Publishers Weekly reports that Al Roker, about as literary a man as Keanu Reeves, revealed the Quills nominees on NBC’s Weekend Today show. Aside from the troubling notion that nobody in the Today office has bothered to read any of these titles (least of all Roker), I’m wondering just what point this particular awards ceremony serves. The winners are “feted at a gala event on October 10.” But with voting open to anyone, this is nothing less than the People’s Choice Awards of literature — a waste of everybody’s time, a way to give Joan Didion yet another award, and a method to ensure that books are business as usual. You may as well throw Doctorow and Mitchell into an open pit and have them punch each other for the title.
Plus, the awards ceremony was just plain sad last year.
Have you seen the nominees? It’s like a great big blowjob for the big publishing houses. With the exception of Water for Elephants, every book comes from a giant conglomerate. Why don’t they just throw themselves a party instead?
Chill on the Quills…
The Quill Book Awards were announced this morning and Ed was not impressed.I’m wondering just what point this particular awards ceremony serves. The winners are “feted at a gala event on October 10.” But with voting open to anyone, this…
Why can’t we gamble on these? Every year, the newspapers in England run the sports book odds the day after the Man Booker longlist is announced. The smart Qullls money is on Marley and Me. I’m getting prepared to be filled with righteous indignation on October 11.