Tournament of Books discussion

www.themorningnews.org/article/announ...


At Night We Walk in Circles by Daniel Alarcón
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid
The Dinner by Herman Koch
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Long Division by Kiese Laymon
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Hill William by Scott McClanahan
The Son by Philipp Meyer
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
[Winner of the Pre-Tournament Playoff Round]

Play-In

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Woke Up Lonely by Fiona Maazel

No Pynchon was a surprise, and I'm very bummed out that The Flame Throwers was left out.

My pre-announcement prep was totally off-base! I read Tenth of December, Night Film, and Americanah over the holiday. I certainly wouldn't call it time wasted, I really enjoyed all three, but man I've got a big list of books to try for by March...

Well I have read seven guess I have my tbr pile set for a while!

cool. i have read 3 books on the list (catton, gilbert, koch). but i do own most of the contenders...i'm going to be busy, as soon as i bust out of this reading slump!!

GERALDINE BROOKS!!!
ROXANE GAY!!!

(i am a little excited to see them on the judging panel. woot!!)

Yeah, I'm blown away by the judges' panel, I gotta say. And I've got a lot of reading to do, since my pre-shortlist reading was completely off base. I will put the ones I really don't want to read at the bottom of the pile and get going on the others.

5 read here, and working my waaaay thru a 6th (with The Luminaries).

Kind of surprised about Tenth of December and The Interestings not making the cut, and Life After Life being put in a play-in.

Looks like The Dinner got the love/hate book, had a hunch Tampa or Flamethrowers had a better shot.

Any "outside-the-box" fiction (like graphic novel) -- this was where I thought Rakoff or Night Film stood a chance?

Overall, pretty pleased with the list. Bunch read, bunch on my TBR list, plus some books that have heard of that will now likely be read.

I've only read 3 books :(. So excited to see Geraldine Brooks as a judge! Relieved to finally have the tbr list....

I don't know if I'm more excited about the book list or the judges. Geraldine Brooks AND John Green?? Definitely looking forward to their commentary.

John Darnielle will be fantastic! All the judges look great.

A little disappointed in the books, though...

Ellen wrote: "Yeah, I'm blown away by the judges' panel, I gotta say. And I've got a lot of reading to do, since my pre-shortlist reading was completely off base. I will put the ones I really don't want to read..."

I've been choosing books carefully over the last few months and I still have only read three of them (or four if you count having one on the bedside table as being read.)

Well my pre-reads were all off but excited by the list. Too cold to do anything but read anyway.

OK. I have to come clean. My hopeful pre-read choices were lousy, and my total for the list is....one. One. I hang my head in shame.

Can someone talk me into wanting to read the following books, in which I have zero interest?:
At Night We Walk in Circles
The Tuner of Silences
The Signature of All Things
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
Long Division

I'm really, really interested in Hill William but I fear I'll have to buy it -- neither of my library systems have it.

Yes, the short list is finally here. I've read 3 and own 7. Now I can get down to business. I think I'll give my local indie bookstore a call.

Color me happy that they seem to have pushed the boundaries a bit in choosing some books that were somewhat below the radar. Also glad that they chose not to have a short stories collection. Tenth of December was, by all accounts, one of the best reads of the past year, but I personally find it a bit of a disservice all around to compare oranges to tangerines.
I am excited to explore the list, am currently enjoying The Son, whew, glad it's on the list.

Looks like I have some reading to do. Four already read, just started Life After Life. Bought Tale for The Time Being on a hunch last week. I am sad my pre list favorite A Constellation of Incredible Phenomena did not make the cut. However, I am going into checking out my new tbr list with the optimism that there are some great reads out there. I am not much of a short story reader, but I read Tenth of December because of tourney speculation and I'm glad I did. Anyone else have a good surprise with their pre list reading?

