If like me, you've ever wondered how a judge can read all the books eligible for an award then a paragraph in
Kate Muir's latest column in The Times reveals how one person did it (or not in fact):
Indeed, it turns out that even people judging book prizes don’t read. I talked to someone who judged one of our grander prizes last year and he said: “Of course you don’t have time. You tip the boxes of books out on the floor, put the names you know in a pile, and then you do the first-and-last chapter test on the rest. You only really read the shortlist. We have day jobs too, you know.”
I really hope the fact that it's April the 1st bears some relevance here!
ReplyDeleteWell the column was in last week's Saturday supplement...
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know more about how the shortlists are chosen. You'd have to read a book a day, not easy with full time work!
I sometimes wonder if those that write the flap notes and blurbs ever read the books.
ReplyDeleteTime and again there are errors that show they have flipped through a few pages at best.