ucdawg12
10-13-2007, 10:32 PM
Hello ladies and gents,
How do you all feel about the National Book Awards? Do you anticipate the short lists, the winners, or are you ahead of the curve and you've read them well before they win their praise? Or do you not even bother with them? I'm interested in what a well-read forum thinks about these awards and other literary prizes. How important are they to you?
The reason I ask is because recently I looked into the list of recent NBA winners and I looked over them on Amazon and perhaps add them to my wish list, but what I found was a little surprising. I started from 2006 and worked my way back when looking up these titles, and I saw that very few of them had average reviews of 4/5 stars or better. Many had less than 3.5/5. And of the reviews I skimmed I saw some educated criticisms of these books. I don't remember which titles specifically but I do recall reading reviews criticizing shallow characters and the like. I don't believe that the criticism came from uneducated readers who didn't know what they were getting into, that is how I feel, but I could be wrong.
I have not read a single NBA winning book so I don't know what to make of it myself, and the long queue of books I have right now will prevent me from reading one and making my own opinion. So I am interested in what you guys think because I believe this is the audience that these books are written for. Do you think these literary prize winning books deserve their praise or are other books more deserving?
How do you all feel about the National Book Awards? Do you anticipate the short lists, the winners, or are you ahead of the curve and you've read them well before they win their praise? Or do you not even bother with them? I'm interested in what a well-read forum thinks about these awards and other literary prizes. How important are they to you?
The reason I ask is because recently I looked into the list of recent NBA winners and I looked over them on Amazon and perhaps add them to my wish list, but what I found was a little surprising. I started from 2006 and worked my way back when looking up these titles, and I saw that very few of them had average reviews of 4/5 stars or better. Many had less than 3.5/5. And of the reviews I skimmed I saw some educated criticisms of these books. I don't remember which titles specifically but I do recall reading reviews criticizing shallow characters and the like. I don't believe that the criticism came from uneducated readers who didn't know what they were getting into, that is how I feel, but I could be wrong.
I have not read a single NBA winning book so I don't know what to make of it myself, and the long queue of books I have right now will prevent me from reading one and making my own opinion. So I am interested in what you guys think because I believe this is the audience that these books are written for. Do you think these literary prize winning books deserve their praise or are other books more deserving?