How to read a novel.

This is the title of a Future Learn course (Open University) I’m doing which examines plot, characters, dialogue, point of view and setting (next week).  The experts have chosen extreme examples: ‘The Sport of Kings’ by C.E.Morgan which seems to go backwards and forwards, speeds up and slows down, with different points-of-view, to a confusing extent. The second book was Garth Greenwell’s ‘What belongs to you’ which delves deep into a gay relationship – too deep for my liking. The third book is Eimear Mcbride’s ‘The Lesser Bohemians’ which has continuous dialogue, no inverted commas, no separate lines – very tiring and confusing. All the books are nominated for the James Tait Black prize for fiction. They are so different it is hard to compare them and all of them seem based on real-life experiences, although disguised as fiction. What criteria do they use to judge? None of them appeal to me and the excerpts I read have put me off buying the books. Why are prizes so often odds with public acceptance? Many fellow learners seem to agree with my comments so what is the secret? I’ll post my opinion of next week’s book which I hope I will like.