The BBC notes scathing criticism of how The Big Read is selecting books.

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Author O'Hagan attacks Big Read
Author Andrew O'Hagan has attacked the BBC show The Big Read, accusing it of being "anti-literary".

O'Hagan, who was shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize with his novel Our Fathers, expressed anger that the show is based upon public opinion. "Somebody said that The Big Read was not just un-literary but anti-literary and I think that's right," he said. "It is based on the assumption that the opinion of the public is always beyond reproach."

O'Hagan added that he "hated the opinion of the population". "Their choice in books is bound to be emetic, and so it has proved to be."

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Comment? With what qualifications would you read the results of The Big Read's selection process?

Bob Hale sez:

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As we talked about on the chat tonight the BBC is in the process of deciding the nations favourite books. The vote for the top one hundred was a free vote for any book you like.

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That's from the initial Big Read post. It says "favourite" not "most worthy" and certainly not "best literature". Now, there were plenty of books that I thought, "Oh please!" at--from Kane and Abel (you have to be kidding me) to War and Peace (you have to be kidding me--but for a different reason.)

I'd also like to add that at least they are talking about books and reading and not whether or not Jen/Ben are getting married.

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O'Hagan added that he "hated the opinion of the population". "Their choice in books is bound to be emetic, and so it has proved to be."

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Did I also notice that none of his work was on the list?
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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog,
it's too dark to read.--Groucho Marx
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There are things wrong with the selection procedure but allowing a free vote for any book isn't one of them. That's just sour grapes from an author who is one of the breed that believes he is writing "literature" and the public don't appereciate his genius.
I can't remember who the others were but he wasn't the only one who commented. Significantly none of the complainers were on the list.

The point of the poll was to find the nation's favourite books and I doubt that many of the nation have even heard of Mr. O'Hagan. His arrogance in suggesting that anything that is populist is also rubbish is staggering.

As I say though there are things that could be done better.

Here's how I'd organise it if the BBC bothered to ask me.

1. Separate out the adult and children's polls (some books might well overlap - allow them in both !). This vote has been skewed by the way that schools have encouraged the children to vote towards popular kids' books and away from popular adult books.
Run both polls side by side in exactly the same format.

2. Round one allow a free vote for any book BUT count up the results by author and put the top 100 aouthors into the chart, each on represented by their most popular book. This would mean that there is a wider variety and that prolific authors like Terry Prattchet would be represented once but probably at a significantly higher position. Authors like JK Rowling wouldn't dominate the chart.

3. For the second round allow a free vote just on the top 20.

4. Insist that the people discussing the books on TV have actually read them. Don't have C or D list celebrities just because their agents want to give them a more intellectual profile.

5. Reduce the advocacy slots to (where a B list celebrity gets to say why you should vote for their favourite book) to 15 minutes and do 4 in an hour program rather than 3 in 90 minutes. *

6. Run the 5 advocacy programs over a week and the final result on Saturday. This will stop the phenomenon of the most popular book being the one people have most recently seen on TV.
(Actually I was rather pleased to see that Captain Bloody Corelli went DOWN in the chart after Clare Short's plea.)

See, things that would improve it, but what wouldn't improve it is rejecting anything the public voted for and allowing O'Hagan and his cronies to choose the list for us.
Any author who says he "hates the opinion of the po[ulation" is hardly likely to be writing a best seller any time soon.



(* This timing would work in England because the poll is on the BBC where there is no advertising to reduce in the length of programs. If it were done in the US that would have to read fifteen minutes = three per hour.)

Glaubt es mir - das Geheimnis, um die größte Fruchtbarkeit und den größten Genuß vom Dasein einzuernten, heisst: gefährlich leben.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

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