This was an interesting article in the Sunday Times about judging the National Book Awards. First off, I was surprised at the number of books being considered for fiction – 407. The deadline for submission was June 3rd, to be whittled down to 10 by mid-September, and to 5 by November 20. These books come from big publishers, small publishers, university publishers, in hardbacks, paperbacks, galleys and loose manuscripts. One problem for Mr. McGrath was where to put 400 books!
He was one of five judges and felt honored to have been selected. He worked with novelists Charles Baxter, Gish Jen and Rene Steinke and bookseller Rick Simonson – and also felt lucky that no animosity developed among the group. Then he admits there is no way so many books can be thoroughly read in the amount of time given. So he says “you do the best you can. You don’t skim exactly, but you race, driving your eyes cross the page, in the process forgoing much of the ordinary pleasure of reading.” He also confessed to not having to read the entire book to know whether it’s prize worthy, but that even mediocre books have a way of hooking one in and making one concerned for the characters. Also, the stories sometimes seemed to blur and overlap, especially when love and money are involved.
I did feel Mr. McGrath had done his best to be a good and fair judge, but I have a feeling he won’t do it again, at least not soon. He sums up his reasons for reading fiction (not as a judge) as: “to experience beautiful original prose and to learn something about people and their nature.”