Tournament of Books discussion
2021 TOB Tourney
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Opening Rounds and Play-In
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Amy
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Mar 07, 2021 11:39PM
Space for the Play-in and Rounds 1-8 that start tomorrow! (Mar 8th)
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It is up!...I didn't read any of the play-in books, though, so I have nothing to say.
We are live! https://themorningnews.org/tob/2021/t...(Prediction bracket was frozen just in time!
Happy tourney everyone!
Yay! I'm late to the party, but the tournament is off to an excellent start. That could all come crashing down tomorrow, but hopefully not. :)
Lauren wrote: "Yay! I'm late to the party, but the tournament is off to an excellent start. That could all come crashing down tomorrow, but hopefully not. :)"Can you imagine? I'm not sure how I'd react. Would I start crying? Laughing hysterically? Who knows.
Opening Round #1 posted - Deacon King Kong v. Tender is the Fleshhttps://themorningnews.org/tob/2021/d...
Woohoo! I'm perfectly fine with this judgment - as, I'm sure, most of us are.
I’m not as big a fan of DKK as many of you, but that other book sounds dreadful. Glad I didn’t spend any time on it.
Re: Red Pill winning the play-in -- I had it in my brackets as the winner of the play-in, but changed to The Down Days after reading RP, since I didn't like it very much. But I should have followed my first instincts -- I think Kunzru is one of those writer's writers, and a writer would pick his book about ... a writer. Oh, well. Re: Deacon King Kong winning its first round: god's in its heaven, all's right with the world.
“Tender Is the Flesh is not a tremendously subtle book...”
I seriously loved how Tobias Carroll wrote about books here. He’s so obviously a big reader which isn’t true for some writers. I’m going to look up and read what he’s written. Tobias Carroll is the managing editor of Vol.1 Brooklyn and writes the Watchlist column about books in translation for Words Without Borders. He is the author of three books: Political Sign, a work of nonfiction in the Object Lessons series; Reel, a novel; and Transitory, a story collection. He lives in Brooklyn
I love that this matchup occurred early - I did not expect so much admiration for Tender and figured anything by McBride was going to crush it but this is a pretty vocal (and well-reasoned) crowd defending the merits of the underdog.... enough for me to wonder if it received some serious zombie votes (oh gosh, it is SO hard not to riff on Flesh becoming a zombie!)
Amy wrote: "I love that this matchup occurred early - I did not expect so much admiration for Tender and figured anything by McBride was going to crush it but this is a pretty vocal (and well-reasoned) crowd d..."I thought the commentariat was so interesting today! The defense of this book was so well reasoned that I was kinda tempted. (Almost.) I liked seeing their response to the book, and I love that we all have such diverse tastes.
Lark, I was impressed by the judgment as well, and the criteria he used to judge the books against each other.
It's really interesting to me that most of the talk in the commentariat is about the losing book rather than the winning book. This is often the case, but it was really noticeable this time.
Ellen wrote: "It's really interesting to me that most of the talk in the commentariat is about the losing book rather than the winning book. This is often the case, but it was really noticeable this time."I've been presuming that is because the losing book won't be here again to discuss (unless in the form of a zombie), and that folks kind of space out their thoughts about the winning book that will return again.
I had just listened to the So Many Damn Books podcast re: ToB 21 and Christopher and Drew BOTH predicted a Tender upset of Deacon, so I was totally nervous reading the judgment this morning...until towards the end when the judge made it clear which book he would be advancing. Phew! I am in the midst of DKK right now and I'm enjoying it though I thought I would be in love with it by now (over 100 pages in) based mostly on the praise it has garnered here.
Peggy wrote: "I had just listened to the So Many Damn Books podcast re: ToB 21 and Christopher and Drew BOTH predicted a Tender upset of Deacon, so I was totally nervous reading the judgment this morning...until..."I definitely checked the verdict before reading the judgment.
I'm reading through Memorial right now, so it's good to see it's heading forward - even only 1/4 of the way through, I prefer it to Children's Bible (which was fine!)
I didn't read Memorial because it was mostly so panned here, and I figured I'd better focus on some of the others. But reading the judgment and comments, I'm realizing it's probably right up my alley, since I love Offit's style, and I like relationship novels told from multiple perspectives/voices. So I have it on hold now, and hopefully I'll get through it before the next round.
and now i think i have to read Memorial with my eyes and not only with my ears (i loved it so it's not problem). i was so impressed with it, but it seems as it the written page adds something? also, alexandra schwartz is awesome.
There are images in my Kindle version - mostly (so far as I've read) pictures Mike sends to Benson from Japan.
Loving the judgements so far. All have been well reasoned, extremely thoughtful, and persuasive. I was rooting for Millet's book today but the points Schwartz makes regarding MEMORIAL made me appreciate it more than I did when I read it (at the time I liked it fine but decided it wasn't quite as well written as Washington's story collection LOT). TOB's off to a great start!
I'm loving the judgements AND the discussion so far! Really makes me appreciate or at least the good parts of books that I didn't love, and share the joy in praising the books that I did love.
We’re off to a great start! Is anyone else having trouble keeping up with the commentariat? 300+ comments every day, and some of them quite substantive! I simply can’t read that many comments while also keeping up with other obligations. It’s a victory for me if I just make it through the judgment and official commentary every day. I know I’m missing a lot...
I scroll through it every once in a while, but there's no way that I'd be able to actively keep up with things everyone is saying.
