Tournament of Books discussion

The Shortlist was released hella early this year (Dec 9th!) with a short window for zombie voting.

The Books:
All's Well by Mona Awad
Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
In Concrete by Anne Garreta
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Nervous System by Lina Meruane
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke
Subdivision by J. Robert Lennon
The Trees by Percival Everett
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut


and play-in books (this years theme is turmoil):
The Confessions of Copland Cane by Keenan Norris
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Note - I no longer seem to be able to embed outside urls so here's the full link:
https://themorningnews.org/article/th...

Just a note - the "In Concrete" link goes to an unrelated book called "Seeds Planted in Concrete" by a different author...

Zombie voting deadline is today! Having only read 2.5 of the books and none of them felt zombie worthy, it kills me not to throw in a vote. Sigh.

Bretnie wrote: "Zombie voting deadline is today! Having only read 2.5 of the books and none of them felt zombie worthy, it kills me not to throw in a vote. Sigh."

I'm sure you're not the only one, due to the weirdness of this list. I'd only read a handful when I voted, but luckily I'd be thrilled to see two of them zombie, so the only issue I had was choosing between them. So scared Rooney will zombie again by default, since I'm sure she'll have been read by so many of the mysterious silent voters.

Elizabeth wrote: "Bretnie wrote: "Zombie voting deadline is today! Having only read 2.5 of the books and none of them felt zombie worthy, it kills me not to throw in a vote. Sigh."

I'm sure you're not the only one,..."

Same! I'm debating between The Trees and The Sentence for my zombie vote. I've started both of them and am quite intrigued - they both seem fantastic so far. If anyone wants to nudge me one way or the other on this decision, I'm open to it. ;)

Lauren wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Bretnie wrote: "Zombie voting deadline is today! Having only read 2.5 of the books and none of them felt zombie worthy, it kills me not to throw in a vote. Sigh."

I'm sure you're..."

Um...The Trees. :)

I started The Sentence a couple of days ago, it's pretty good, and I definitely hope it makes it through play-in, but IMO The Trees was a masterpiece.

Elizabeth wrote: "Lauren wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Bretnie wrote: "Zombie voting deadline is today! Having only read 2.5 of the books and none of them felt zombie worthy, it kills me not to throw in a vote. Sigh."

..."

I'll push The Trees too.

I'm voting The Sentence, because I feel like The Trees has a better chance of making it further, not being a play-in. But I'm newer to this than some of you so perhaps I'm thinking about it wrong.

(also I'm an Erdrich fan from the beginning of time...)

Tina wrote: "I'm voting The Sentence, because I feel like The Trees has a better chance of making it further, not being a play-in. But I'm newer to this than some of you so perhaps I'm thinking about it wrong.
..."

Trying to game the zombie vote will only end in tears....

Tim wrote: "Trying to game the zombie vote will only end in tears..."

This! It's a lesson we learn every.single.year. Always vote for your favorite because that way, if and when it goes down, you have no regrets.

Elizabeth wrote: "Tim wrote: "Trying to game the zombie vote will only end in tears..."

This! It's a lesson we learn every.single.year. Always vote for your favorite because that way, if and when it goes down, you ..."

Yes... I also wish The Sentence were on the main list instead of being a play-in, but I think I'm most excited about The Trees, so I'll go with that. Thanks for the nudges!

Matrix for me. I am waiting on multiple shortlist books, but of the 3 I've read, Matrix was the clear best.

Kyle wrote: "Matrix for me. I am waiting on multiple shortlist books, but of the 3 I've read, Matrix was the clear best."

That scares me, Kyle. What are the other 2 you have read?

Beautiful World and Klara. Both were fine, Matrix was great.

I just started The Confession of Copeland Cane, and so far, so good! It's of average length, but the typesetting is a bit dense - I don't know what the purpose is behind that, but it hasn't slowed down the reading experience for me, even though I prefer more open space on the page.

