Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
I'll hold up my hand as being an Australian and voting for Picnic at Hanging Rock, though my choice had nothing to do with patriotism. Personally I would have preferred One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to both. I simply don't feel like reading another Atwood at the moment, though she is a fine author.
I would also add that whilst there is certainly nothing wrong with examining the stats I would hope that we are not choosing books based largely on the sex of the author or the colour of their skin. Or, for that matter, patriotism.
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Of course not. The interest in the stats lies neither in its predictive value nor in its determinate value, but in its assessment of choices made, which becomes increasingly more meaningful as more data are generated. I
always make my choice based on various qualitative assessments and would never not vote for the white male Anglophone for that reason. That said, if we
always picked the white Brit/Yank male, that would indicate something very wrong indeed, which is why the stats are interesting and reassuring.
In fact, I'd have chosen Kesey myself. A marvelous book I'd love to revisit. But there's also something reassuring that it won't be an American or Britisher or man, this time around.