I love this post, Hunter. I think about this all the time. It's also the reason the Tournament of Books started - to demonstrate how arbitrary book awards can be. And it invites judges to advise WHY they chose certain books; the judgments are all over the place on reasoning... once a judge literally flipped a coin. But it's fascinating to think about this, and to explore individual judgment of What Makes a Book Good. I think it can also change depending on the type of book, where you are (physically or in life or mentally!), and all the life that came before you. Getting to hear what other people think about books and see what awards go to which book, that's the stuff I love to hear! And you're right... art is always up for debate, which is why I love it, why it can be so powerful.
P.S. I'm still mad about Shuggie Bain's awards based on the poor writing at the sentence level !! Hahahaha
I love this post, Hunter. I think about this all the time. It's also the reason the Tournament of Books started - to demonstrate how arbitrary book awards can be. And it invites judges to advise WHY they chose certain books; the judgments are all over the place on reasoning... once a judge literally flipped a coin. But it's fascinating to think about this, and to explore individual judgment of What Makes a Book Good. I think it can also change depending on the type of book, where you are (physically or in life or mentally!), and all the life that came before you. Getting to hear what other people think about books and see what awards go to which book, that's the stuff I love to hear! And you're right... art is always up for debate, which is why I love it, why it can be so powerful.
P.S. I'm still mad about Shuggie Bain's awards based on the poor writing at the sentence level !! Hahahaha
I came here to say exactly this about the Tournament of Books!