I wish they had given us more time for the zombie vote, I accidentally missed it. (I would have voted for Matrix of the ones I've read so far, like 5 of them. But I love Percival Everett so I'll root for The Trees.)

Libertie is 2.99 on Kindle today, for anyone who hasn't tracked it down yet.

I just found this great screenshot from @jen.loves.books on Instagram (is she in this group?) where you can keep track of what you’ve read on the shortlist, here’s a blank version where you can add your own ✅ - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DnyI... I love visual goals like this!

Nadine in California wrote: "I just started The Confession of Copeland Cane, and so far, so good! It's of average length, but the typesetting is a bit dense - I don't know what the purpose is behind that, but i..."

Update: 60 pages in and I have to take a break. I really like the writing and the storyline, but it is so, so dense and the pacing is so, so slow that I feel like I'm stuck in a bog.

Has anyone read Nervous System? I just saw this booktube video describing it, and even though at first I didn't think I was remotely interested, I have to say I'm intrigued. (I have Kindle points I need to use up, so I won't feel too bad if I hate it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7jwi...

I read it. It was interesting, and I think worth reading, but I just liked it, I didn’t love it. It’s very non-linear.

Elizabeth wrote: "Has anyone read Nervous System? ..."

I read it. It's well-written, but my overall feeling about it was "meh." My one-sentence elevator description is "all the ways humans are dying and can die." Don't read on a day you feel ill or down in the dumps.

I'm a third of the way through with Libertie and I'm sad to say I'm really not enjoying it. :(

I'm listening to it on audiobook and REALLY not liking the narrator. It's like every line is delivered in an over-the-top way but very inconsistently, as if the narrator is auditioning for a different play with every sentence. It is seriously jarring and distracting to me.

So, thank you, @kyle, for the tip that the eBook is $2.99; maybe I'll like it better in that format. But I think part of why I don't like it is that it's pretty boring and slow and meanders around without much happening, so, I'm not sure if that will save it for me.

I like a couple of the main story lines about the mother/doctor offering medical help to slaves, the end of the war when slaves are freed, and the girl's relationship with her doctor mother, but it just feels so disjointed and doesn't stay on track enough for me to really love any of the plot lines.

Just wanted to give an update that Libertie is picking up some now at about 40% of the way through. The narrator is still driving me nuts. There are definitely parts of the book I'm glad I'm reading/listening to, though.

Karin wrote: "I just found this great screenshot from @jen.loves.books on Instagram (is she in this group?) where you can keep track of what you’ve read on the shortlist, here’s a blank version where you can add..."

Yes - I loved it and made my own post of it on bookstagram. :)

I've read seven of the shortlist books so far.

The link for the blank version of books read on the shortlist says I need permission to access it. Is there another link somewhere where I can get it?

@Anita, totally agree! Libertie is a perfectly fine book thus far but the narrator is not good. I do like that she knows how to sing and sings what needs singing. I know some people hate that but I love it. For the best example in the world of audiobook singing, see Angela's Ashes, read and sung by the author.

@Mindy, Angela’s Ashes is one of my favorite audiobooks ever. It’s a wonderful example of when listening to an audiobook can be even more powerful and satisfying than reading the paper version.

Don't read on a day you feel ill or down in the dumps.."

Thanks for the heads up, I just got it in Spanish and was planning on reading over the Christmas holiday... trapped in suburban New Jersey... with my in-laws... for an entire week.

Maybe I'll save it for a more cheerful time, like mid-February.

Has anyone made an excel spreadsheet yet?

I finished Libertie and I ended up mostly likely the story overall (3.5 stars) although some parts were boring and other parts were more interesting. Now I'm onto The Echo Wife (also on audiobook).

@mindy - I agree that I did like her singing! I mean, some of those gospel songs were very strange and had a lot of vibrato but she did it very well and I was wondering if they had her read it because she was a good singer for the singing parts.

