Wednesday evening the National Book Award winners were announced. As usual I did not read any of the winning books. I also had never heard of most of the books even nominated. Does that make me a bad reader? I used to think that when I was younger. I do try to read as many books as I can during the year. I admit that I probably start at least twice the number of books that I finish. That used to bother me too. But with age comes wisdom and there are really too many good books out there with more being published all the time. There is no reason to force yourself to finish a book that does not appeal to you. Not counting school assignments or book discussion group choices of course.
Awards are nice. It can be fun to look at Best of Lists too. That is one way to try to fill in gaps in your reading or expose yourself to some titles you may have missed. But how much value do they really have? Especially the National Book Award winners. People who read this kind of literature probably already have read these titles or at least have heard of them. Will people who read popular fiction care? Every year when the list comes out I do not see a rush of people coming into the library to request these books. I know I rarely will bother to even try to read any of them.
Reading is subjective. It appeals to each of us in a different way. We read what we enjoy. Which ultimately is how it should be. Congratulations to the award winners and all the nominees. But sorry, I think I will pass on trying any of them. And I am ok with that. I still have way too many books in my to read pile that I have been trying to start.
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