the same community, and was designed to feature books that regular readers like me are most interested in or that they enjoyed the most in the past year. I’ve read a huge number of books I’d never have read otherwise thanks to judging the prize, and I’ve been blown away by some of those very same books. Here are some of the books I was so grateful to have discovered:
The Trees by Percival Everett
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Still Life by Sarah Winman
All of these books I either hadn’t considered reading or had been aware of and decided weren’t for me. And yet, each and every one had me completely drawn in, gave me a huge amount to think about and surprised me in delightful ways. So I guess at the end of the day, I think that book prizes are not infallible – they are dependent on which books are submitted, which are selected by which judges in a particular year. All of these factors rule out a vast number of fantastic books each year, but it also provides an interesting and constantly changing selectin of books that are often ones I never would have discovered without the prizes bringing them to my attention. So while I’m not going to think that the books that win prizes are necessarily the “best” books of a particular year (especially as this is so subjective), I do think that they’re a great tool for shining a light on a specific selection of novels. And for that, I will always pay attention to them.
What about you guys? Do any of you follow any book prizes? Are there any other prizes I didn’t mention that you look forward to each year? Are there any books you love that you discovered thanks to a prize list?
The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly blog link-up that gives participants a different book-related question to ponder each week, and allows them to share their thoughts, find new blogs to follow and connect with new readers. The Hop was originally created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and is now hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. To see a list of upcoming prompts go here.
I generally do not follow the book awards, although sometimes I will take a look at the ones that interest me when they are announced. The Hugos and Edgar Awards are probably the ones I am aware of most, although I couldn’t tell you what time of year they come out. There was a short time I followed the Orange Prize for Fiction, which I think is now called The Women’s Prize for Fiction, although I haven’t heard much about that one in over a decade. I read prize winners and nominated books, but not because they are up for an award. I’m drawn to books because they interest me first and foremost. Sometimes a book may come to my attention because it was nominated for an award though, so I guess there’s that. I was a judge for a Book Blogger book award one year–and that was a lot of fun. It was based on nominations made by other bloggers. I enjoyed it. I do think book awards have their place and value. It’s always interesting to see what makes the nominations list and which book comes out on top.
I completely agree with you. I have read books I wasn’t that interested in when I was more into trying to read the shortlist of a prize so I could actually choose my favourite knowing what all the books were. It was an experiment though, not a habit. I also peruse prize lists to see the books that are on them that I haven’t heard of before, then I read blurbs and if they appeal to me I’ll add them to my list. But if they don’t… I don’t. I also have my frustrations with prizes not always seeming to have the diversity they should, not sticking to their own rules even (the year the Booker decided to split the prize between Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood was the year it lost my unquestioning respect – now I’ll look at what’s listed, but I don’t have a feeling of really caring much what they think, just wanting to add to the overall landscape of that year in books. I’m still very disappointed by that decision). So my feelings are always a bit mixed, I’m always a bit skeptical and want to think a bit about the books that were submitted, which were chosen, who’s judging the prize, etc. They do have their place, but I definitely don’t think that any actually decide on the “best” books of a year, it’s the ones that group liked best from the selection of books they were presented with. Which is always going to be a limited pool.
You make interesting points. I don’t take much notice of awards. As a general rule prize winning books don’t seem to be my cup of tea. Maybe one day 🤣
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2024/09/20/book-blogger-hop-award-winning-books-and-book-events/
It’s such a mixed bag! Sometimes it’s the case that I’ll be able to appreciate a prize winning book – how well written it is, the way it is structured, the topics it raises and how they’re discussed – but not necessarily *like* it, if you know what I mean!