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[Poll #980885]

Note: "An award" does not mean that you are indiscriminate and will read something just because it won A. N. Award. If you occasionally read books because they win the Whitbread, but couldn't care less about the Nebula winner, tick "yes" for "I have occasionally read a book because it was nominated for or won an award." Similarly, if you've been debating about picking up a book and then an award tips you over the edge, that counts as a yes too. Use your own judgement for what counts as "occasionally" or "often".

Comments

[gummitch.livejournal.com]

I often read books that have been nominated for awards so I can judge which one I should vote for, or to determine how wrong-headed the judges are. Or because I've been invited to appear on a panel discussing a shortlist at a convention, and have undertaken to read the shortlisted books in advance of that.

(And my head still hurts from being compelled to read Gradisil at Eastercon.)

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

You missed the box that says "and I have regretted it EVERY SINGLE TIME".

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

This is hard because winning an award is almost never the only factor. When I was very young I read books because they had won the Hugo, the Nebula or the World Fantasy Award, but I haven't done that for about thirty years.

Nowadays, if a book wins an award, and is recommended by reviewers I respect (or condemmed by those I know have opposite taste to me) I'll read it.

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

I tend to watch the Booker and Orange lists to see what modern fiction is out there but I don't unthinkingly read the shortlist and winner. It very much depends on the time I have: last year I read nothing on the list however in the previous year I read two titles. The Line of Beauty, for instance, would never have been read except it won the prize. Which would have been a pity.

When I returned to serious sf/fantasy reading I used the Clarke shortlist as a reading guide but a couple of years in I'm more discriminating.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Answering 'true' to all of the first three questions - does that count as insane troll logic? Or is it just a Chance thing?

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I intend to read more than I do. But you know how that turns out.

[wychwood]

If I think a book sounds interesting, and it has been nominated for any or all of: the Hugo, Nebula, Tiptree, Clarke awards, that pushes it up the list. I've also made a bit of a habit of looking up older books that won those awards. Even if the book itself doesn't overwhelm me, it's interesting as a picture of what was happening in the field that year. And I have found that I do often enjoy books that have won those awards. I tend to avoid books that win "literary" prizes like the plague, though, because (again) experience shows that I almost always hate them. I don't go around trying to read all the shortlists or anything like that, but they're definitely a factor when it comes to choices.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

Although I also do pick up books myself because of awards, my main source of "because it won an award" books is my mother's frantic Christmas buying. If it has AWARD stickered on its front, there is a reasonable likelihood I will be given it as a gift.

Which has introduced me to, e.g., Colm Toibin, whom I otherwise would never have heard of, so I can't complain overmuch. Probably her tactics are what introduced me to, e.g., actually writing down what won the Tiptree every year, and eventually tracking down a copy.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

As with albums, whether or not a book has won an award is one factor in my assessment of whether it's worth sampling, but positive reviews and word of mouth are a much bigger factor.

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

I suspect that your flist is not representative of the wider reading population, given the number of people heavily involved in nominating and judging awards, let alone the sheer volume of those who vote in awards due to their involvement in fandom.

[pwilkinson.livejournal.com]

For me, that's "often" as in if I'm voting for the BSFA or (in a year when I'm voting) the Hugo awards, I'll try to read all (or as near all as I can) of the shortlist before voting. And the occasional book that's won or been nominated for the Clarke, the Nebula or (in my non-voting years) the Hugo if it looks like something I would enjoy and have not read already.

Of course, there are also the books that move up my reading list because I think I might want to nominate them.

[white_hart]

I will generally pick up two or three books every year that were shortlisted for the Booker/Orange/Whitbread prizes, if I thought they sounded interesting when I read the coverage of the prizes, or if someone else I know has recommended them. I'm not sure this counts as reading them 'because' they've been nominated, but if they hadn't been I might well not have heard of them or bothered to buy them - the award is an extra seal of approval rather than a sole reason for buying.

[hawleygriffen.livejournal.com]

Can't say I care much about awards when it comes to picking books. I don't know if the awards people will match up to my tastes, and thus don't rate the awards that high, but lower than recs from people I do know. Don't know how that ties in with the fact I don't read that many books, who knows if there's a connection....

[blue-hours-too.livejournal.com]

I picked 'occasionally' as I've obviously read some books that must have won some awards - but I would never choose a book using this criteria. I really don't care about these things. In fact it's more likely to be mainstream blah when it comes with these kinds of recommendations or tops the bestseller list and generally, that's not something I'm interested in.