Today’s question from the Boston Bibliophile: Awards. Do you follow any particular book awards? Do you ever choose books based on awards? What award-winning books do you have? (Off the top of your head only- no need to look this up- it would take all day!) What’s your favorite award-winning book?
I follow many of the book awards, but in the same way I follow the Academy Awards for movies; that is, I note that the book has been awarded Thus-and-Such Award, and if I choose to read it, I have a benchmark (“what were they thinking??!” or “yes, I can see why it won!”). Case in point for recent movies (we use netflix; four kids, no time to go out!): No Country for Old Men – huh? I kept waiting for the end to wrap it up; I was left hanging and disappointed. Juno – loved it! It was on the short list, but didn’t win … why not? are these things rigged?!?
I have “common knowledge” as a display column in the Your Library section of LT, so I can see at a glance if a book I’ve entered is on any award list. Just looking at my A titles, we have Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist, Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and Virginia Hamilton’s Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave. It’s straight-forward to change the way your library displays, if you’d like to do this. Just click the pencil icon on the “styles” tab and select “CK: awards and honors” from the drop-down menu in one of the blank columns.
Browsing at a bookstore I might be drawn to a book with a gold seal on the cover, indicating some type of award and deserving further investigation. Ultimately I’ll choose to purchase/read the book based on an excerpt or a conversation with another reader (or bookseller), not simply because of an award logo. With books for kids I’m more apt to trust the judgement of the award(er).
(Shameless self-promotion): Marie’s question last week revolved around the LibraryThing Authors in our LT libraries. I was surprised to see how few I had, and created the LT Author Challenge to encourage myself and others to increase our numbers. Each new LT Author book read/reviewed/posted will count as an entry into a drawing for a $20 gift card for (what else?!) books. Details are here.
I always try to see the Academy Award nominated films. It seems the winning film is always horrible though. That’s how I know they are going to win, they look totally unappealing to me! I agree, Juno was fantastic, I wasn’t surprised it didn’t win though since I actually liked it! No Country For Old Men was just weird and creepy and There Will Be Blood was strange and boring. I’ve recently started watching the nominated short films, they get released on dvd! Those are fun.
Oooh, I didn’t know you could fix the columns in your library to show common knowledge – I’ll have to check into that. I’d love to be able to see that at a glance.
Totally agree about Juno – it should have won! And I’m going to go fix my columns in LT right now…
Wow that’s amazing. I guess I should pay attention a bit more.
Also got the CK awards field up on my library! I tag for awards too so I can see how many I’ve read from each (I’m really anal and like lists!). I also like to take vocal issue with awards that I can’t see that books deserved (albeit with myself, loudly and not always in my head, which sometimes garners me odd looks from passing strangers…..)
Again, it’s another LT week that I learned something new. Thanks, I will have to check out the common knowlege display.
Thanks so much for the tip about how to show common knowledge in our libraries. Speaking of “common”, I’m also beginning to see a common thread in many of our responses: we’re more willing to go with children’s books that have won awards than award-winning books written for adults. I have to admit that I’m more in agreement with, say the Newbury or Caldecott awards than I am many of the ones in the “adult” world.
Alea – I loved the soundtrack to *Juno* too. New/alternative music.
Traci – you can play around with the display a lot. I like to see the thumbnails of the covers, too, which is on several of the default displays. Then you can wild customizing it to your preferences.
Swapna – the Oscars must be “fixed”, right?
Bluestocking – changing the display? It’s one of the few LT features I had looked into before Marie asked us about it.
klarusu – I make lists of all sorts, read lists of all sorts … I just don’t always act on the lists
Icedream – if my quick directions weren’t clear, let me know …
Cathy – I haven’t read thru many responses yet today, but it’s interesting to see that there’s a pattern (more follow awards for children’s books).
Dawn- Yes the Juno soundtrack is amazing!!!
I totally agree with you about Juno. And I’m off to go change my library view so I can see just how many award winners I have.
I’ll have to check on the column for common knowledge. That would be fun to see.
I am not drawn to the gold seals in bookstores either. Most of the award winners and gossip on such come from my great mother-in-law.
I like the challenge idea- neat!
Alea – I listen to a college station weekdays (and I’m *way* past college-age); they play great music
Meghan and Michele – I bet you saw some you weren’t expecting!
Joanne – isn’t it great to get consistently good recommendations from someone who knows you and your taste/style
marie – you’re the inspiration! Not many takers so far, but it will increase my LT Author numbers anyway …