I will check out Angela's Ashes on audiobook, thanks. I read it long ago but in paperback form and my kids recently watched a Netflix kids' Christmas show based on characters created by Frank McCourt ("Angela's Christmas") so I had already been wanting to read it again. Audiobook will be the perfect format in which to do that, thanks! I listened to Ann Patchett's "The Dutch House" and Tom Hanks narrated that. There were a couple lines that he had to sing and I really liked it and wished there would have been more for him to sing, haha!

Ack! All the books are coming in at once! I am reading Subdivision and have the Ozeki, Erdrich, and now the Everett on deck, and it looks like I'm getting the Rooney (*shudder*) on cd over the next few days.

I love the tournament, but this shortlist has been a struggle so far.

Zachary wrote: "I love the tournament, but this shortlist has been a struggle so far."

So glad it's not just me!

Peggy wrote: "Zachary wrote: "I love the tournament, but this shortlist has been a struggle so far."

So glad it's not just me!"

I have a couple of favorites, but other than that...There were so many amazing books out this year too, and some didn't even make the longlist.

Im a third through Subdivision and it feels a little like Piranesi. Nowhere near the same experience, but I’m quite curious to see where it goes.

I had to pause on Copeland Cape since the plotlessness was dragging me down, but I might come back to it.

I finished The Sentence and The Book of Form and Emptiness this weekend; 4 stars for the former and 5 for the latter. It was weird how many things they had in common!

Zachary wrote: "I love the tournament, but this shortlist has been a struggle so far."

Has a very "throwing darts at the longlist" feel, doesn't it?

Jason wrote: "Zachary wrote: "I love the tournament, but this shortlist has been a struggle so far."

Has a very "throwing darts at the longlist" feel, doesn't it?"

I agree. From the few books I've read now from the shortlist, it really does feel like the selection process was very random.

I enjoyed “Several People Are Typing” but don’t really see why it’s in the shortlist ESPECIALLY with No One is Talking About This also on the list.

I flat out don’t get The Trees ending…. Nor what the book was trying to accomplish.

Onto a couple famous authors’ books for which I’ve heard positive things. (Fingers crossed)

I’m looking forward to getting to “When we Cease to Understand the World” for which I’m avoiding spoilers but heard early feedback from this group that make it sound like my cuppa.

Amy wrote: "I enjoyed “Several People Are Typing” but don’t really see why it’s in the shortlist ESPECIALLY with No One is Talking About This also on the list. "

I read =Several People Are Typing= and =No One Is Talking about This= back to back over the weekend.

I liked =Several People Are Typing=, and while there are shortlist books I would choose it ahead of, there are longlist books I'd rather have in the Tournament. I fully expected to DNF =No One Is Talking about This=: I'm not a big social media guy (this company excepted), I don't know any of the memes, I've never been on Twitter ... but I was pleasantly surprised.

I also got through =When We Cease to Understand the World= this weekend. I liked it...but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the fiction/non-fiction blending. I wonder if I would have liked it more had I known less.

It's =Libertie= that I'm struggling with now. Perfectly good on a sentence level, no question Greenidge can write, but I'm finding it hard to sustain interest in what those sentences sum up to. Maybe someone can give me the key to unlock it....

I thought Libertie was fine. Nothing super special but readable enough.

Started The Sentence and should be getting Ozeki from the library in the next few days. The Trees has been in library limbo, though, so either I'll try to buy a copy with holiday cash or wait until the new year for it to come in...

Someone asked for a spreadsheet, here’s one I made when the shortlist came out...I think it’s shareable: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

I thought Libertie started out really slow and meandered all over the place with so many different characters; it took a long time to get to the main "plot" and even then there wasn't much of a plot and what was there was rather depressing!

BUT I ended up really liking some parts of it for some reason. I related to her struggle of wanting her mom to pay attention to her but always feeling short-changed; she would rather be the patient than her doctor mom's assistant because then her mom would be paying attention to her. I thought the part where she was in college finding out who she was and that she loves music was the best but the earlier parts where she was at home with her mom were more boring and I liked the setting of Haiti but, without giving spoilers, what happened to her and others there made me mad and sad and yet there were times where I found her really hard to like even though I knew how she had turned out that way; I felt like she wasn't taking enough agency over her own life and choices and was being scared and wimpy although I also get how and why she and many other people including myself in the past are like that.