Ohenrypacey wrote: "Color me happy that they seem to have pushed the boundaries a bit in choosing some books that were somewhat below the radar. Also glad that they chose not to have a short stories collection. Tenth ..."
Personally, I've always felt that the comparing of "oranges to tangerines" was the entire point of the tourney...to celebrate the absurdity of comparing two works of fiction that have almost nothing in common.

...and I really don't see the point in leaving off one of the 3-4 best reviewed books of the year. If it's to highlight lesser-known writers, why is Gilbert on here? So far, Flamethrowers is my book of the year, but I'm not as bothered by its exclusion as I am by the Saunders. Not that the Gilbert book is bad by any means...i haven't read it but by all accounts it's very good

Ellen wrote: "Can someone talk me into wanting to read the following..."

hi ellen! for what is worth, i LOVED gilbert's novel, The Signature of All Things. but i keep feeling the need to qualify my feelings (ha!), whenever the book is mentioned/comes up in conversations i have.

i have not read 'eat, pray, love', and i don't plan to do so. it's just not the type of thing that appeals to me, versus any negative feelings towards gilbert ( i don't have any). i had read her previous novel, Stern Men,which i enjoyed. but i really liked her previous journalism work. and she has a pretty great TED talk. (which i loved a lot, even though she touches on some ideas i don't share. she's a wonderful speaker and is clearly passionate about her work.)

so, the signature of all things turned out to be my biggest surprise of 2013, and it's a book i have recommended quite a few times. though i haven't blanket recommended it to everyone, i think it will be a great read for some readers. of course, i can't promise you will love it (though i hope you will give it a try). though i wish i had the magical power of knowing who will love any given book. haha!!! :)

i am a little surprised at its inclusion - or rather, that it made the final cut. i was happy to see it on the very long list. i don't know how it will fare in the head-to-head challenge(s).

Eek, I've only read 2. This is my first time following (participating in?) the TOB; is there a particular date by which certain titles should be read?

I am thinking Gilbert got a nod (besides this novel being well reviewed) because she is such a divisive author and in such a tight box thanks to Eat, Pray, Love -- men won't read her and it seems women are split 50/50 (from my informal experience). I actually loved EPL (and a guy, so draw me that Venn Diagram!), so am looking forward to reading Signature of All Things as it gives me an "excuse" to do so. As Jennifer wrote, seem to have to feel somewhat guilty about liking Gilbert -- she gets a tad too spiritual for me, but I find her fascinating to listen to. I hope she surprises folk her and Signature stands on its own.


Deborah, the tournament starts right at the beginning of March... so it's pretty much read whatever and how much you like by then.

I'm so excited to play along! I only learned about ToB after the tourney last year, but I used last year's list to supplement my TBR list. Admittedly I've only read one on this year's list so I better get reading!!

Wow. I was way off. Haven't read a single book. Tenth of December is a disappointment, but I'm glad I read it. Now do I finish The Interestings or just finish it after the tourney?

I did just get How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia at the library. Fun times ahead.

Top 4 based on GoodReads ratings

4.26 Hill William
4.22 Eleanor & Park
4.14 The Goldfinch
4.09 The Tuner of Silences

Bottom book
2.84 Woke Up Lonely

The Dinner is an interesting inclusion, for those who like tangerines amongst the oranges. It's a translation of a book originally published in the Netherlands in '01. huh.

woohoo I've read four! Excited to read some of these. SO pumped about these judges!!

Ellen wrote: "Can someone talk me into wanting to read the following bo..."

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia was one of my favourite reads of last year! An very entertaining read and skillful narrative.

The Signature of All Things was a total waste of good reading time for me. Yuk!

And I am after the same kind of feedback (Can someone talk me into wanting to read the following books )... plus others!

At Night We Walk in Circles
The Tuner of Silences
Long Division
The People in the Trees
Hill William

The Son was one of my favorite reads of the year. I'm excited it's included, not sure how far it will go but I was excited to see it. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia was on my radar and somehow fell off so I'm looking forward to reading that.

All in all I've read 7 but the ones I haven't read definitely weren't on my priority list! For me that's part of the fun.

