Hollywood Literacy
Yesterday the winners of the Quill Awards were announced. According to the Quill Foundation website the mission behind the new award is: A new book award program that pairs a populist sensibility with Hollywood-style glitz to bestow the first literary prizes reflecting the tastes of the people who matter most–readers.
Un-huh.
The Book of the Year Award (that’s right… the whole year) was awared to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I read it. I enjoyed it. I think she’s an amazing writer for children. I do not think that a Book of the Year Award is deserved.
The award ceremony will be aired on NBC on October 22nd and my Tivo box will be capturing it for sheer curiosity value. I cannot conceive of debasing literature to the point where Elmo is handing out awards for Children’s Illustrated Book. (Note that there is no “Best” in that title. It’s as if this might be the only illustrated book to come out this year. Or maybe they forgot to choose a title and sent a runner over B&N to grab something.)
What’s next folks…. an award for Best Dust Jacket…. Best Bargain Title… Best Cookbook Featuring the Creative Use of Guavas?
Kim Cattrall and Candice Bushnell are presenters. Sex and the City comes to literature – at Pier Sixty in New York.
Awards, Books | Stephanie Martin | 
October 13, 2005 9:02 am
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By DJ Cayenne, October 13, 2005 @ 11:16 am
Sally, you beat me to the punch on this one. Those awards should be very interesting, especially since the winners are known. Did you know that you could vote for the award? Neither did anyone else apparently. An article that I was reading yesterday indicated that the web traffic to the site was too slow to warrant counting. Matthew Modine, a presenter of an award, had no idea that the awards were based on “popular” vote. The web site that this is going to be an annual event on NBC.
Also, I have no beef with Elmo.
By sallyrogers, October 13, 2005 @ 4:06 pm
I did not know until today that the results were to be a public vote. It’s an interesting concept and I’m all for events that will get people to read more and better books. There’s just something… cheap about this one. There’s a lack of depth in the winner’s circle. I’m concerned that instead of raising the eyes of the common reader it will diminish the tastes of the literatti. But I’m a HUGE book snob — I could win an award for being bitchy about things like this and Grisham announcing the nominees for the National Book Award. And VERIZON winning a corporate award for promoting literacy. Argh!
Now, as for Elmo. Elmo rocks. Elmo is the coolest of the cool and if he can get kids to read he should rock on at NBC. I really should have left Elmo out of it… Poor muppet… it’s not his fault he’s being used to raise ratings.
How do you feel about the popular vote aspect? Do you think it will result in VC Andrews winning a posthumous award or will we gain some real insights into what the public reads? Will Oprah’s influence be made clear? I wonder, in this case, what a popular vote can accomplish. Basically — do you think that people read more enlightened books than inveterate book snobs like myself recognize?
Remember the hoopla over Stephen King’s honor at the NBA’s? That’s what I’m worried about. This kind of award may serve to frustrate and irritate one side of the fence while the other side has already crammed all of the pop-lit they can swallow down their throats.
I think I need a glass of wine….
By DJ Cayenne, October 13, 2005 @ 6:37 pm
I think that popular vote concept is in keeping with their “populist sensibility”. I’m of two minds about the whole thing. I am all for anything that gets more people reading more books. However, the popular vote aspect doesn’t seem like it is going to bring any new books to anyone’s attention. The books nominated were all widely read. Like you, I’m a bit book snobbish. On teh one hand, I would think that people who would go to a web site to vote on a book award would be smarter, on the whole, than the public at large. That said, I can’t believe that Harry Potter beat Gilead and The Plot Against America for Book of the Year. That’s crazy talk. In that sense, why not just take Amazon or the NYT’s Top 10 sellers, give everyone a plaque, and call it a day. On the other hand, people who only read from Oprah’s list may become interested in reading Gilead and Plot Against America, both worthy books, even from a book snob perspective. So I can go either way on this is what I’m saying. Wishy washy enough for ya? I’m inclined to be “pro” anything that glamorizes reading and removes some of the “nerd” stigma.
Speaking of the National Book Awards, I’ve been meaning to get a post up about those all day, but – you know – work and all. I’ll try to do something on that soon if you don’t beat me to it.
I’ll say this though. As a southerner, I have no beef with Grisham. Yeah, he can bust these legal thriller books out in his sleep, but he does a lot of good things for Southern lit in general. For example, The Oxford American magazine got by on his largesse for much longer than it would have otherwise. He’s ok in my book. He did write a non-legal thriller book that I really enjoyed – A Painted House. It ran as a serial in the Oxford American and was very Faulkner-esque. It proved he can do more than he is often given credit for. I’d imagine that at this point it is very hard for him to turn down legal thriller and Hollywood money to do other things.
By sallyrogers, October 14, 2005 @ 8:12 am
I used to subscribe the Oxford American back in the Grisham days. What a remarkable magazine! I liked it more than any other literary magazine I have yet encountered.
One of my favorite book snob stories of myself is this: He had a story in an issue of OA titled, I think, The Birthday Boy. I read the story amazed by the writing and the characters and the feeling. I finished and said to myself that no matter who the author was I would read everything they had in print immediately. I look to the top of the page and, damn it, there was Grisham’s name! I broke my promise.
I loved The Painted House. Loved it. I think he has the potential to be one of the best Southern writers of our time. What I don’t like is that he sinks to the lowest common denominator in his legal thrillers.
Now… if I could write like that and make millions and then use my millions to support Southern lit would I do it? I don’t know… it’s easier to be a snob when you’re not having to choose your bank balance as a result.
He has taken Clancy’s roll and the name-to-be-dropped in regards to pop lit. It’s sad, really.
By DJ Cayenne, October 14, 2005 @ 4:10 pm
The Oxford American is the magazine that won’t die. It seems like every year or so a free copy shows up in my mail box announcing that the magazine has returned with new editors, new staff, etc. Which is to say that Mr. Grisham appears to be no longer involved. From what I’ve seen in the recent editions, the mag has suffered from the changes. Last I heard they had moved from Oxford, MS – the de facto South-lit HQ to Conway, Arkansas. Conway is near Little Rock and the home town of my friend Joe, who rode high school rodeo – but I digress. I didn’t even pick up their music issue this year – a perennial favorite – because it seemed to be half-hearted at first glance. Although, I just looked at their web site, and the CD has a six minute version of Suspicious Minds on it – so I may have to rethink my whole position on this.