I really didn't like any of the other characters at all and I downright hated some, so it was hard for me to connect with the book (also the narrator made the weirdest, most annoying voices so I hated the audiobook version), but still... it was entertaining enough for me to read pretty quickly and I felt it covered some important concepts and time period/places in history and there is something about it that stuck with me more than some other books.

I find myself thinking about it and getting a certain feeling about it and liking it more as times passes after I've read it, if that makes any sense. Overall I gave it 3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

So far I've also read the Rooney book which I did not like much at all (2 stars) despite loving Normal People and liking Conversations with Friends okay. So that was a big disappointment for me and I honestly don't think it's a good or important enough book to be included in any kind of contest like this (and I say that with regret as once I again I LOVED Normal People) and I'm puzzled about why it is. But I'm sure others disagree with me and love it so I guess I must be missing something. (I read that one in eBook form).

I'm currently listening to The Echo Wife and I feel like it's one of those books where the concept is great but that's really all there is to it. The execution isn't great although I like her writing and the description but the storytelling or structure isn't very exciting. I felt similarly about The Down Days last year, or even The Resisters although I did enjoy that one the best probably out of the three I just mentioned. I also felt that Sharks in the Time of Saviors had a good premise that went off track as the story progressed, so, in my head, The Echo Wife is kind of similar to all of those.

Also, The Echo Wife has the same narrator as The Children's Bible from last year's TOB and I'm not a fan. She always sounds so unenthused, like she's falling asleep while reading.

Overall, I'm really hoping the books get better but last year I hated some of the books with a passion and then there were other books I really loved and then some that I just liked or felt meh about, and so I'm hoping I just haven't gotten to the good ones that I'll love yet this year.

Zachary wrote: "I love the tournament, but this shortlist has been a struggle so far."

SAMMMMMEEEE
A lot of writers we've already seen recently. Let's share the love. I have no interest in ready anything Rooney writes and while people are raving over Everette, I feel the same way about him. I haven't liked anything I've ready he's written.
I'm reading Matrix now really only because so many people who's opinions I trust really liked it.

Audra wrote: "Zachary wrote: "I love the tournament, but this shortlist has been a struggle so far."

SAMMMMMEEEE
A lot of writers we've already seen recently. Let's share the love. I have no interest in ready a..."

I hope you like Matrix, I loved it. I also hope my IRL book group likes it on Jan 5, it was my turn to choose ;)

Audra, FWIW, I liked Everett’s The Trees WAY more than I have anything else I’ve read by him.

I started listening to Klara and the Sun and was really liking it so, yay, there's some improvement. :) Sadly it had to be returned to the library before I could finish it, due to holiday commitments. I'm looking forward to reading more of it in 3 weeks or so when I can borrow it again!

Then I started listening to No One Is Talking About This and I feel really confused about what the heck is going on. I probably would stop early on if it weren't a TOB book and I wasn't a glutton for punishment by wanting to finish them all. So, it's been a hit and then a miss, for me recently.

How's everyone's progress? Any early favorites to win? I've done 10/18 (well...I'm about an hour from finishing Echo Wife, which has been...umm), and I'm thinking the Trees or No One Is Talking About This or When We Cease. Those are my top 3 anyway. How about you?

Bob wrote: "How's everyone's progress? Any early favorites to win? I've done 10/18 (well...I'm about an hour from finishing Echo Wife, which has been...umm), and I'm thinking the Trees or No One Is Talking Abo..."

9.5/18 (halfway through When We Cease...)

Matrix is my favorite and I think objectively the best so far.

Intimacies is my sneaky personal fave but not sure it will resonate with everyone the way it did with me.

Haven't read The Trees yet but have high hopes...