It’s always exciting to start with a new hobby! The moment you begin something, You are hungry to know everything about it. The Rules, The loopholes, the prize, the strength, the weakness, the opportunity that lies and the threats you face in continuing your hobby.
And then there comes a point, in persuading your hobby, where you don’t enjoy it anymore and you start thinking about how time flew by all these years.
Reading was an accidental hobby, I came across right when I turned 18.
It was only after reading a couple of books, that I realised what I enjoy reading and explored more on those genres and topics.
When I was looking to read more newer topics and stories, I came across the prestigious award that have been recognising talent.
While reading about all the books, that had been awarded or had been nominated.
I picked up a book. I genuinely loved the way it was written and narrated.
After that moment, I waited every year for the announcement to read more of these nominated and award-winning books. This I did for about a couple of years, and then moved to some of the other prominent awards and so on…
Then I realised, these book awards were representing a certain style of writing, and storytelling and were very depressive and emotional.
Also either, they wanted to reach a new audience or wanted to market a newer country, when they awarded books to a writer belonging to that region or country.
These book awards were also biased towards authors from certain countries and not equal to the rest who had equally good writing talent.
The book awards, too were very inclined and favouring genres that represent political views, Race, Gender and a cultural movement, which they believe were more important than voicing one’s story.
Similarly same goes for Academy awards… That is considered a landmark of success!
They too seem to have similar criteria, since these awards are reviewed and judged by selective jury members, who believe are the only voice that matters in making decisions.
There have been films and books that have been better than the ones that have been nominated or awarded but are given little importance too.
It was a couple of years ago when I decided to move past these book awards and read books for the stories, they want to tell and to my surprise, there are so many stories in each country in the world, that are worth reading and investing your time into, than to read books that have either been awarded or read by certain nationalities.
Now, looking to read my next book, I either visit the local bookstore in the cities or go through the most-read books in the country and read the synopsis and see what I would like to read next.
A K H I L N A N D A 