As usual, from Marie at The Boston Bibliophile:
Today’s question: 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 don’t really follow any. I’ve become interested in the Man Booker prize recently, mainly because The Remains of the Day won it and if they chose that book, they must have good taste. Then I read two Bookers that I was less than enamored with, The Sea by John Banville and Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. So I’m not sure I’ll continue to follow it. I have another in my collection, Possession by A.S. Byatt, so I’ll give that a shot before I decide to follow it in earnest (read more of them, pay attention to the long and short lists, etc.). I also tend to gravitate towards buying Pulitzer Prize winners, as I’ve liked most of those that I’ve read in the past, like The Hours by Michael Cunningham.
My favorite award winner is probably The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. And there’s another Pulitzer Prize for you right there, so obviously, I should start following that prize!
I love Edith Wharton, but I’ve never read The Age of Innocence. I’m not sure how that happened. I’m adding it to my tbr list.
If I had to pick one award, I’d pick Booker as well.
Hey I read the Age of Innocence. I didn’t realize it was a Pulitzer Prize Winner.
I remember reading Possession and really enjoying it, and Edith Wharton is one of my favorite authors.
The short list for the Man Booker prize was announced today. http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1134
I like to know what’s happening with the Canadian awards, but like with anything else it is hit or miss whether you enjoy them or not.
For some reason, it took me a long time to get through Possession – almost a year in fact!
But I ended up really liking it a lot. The movie was actually pretty good, too.
Haven’t read The Hours, but I’ve had it in my TBR stack for quite a while now.
I hope you like Possession. Some of the more recent Booker winners I thought were duds- I hated The Sea and The Gathering, for example!
But for me the winners from the 80s and early 90s were awesome.