Athena Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 GoodReads is doing their yearly awards thing again, for books published in 2014: Here's the link: http://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2014 I haven't voted on anything (yet) because I haven't read any of the books suggested (yet). A few are on my TBR, but I generally wait for paperback releases which usually means I have to wait a while after the original book is published. I do have a few paperbacks of the books suggested but I haven't read them yet. Well, thought I'd leave the link here in case anyone's interested in voting. I'll post the results once it's over (unless someone else beats me to it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melodious Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I'm really keen to read Smoke Gets in your Eye by Caitlin Doughty. She's a mortician who has a youtube channel that discusses topics on death in a light hearted, quirky manner. It's about giving people more control over their rememberance and attempting to challenge the stigma of fear when it comes to death. I also read a chapter of her book (not published until next year in the UK) and I loved her writing style. Seems like it could be a very interesting memoir. A link to her youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi5iiEyLwSLvlqnMi02u5gQ The episode where she talked about pets death and gave her own account of what she did when her cat died was really emotional and heart warming. Home death & wake for your pet its called. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 I don't really agree with these types of awards - how is it possible for someone to vote for a particular book if they haven't read all of them to compare? It seems more about popularity - if a book is already well known, it will probably get voted for a lot. This is why I think people like JK Rowling comes up on so many of these awards and lists - people simply vote for what they know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emelee Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 "Best" and "most popular" will never be the same thing. You just have to overlook the wording. I think most rational people know that after a public vote, you end up with only the most popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Melodious, if you enjoy the topic, you might like to read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. It's both funny and educational. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 I don't really agree with these types of awards - how is it possible for someone to vote for a particular book if they haven't read all of them to compare? It seems more about popularity - if a book is already well known, it will probably get voted for a lot. This is why I think people like JK Rowling comes up on so many of these awards and lists - people simply vote for what they know. I understand what you mean, I think it is a lot more about popularity really. I'm not too bothered myself about voting or the GR awards in general to be honest. But I thought there might be some interested people so . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Nothing against you posting, I know a lot of people like them. It's just one of my peeves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melodious Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Melodious, if you enjoy the topic, you might like to read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. It's both funny and educational. Thanks Kylie I may take a look at that one. It's not a topic I am particulary interested in but I just get fascinated by a lot of things and just came across the above youtube channel by accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melodious Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 You're right it is about popularity since it is a reader's award and not a critic award but these things do help for peopple to notice other books they may have missed. The more people talk about books then the more people will read and influence other people to read and that IMO can't be a bad thing for the industry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 You're right it is about popularity since it is a reader's award and not a critic award but these things do help for peopple to notice other books they may have missed. The more people talk about books then the more people will read and influence other people to read and that IMO can't be a bad thing for the industry. I agree. Whatever it takes to make people interested in new books and reading more! Besides, I'm guessing that the nominees are largely books written by people who write in English. So it's not a very broad range of literature to begin with. You have to take these things with a bit of salt, but not too seriously The only book I'd read of the nominated books was The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, which I truly loved when I read it earlier this year. I guess it's great progress, seeing as I posted about the same GR poll a few years ago and learned that I'd read none of the suggested books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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