Tournament of Books discussion

Hi everyone! This message is to announce our schedule for our ALT-Tournament of Books Matches!

Our Tournament will begin January 4 2016, with the first round being a contest between Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta and The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli.

Here is the link to our Tournament page that will be updated as the Judge's decisions are announced:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y...

We will be posting decisions every weekday throughout January. Our Winner will be announced January 25.

Thanks everyone for reading along--it has been so fun! I hope this next part of seeing how these books match up against one another is equally enjoyable to everyone. Thanks!

And here is our full schedule of matches:

FIRST ROUND:

--------------upper bracket:

1) Mon Jan 4: Under the Udala Trees v. The Story of My Teeth
Judge: nomadreader
Hosted by: poingu

2) Tue Jan 5: Sweetland v. The Gap of Time: The Winter's Tale Retold
Judge: Jane
Hosted by: Kaion

3) Wed Jan 6: Welcome to Braggsville v. The Mountain Story
Judge: Ryan
Hosted by: Susan

4) Thu Jan 7: Girl Waits with Gun v. Aquarium
Judge: Jen
Hosted by: Susan

--------------------------------
lower bracket:

5) Fri Jan 8: The Star Side of Bird Hill v. Man Tiger: A Novel
Judge: Topher
Hosted by: Rebecca

6) Mon Jan 11: Landfalls v. Oreo
Judge: jo
Hosted by: Rebecca

7) Tue Jan 12: Delicious Foods v. Fifteen Dogs
Judge: Jason
Hosted by: Amy

8) Wed Jan 13: Undermajordomo Minor v. Gutshot: Stories
Judge: Michele
Hosted by: Amy


QUARTER FINALS:

----------------upper bracket:

9) Thu Jan 14: Winner of Round 1 v. Winner of Round 2
Judge: Amber
Hosted by: jo

10) Fri Jan 15: Winner of Round 3 v. Winner of Round 4
Judge: Drew
Hosted by: jo

(break for MLK weekend)

------------------lower bracket:

11) Tue Jan 19: Winner of Round 5 v. Winner of Round 6
Judge: Rebecca
hosted by: poingu

12) Wed Jan 20: Winner of Round 7 v. Winner of Round 8
Judge: Amy
hosted by: poingu

SEMI FINAL ROUND

13) Thu Jan 21: Winner of Round 9 v. Winner of Round 10
Judge: Heather
Hosted by: Amber

14) Fri Jan 22: Winner of Round 11 v. Winner of Round 12
Judge: Gayla
hosted by: Rebecca

FINAL ROUND VOTES POSTED AND WINNER ANNOUNCED:
Monday Jan 25
hosted by: poingu

Who has read all 16, or plans to? (Congratulations--Jennifer & I owe you a book)

Which was your personal favorite?

What couldn't you stand reading?

I came super close, but I'm still 3 short and I suspect I may remain that way because between the TOB Longlist and other recommendations, I have a ton of other books I want to get to first. I read all but Oreo, Star Side of Bird Hill, and Undermajor Domo Minor.

Personal Favorite: Probably Fifteen Dogs, but an honorable mention goes to Landfalls, which I thought I would hate and ended up really liking.

Couldn't stand reading: For both The Story of My Teeth and Gutshot, I wouldn't say I couldn't stand reading them, but both left me feeling like a cranky old man wishing these crazy newfangled books would get off of my lawn.

I have read all but Landfalls (started last night - really enjoying), Gutshot (in process - have to make myself pick this one up.) and I am hoping to finish with Oreo and The Story of My Teeth this weekend.

I will come back with favorites and least favorites when I have finished all ten.

Looking forward to what the judges have to say about each book - but hoping my favorites will advance through the rounds. :)

Heather wrote: "The Story of My Teeth and Gutshot, I wouldn't say I couldn't stand reading them, but both left me feeling like a cranky old man wishing these crazy newfangled books would get off of my lawn. "

yep I immediately imagined several clowns and a toothless person plus one really big snake on your lawn.

My personal favorite: Man Tiger. A big surprise for me and I'm so grateful. Jennifer found Kurniawan in her pre-game research and I had never heard of him and this novel ended up being one of my favorite reads of the year.

Couldn't stand reading: The Mountain Story. BUT I learned a lot from those who loved it, about my reading preferences, biases, and blind spots. So in a way it was a terrific read for me because I feel it's going to allow me to enjoy a wider range of books in the future.

The notion of "plausibility" kept coming up in many threads, and the plausibility factor totally blocked my enjoyment of The Mountain Story, but I've realized in reading other people's reactions to this and other novels in alt.TOB that I need to rethink my responses and make sure they're not getting in the way of some terrific reads.

Beverly wrote: "I have read all but Landfalls (started last night - really enjoying), Gutshot (in process - have to make myself pick this one up.) and I am hoping to finish with Oreo and The Story of My Teeth this..."

I hope you make it because I already know which book I want to send to you Beverly! Which i will do anyway, actually.

Tram 83

poingu wrote: "Beverly wrote: "I have read all but Landfalls (started last night - really enjoying), Gutshot (in process - have to make myself pick this one up.) and I am hoping to finish with Oreo and The Story ..."

LOL - You know me so well...

What an incentive to finish.

Hi everybody--I just edited the first post with our schedule to include the people who have volunteered to host each round--thanks Host Volunteers! I couldn't be more grateful and excited to have so many people coming along for the ride.

Note to hosts: don't stress about anything. This is going to be a lot of fun even if it completely falls apart and we miss every deadline on the schedule. I for one have learned to have a lot more appreciation than I did before for the seamless experience TOB gives us every year, but we're just a band of readers, with neither glory nor salary for our efforts, so let's have fun with it.

Having survived one bar mitzvah, one really slapdash Chanukah, and the end of the school semester I am finally back and excited to participate in the alt-TOB!

I haven't read all 16 yet, but I still hope to do that before it gets started.

All this looks awesome -- thank you Poingu!

This looks great poingu! I am so sorry that I could not step up and volunteer to help with hosting a pairing. I am glad to see it has all come together and I look forward to all the discussions around the pairings when the winners are announced.

I hope you can relax over the holidays! All the best.