The 2019 Tournament of Books

The Rooster crows anew! Yes, it is that time of year again my book friends! Time for the 2019 Tournament of Books. 

More information can be found on The Morning News website: but in short the Tournament is an on-line book prize using bracket eliminations to pit two books against each other and where the judgments are transparent since they are posted publicly.  The short list was announced very early in December 2018 which gave readers like me a chance to get their library holds in so as to get some quality reading done over the Christmas/New Year break. I didn't make quite as much headway as I had hoped over that period, mostly because I was trying to finish reading Les Misérables and Buddenbrooks before I tackled anything new. 

At the time of publication of the short list I had already read three of the books, I managed to read four more over the break and have since completed another four. Below is the shortlist with my current tally:

	Title Author READ? Call Me Zebra Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi Census Jesse Ball YES The Dictionary of Animal Languages Heidi Sopinka The Golden State Lydia Kiesling YES The House of Broken Angels Luis Alberto Urrea YES The Italian Teacher Tom Rachman YES The Mars Room Rachel Kushner YES Milkman Anna Burns YES My Sister the Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite YES The Overstory Richard Powers The Parking Lot Attendant Nafkote Tamirat YES So Lucky Nicola Griffith There, There Tommy Orange YES Warlight Michael Ondaatje YES Washington Black Esi Edugyan YES America Is Not the Heart Elaine Castillo Speak No Evil Uzodinma Iweala A Terrible Country Keith Gessen

The Tournament doesn't start until March so I fee pretty confident that I will be able to complete the short list by then. So far, from what I've read I've enjoyed The Mars Room, Milkman and The Golden State the most.  In particular, I am really glad to have read Milkman since it also won the 2018 Man-Booker prize. I liked it a lot more than I though I would. 

Have any of you read any of the shortlisted books or would you like to? Do you follow the Tournament too?  Let me know! 😃

THE TOURNAMENT OF BOOKS 2018

What, I am posting twice in one week? UNHEARD OF. But the Tournament of Books 2018 Shortlist was announced today! If you are curious about the Tournament and how it functions, here is the TOB link, As you can see in the list I have made below of the 18 shortlisted titles, I have already read 11, which is a personal best.   I think have a good chance at managing to read the remaining 7 titles in time for the judging on March 7, 2018, which I have never achieved before. We'll see 😀.

   No.          Title                                        Author                                    Available?

1	The Animators	Kayla Rae Whitaker	READ
2	The Book of Joan	Lidia Yuknavitch	LIBRARY
3	Dear Cyborgs	Eugene Lim
4	The End of Eddy	Édouard Louis	READ
5	Exit West	Mohsin Hamid	READ
6	Fever Dream	Samanta Schweblin	READ
7	Goodbye, Vitamin	Rachel Khong	READ
8	Idaho	Emily Ruskovich	READ
9	The Idiot	Elif Batuman	READ
10	Lincoln in the Bardo	George Saunders	READ
11	Lucky Boy	Shanthi Sekaran	LIBRARY
12	Manhattan Beach	Jennifer Egan	READ
13	Pachinko	Min Jin Lee	LIBRARY
14	Savage Theories	Pola Oloixarac
15	Sing, Unburied, Sing	Jesmyn Ward	READ
16	So Much Blue	Percival Everett
17	Stephen Florida	Gabe Habash	LIBRARY
18	White Tears	Hari Kunzru	READ

While the Back to the Classics Challenge helps me read those older books I have always been meaning to get to, the Tournament of Books helps me keep abreast of current releases and as well as some way off the radar books. 

Of those yet unread, I am most looking forward to getting to Pachinko, a multi-generational saga about Koreans in Japan and The Book of Joan, an apocalyptic re-telling of the Joan of Arc story.  

Of those I have already read, my favorite is hands down, The Idiot. But I would say this book is one of those books where you either get its humor or you don't; like A Confederacy of Dunces (which I hated, BTW). 

What about you dear readers?  Have you read any of these or do you want to read any of them?

THE TOURNAMENT OF BOOKS 2017

Happy New Year all!  It is going to be a while before I get around to reading my first book qualifying for the 2017 Back to the Classics Challenge because I am trying to read as many books from the 2017 Tournament of Books shortlist as possible . 

I have been following the TOB since 2013. I found out about it when the blogger Citizen Reader mentioned Wil Wheaton’s judgment in favor of The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt. I admit, I was mostly intrigued at the time by the name of Wil Wheaton. While I loathe Wesley Crusher, I am a big Star Trek fan (but I don’t know if I am a trekker or a trekkie, the distinction is lost on me, so maybe neither) and I bear the actor no ill-will for the terrible Gary-Stu he played as a child in the 1990s.  

But I digress.  For those of you unfamiliar with the TOB, it is set up like NBA play off brackets and takes place in March just like the play offs. The entire thing happens online. The judges (usually writers themselves) read the two books from their assigned bracket and determine which one will move forward. Color commentary is then provided by the TOB organizers, although there are also occasionally guest commentators.  Then there are the comments from the peanut gallery, ie the bookternet. And that’s where it can get bloody! But usually in a good way. I don’t comment. I can use the excuse that since I am on the west coast, once I am off work and ready to rumble, everyone else is in bed. But really it is because I don't feel sharp enough to keep up with the crowd - and they are razor sharp. Next to the fabulous commentary, I love the access to the transparency of the judgments. Unlike other “legit” book prizes (the Pulitzer, the Booker, the Nobel, etc.) I get to read exactly why the judge chose one book over another, which is always interesting.

So below is a list of the shortlist with notations on which ones I have already read and which ones I can readily get from the library.  Will a little luck I will be able to have at least 10 of the books under my belt come March so I can follow along better.  

Have any of you read any of these or are they on your radar? Do any of you follow the TOB? 

No	TOB 2017 SHORTLIST	AVAILABLE?
1	All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders	READ
2	The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder *	LIBRARY
3	The Mothers by Brit Bennett	LIBRARY
4	Moonglow by Michael Chabon	READING CURRENTLY
5	Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue *	READ
6	We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge
7	Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi	LIBRARY
8	The Nix by Nathan Hill	LIBRARY
9	The Vegetarian by Han Kang	READ
10	High Dive by Jonathan Lee	LIBRARY
11	Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet	LIBRARY
12	The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan*
13	Version Control by Dexter Palmer	LIBRARY
14	Grief Is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter
15	Mister Monkey by Francine Prose
16	My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout	READ
17	Black Wave by Michelle Tea
18	The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead	READ
	*play in round