I am more than a little bit disappointed by this list. I was so hoping for different picks! Not that some of these don't look interesting, but I really wanted S. to be on the list, also Hild, and The Virgins, and Tenth of December, and Love Dishonor Marry Die Cherish Perish.

Alas!

Well, I'm impressed with the judges, less so with some of the choices. If they were going to exclude short stories, it would have been nice to know up front. Eleanor and Park in and. Constellation of Vital Phenomena and The Flamethrowers out? Oh well, I've read all or much of 6 of the books...now to choose which among the remaining 10 to read.

I think I'm more pleased with the list of judges than the list of books this year. Sour grapes - I only read two of them. I'll try to get to the halfway point before the tournament begins. Starting on Goldfinch today.

I've updated our 'currently reading' list.

The judges panel is quite an interesting list. I think we're in for some good judgments this year.

I have read two! That might be better than where I found myself last year at this time, though. I have never even heard of five of them. There are some surprising omissions, but that's TOBX for you.

I mostly took off last year from obsessively following the ToB, but I'm back 100% this year.

I've only read two (Goldfinch and Good Lord Bird) and I started A Tale for the Time Being today at lunch (so far I love it!). Like many others, I was really surprised at the inclusion of the Gilbert book and surprised by the exclusion of Flamethrowers (and also The Interestings). There are a lot here that I'm really looking forward to reading. I think I'm feeling a little intimidated by The Luminaries (800+ pages!).

I'm also surprised that there's no not-really-a-book-per-se entry (a la Nox and Building Stories). Not even a graphic novel. Were there any on the long list?

As far as the judges go - lots of great people in there including one of my writer-crushes, Lydia Kiesling. And then there's Mat Johnson, whose novel, Pym, was one of the weirder/cooler books I read last year. Not to mention all of the other great people in there. No Andrew WK's in sight!

Looking forward to hunkering down and reading the 15(!) finalists I haven't read yet. Anyone have a suggested order?

At first I was surprised to see so many new-to-me titles on the list, but now I'm excited to check them out. But where to start?

I would start with Woke Up Lonely since it'll be up first, but I loved Life After Life and I hope it's the one that "plays in." Would it be better to gamble on reading one that seems more likely to stick around longer?

These are the ones I haven't read yet:
The Lowland
Eleanor & Park
Signature of All Things
Long Division
At Night We Walk in Circles
How to Get Filthy Rich...
Hill William
Tuner of Silences
The People in the Trees
Woke Up Lonely

I'm a bit worried that Life After Life is in the play in round. I'm really hoping it sticks around for awhile because I want to revisit it and hear everybody's commentary.

My first reaction was utter disappointment. All of my tournament guesses are finally becoming available for me at the library (and of course, all at once) and all of my guesses were wrong! Sigh. (Sour grapes is right, Jamie!) I’ve read four (4-5 stars for A Tale for the Time Being, The Goldfinch and Life After Life and 3 stars for The Dinner) and I was really looking forward to A Constellation of Vital Phenomena and Americanah. (I guess they both go on the back burner for a while until I try my hand at more books in the tourney.)

I hadn’t even considered most of the others on the short list (except for The Luminaries) and I trudged back online to re-do my library holds. I’m still not sure about some of the contenders, but who knows, I may discover some new authors…and I may add more books to my abandoned folder. But the good news for me is that I’m finally getting The Luminaries, and I refuse to be daunted by its 800 pages! Looking forward to it!

My strategy for tournament reading seems to be a combination of which books I am truly interested in and, because I’m a library gal, which books have the shortest holds list! I doubt I will read all the books, but it’s always fun to try…

Julie wrote: "Ellen wrote: "Can someone talk me into wanting to read the following bo..."

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia was one of my favourite reads of last year! An very entertaining read and skillfu..."