Yesterday, for the first time in yonks, I was working all day and couldn't get to the commentariat until after 5. Good lord! 300+ comments! And when I went to reply, it was clearly too late; most people had already said their piece. There will be other days like that coming up. Don't you just hate it when Life gets in the way of your ToB? AND I'm working in a public library now, so you'd think it would augment, but I've rediscovered what I've always experienced when working in a public library -- that not all people who work there are big readers; in fact, few are. Some describe themselves as such -- but, not necessarily. Sigh.Anyway, I'm really looking forward to today's match. I really liked Transcendent Kingdom when I read it, but it was a long time ago, and I've read a lot of books in between. And there's no doubt in my mind that it's a much more affecting and important book than We Ride Upon Sticks -- but We Ride Upon Sticks had a charm that grabbed me and makes me smile still, remembering it. Reading the judge's bio makes me think that she might -- just might! -- pick the fun book over the important book. I'll be happy either way -- but in my heart of hearts, I'm rooting for We Ride Upon Sticks (proving, once and for all, that I'm not too old to appreciate books told from the young's point of view -- it just has to be the right kind of book).
Yay! And a great write up. I love when a judge talks about reading and I feel seen.
Yay! Yay! Yay! I thought it might happen!!!
Gwendolyn wrote: "We’re off to a great start! Is anyone else having trouble keeping up with the commentariat? 300+ comments every day, and some of them quite substantive! I simply can’t read that many comments while..."Yes! So many comments. I definitely can't keep up with work being as busy as it is. I'm not sure if we have more people than usual this year, if the people we have are just more chatty than before, or if it's just that I have the least amount of weekday free time I've ever had before. ;)
I actually teared up a little reading today's judgment! I do so enjoy the TOB. It's looking to be a fabulous March. Ellen - when you say that library workers aren't big readers: I'm always stunned when I meet English teachers who aren't big readers. Boggles my mind.
I'm lucky that this week is very slow for me at work so I'm --cough,cough -- multitasking. I learn so much reading the different opinions in the commentary (and here, too - but I like how Disqus works, or I'm more used to it?)
Same here! So. Many. Comments. Lauren, you mention more people: I wonder if there are a lot of people still unemployed with more time to read, to think, to comment. Could also be a reflection of the high quality of many of this year’s books—so much to engage with.
Love love love that Sticks made it past what seemed to be a juggernaut - as we mentioned before, there's such a lot of... heavy stuff in the books this year that Sticks stood out just as a lot of fun. I did vote for Transcendent as my zombie (mostly because at that point it'd been the only one I read) so maybe it has some hope of coming back. I did really like it - this matchup was gonna be tough no matter what.
I'm loving the engagement in the commentary but yes, it has been difficult to keep up, especially when Disqus kicks me out when I attempt to 'like' something & I have to scan through all the comments again to find what I've missed! Usually I'd take a week of vacation during the quarterfinals but it won't happen this year and so part of me is hoping the influx of conversation slows. (Not really - I love you guys and what you have to say!)
So many things the judge said today felt like aha moments for me!
I DNF'ed Sticks and 5-starred Transcendent, but I'm so happy Sticks won. But I had to start TK twice to get past its depressing aura, and I loved Sticks to pieces, up until all that was so funny and charming in it was swamped by the feeling that the author was force-feeding me yuks. I felt like she didn't trust her characters and story enough to let them be funny naturally. But I'm all for honoring the parts of Sticks that didn't go off the rails for me.
4 excellent judgments in a row? I feel like I am gleaning a little wisdom each day from them. I am not certain if others felt this way, but the different approaches to community within these two books felt substantial, the levity and camaraderie of Sticks v. willful loneliness of TK. I may be mischaracterizing TK, but I felt as if Gifty had opportunities to have people support her and kept them at arms length. It seemed intentional, but it consequently kept me at arms length as a reader.
Kip wrote: "4 excellent judgments in a row? I feel like I am gleaning a little wisdom each day from them. I am not certain if others felt this way, but the different approaches to community within these two bo..."I really like this comparison, although I think for me, the loneliness made me feel closer to Grifty. (Maybe because I relate to it on some level, it helped me feel her desperation.)
As for the commentariat, I recognize almost everybody, so I don't know that there are all that many newbies. Maybe people do have more time to comment, or had more time over the year to read books. All the comments have been excellent, really helped me appreciate the books I didn't love. I'm sad not to be able to read them all.
I for one have read less than half of the books but I’m hoping the ongoing tourney kicks my butt into adding a few more by the end.
Kip wrote: "4 excellent judgments in a row? I feel like I am gleaning a little wisdom each day from them. I am not certain if others felt this way, but the different approaches to community within these two bo..."Given the degree that she's suffered from losing her supports in the past, I'm not surprised that she might have decided it was best to rely on herself than on someone else who might fail her.
Lauren wrote: "So many comments. I definitely can't keep up with work being as busy as it is. I'm not sure if we have more people than usual this year, if the people we have are just more chatty than before, or if it's just that I have the least amount of weekday free time I've ever had before."Maybe more people working from home this year? And have had more time this past year to sit at home and read books? Or like me, who are just working at a computer and can easily toggle back and forth all day. In any event, maybe a "best of" daily digest would come in useful. Let's get Rosecrans on it.
I know I'm spending too much time in the Commentariat when I try to upvote posts here. *Facepalm* And the judgments have been seriously excellent. It's shaping up to be an excellent March indeed.
I'm dreading tomorrow, there are no good outcomes.
Elizabeth wrote: "I'm dreading tomorrow, there are no good outcomes."Yes, tomorrow is a really tough matchup!