If you need motivation for Hill William, mosey on over to The Millions and find Nick Moran's Year in Reading: he loved it. Wall Street Journal had an interesting 10 best list, and People in the Trees was on it. I'm excited to have read 5 (6 if you count Luminaries, which I'm 2/3d's of the way through), including some of the long suckers like The Son and Goldfinch. And as long as we're all going on record here, I'm most disappointed at Americanah and Constellation of Vital Phenomena not being on the list, but thrilled at the judges. This is gonna be fun!!

My big disappointment is Constellation not making the cut. I was about to buy Americanah because so many here have been singing its praises. Think I will still read, just after tourney now. I am reading my fifth book now (Life After Life). Plan to really try and finish all pre tourney. I am excited about several on my tbr list, especially A Tale for the Time Being and The Luminaries. Will be interested to see what I wind up rooting for once the reading is done

I am sure many of you have already done page counts, but here they are in descending order (and approx given different sources/formats)... and taking off where Jason started Goodreads current rating in parentheses. Happy prioritizing!

834 - The Luminaries (3.94)
771 - The Goldfinch (4.14)
576 - The Son (4.01)
529 - Life After Life (3.77)
513 - The Signature of All Things (3.85)
433 - The Good Lord Bird (3.85)
432 - A Tale for the Time Being (4.01)
384 - At Night We Walk in Circles (3.87)
384 - The People in the Trees (3.46)
352 - The Lowland (3.87)
336 - Eleanor & Park (4.22)
336 - Woke Up Lonely (2.84)
306 - The Dinner (3.24)
276 - Long Division (3.91)
241 - How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (3.76)
224 - The Tuner of Silences (4.09)
200 - William Scott (4.25)

For a total of 7,127 pages. Egads.

So I'm not the only one who looks at number of total pages. If I can read 90 pages per day I will be ready for the tourney! Got some of the biggies done, but The Luminaries is in the tbr column

when is the official start date of the tournament?? i can't seem to find it.

Thanks Ed for the data! It fulfills my OCD longings :)
Jennifer, the official start date is usually released along with the brackets - late February last year. I've noticed the tournament typically begins one of the first few weekdays in March and ends the last week day of March.

Three books just arrived for me at the library. Together they sound like one good title for a book: The Son, The Dinner, and The People in the Trees.

Jason wrote: "Three books just arrived for me at the library. Together they sound like one good title for a book: The Son, The Dinner, and The People in the Trees."

haha, brilliant!

Susan wrote: "Jennifer, the official start date is usually released along with the brackets - late February last year. I've noticed the tournament typicall..."

thanks susan! i couldn't remember when the dates were shared. i know it, generally, coincides with basketball's 'march madness'...i am trying to figure out how much reading i can manage before go-time! :)

Jason, I'd read that book!

Heh -- when I almost posted that the ToB usually aligns with "March Madness" I thought that not only do I not personally know when that is -- other than, say, some time in March -- but I'd like to think that it's possibly not been on many of our radars until we stumbled on the ToB.

Now I'm feeling compelled to make mash-ups of many of the ToB titles. How about The Goldfinch, Eleanor & Park Woke Up Lonely?

Jason wrote: "Three books just arrived for me at the library. Together they sound like one good title for a book: The Son, The Dinner, and The People in the Trees."

ha!! hilarious!! so...you're writing that now? :)

I am reading Woke Up Lonely. Can't say why I chose it other than it was up against Life After Life and I was curious. Bummed to know that I picked the lowest ranked book to start my tournament with. Thanks to Ed I did some math today as well - I need to read 100+ pages a day to be ready for the first bracket.

I definitely will not be ready for the tournament. In my dreams I would read 90 pages a day. I'm lucky if I get 40 pages read in a day!

I am currently reading The Luminaries and quite fortunately had previously read the other 3 longest books (Goldfinch, Son, Life After Life). I took a look at my spreadsheet (wait, did I just admit that?!)... and those 4 books alone combined for about 2.5 months worth of reading for me!

After Luminaries (which is very good, but a big mental and time commitment) will definitely be going for some quick hits.