Tournament of Books discussion

Space to discuss the decisions in the semi-finals and zombie rounds of TOB 2022! (and to guess wildly about the zombies ahead of Opening Round closures
SF1: Winner QF1 vs. QF2
SF2: Winner QF3 vs. QF4
Zombie #1: Winner of SF1 vs. Zombie #1
Zombie #2: Winner of SF2 vs. Zombie #2

SF#1: Intimacies vs. The Trees
https://themorningnews.org/tob/2022/i...

SF#2: No One Is Talking About This vs. Nervous System
https://themorningnews.org/tob/2022/n...

Hoboy.

Kyle wrote: "Hoboy."

perfectly said

Zombie #1 - "She's Alive!" - Klara and the Sun vs. The Trees
https://themorningnews.org/tob/2022/k...

whoa this one is going to be used in perpetuity in arguing against Zombies :)

It seems like not a single person in the disqus comments (so far) is feeling anything other than crushed

If we just look at the technical side of the two books. I’m still waiting for an explanation about the giant art project in Klara as well as the crazy machine situation. I saw no evidence of poorly drawn subject matter in The Trees.

I'm not part of the Disquis discussion, and I'm sure I'm in the minority, but the judge's analysis and decision so perfectly captured my feelings about both books - in ways I didn't realize until she wrote them. I loved both books.

I loved both books too, but nonetheless am floored that The Trees isn't going to take home the Rooster. It is a tour-de-force that feels so "of the present moment" in our post-Obama racial backlash country that trump so perfectly reflects.

One poster in Disquis mentioned pressing The Trees into the hands of other readers as a form of protest, and that feels right to me.

Percival Everett lifts his head, shrugs, puts finishing touches on his next masterpiece coming this fall.

Kip wrote: "Percival Everett lifts his head, shrugs, puts finishing touches on his next masterpiece coming this fall."

(like)

I doubt it will make anyone feel any better, but in our Litsy mock ToB, The Trees is still standing. Subdivision went up against it as zombie today. Tomorrow The Sentence faces zombie Matrix.

Mindy wrote: "I doubt it will make anyone feel any better, but in our Litsy mock ToB, The Trees is still standing. Subdivision went up against it as zombie today. Tomorrow The Sentence faces zombie Matrix."

Hurray for parallel universes!

@BerniceKing tweeted some 30+ minutes ago, a photo of Emmet Till. "today Emmett Till anti lynch bill was passed in Congress."

Kip wrote: "Percival Everett lifts his head, shrugs, puts finishing touches on his next masterpiece coming this fall."

That's the ticket!

Matthew wrote: "I loved both books too, but nonetheless am floored that The Trees isn't going to take home the Rooster. It is a tour-de-force that feels so "of the present moment" in our post-Obama racial backlash..."

Oh well you know, maybe if this had been *last* year - I can no longer tell the difference between real life and satire, that's where I'm at.

Welp. Turns out that all we really needed to read were the summer books...

Hopefully this makes them question the idea of keeping summer books around. Wild that two are here considering that I think as a group we weren't blown away by summer options (or the fall offering for that matter; Hell of a Book we need you!). I did really enjoy No One Is Talking About This for what its worth.

And our last round before finals….
No One is Talking About This vs Matrix:

https://themorningnews.org/tob/2022/m...

I was sad about losing The Trees but ultimately ok because the judgement was deep and well-articulated (despite the now-infamous and cringe take at the end). But this judgement just feels ... off. Poorly thought-through, glib. I guess maybe this is how it goes with TOB but does seem a shame to have basically a repeat of the summer.

Just venting. Thanks for the space!

fwiw I feel the same way about today’s judgment. High school essay-ish including the feeling that the writer needed to add sentences that are essentially padding to get the word count up to minimum requirements.

Even though I didn't care too passionately about today's outcome (I had a slight preference for Matrix winning, but nothing like how much I wanted The Trees to win yesterday), I was also disappointed in the judgment. The frequent use of "very" jumped out at me (writers are taught to trim those small, mostly useless words, unless there's a good reason to keep them in). I was confused about how he "very much" admired Lockwood, but this was the first book he read by her (maybe she's well-known for other things?). And the 20 year radius consideration is something interesting to think about, but I'm not sure how it makes sense as a way to measure books (is it better for books to be written in a way that they could also be written at different time? I'm not sure why that would be the case). And of course we've already seen the dispute about the "punk rock" measurement.

Anyway, it wasn't terrible, and he didn't disrespect the books or tournament as other judgments have done in the past, so it's fine. It's possible this task came at an especially difficult time, and he just needed to get it done. Understandable. Now more than ever we know folks are dealing with incredible challenges and pain, so I didn't post this on Disqus where he might see it.

Chris did great in the booth though - cheers to that!

I haven't even read The Trees yet, and I was crushed by yesterday's judgment.

I'd known of Lockwood through her twitter, so NOITAT was my first book of hers even though I knew of her.

Definitely curious about "Priestdaddy" though...

Priestdaddy is a kick, I also regularly recommend her one hour lecture on the internet that can be found in YouTube, which I find superior to the novel, lol.

Lauren wrote: "Now more than ever we know folks are dealing with incredible challenges and pain, so I didn't post this on Disqus where he might see it."

Very nice. Thanks for modeling such generosity, Lauren. I agree with the outcome and am a little surprised at the reaction on Disqus to Matrix going out a second time, but I agree the judgement wasn't one of the better ones.

The judgments in the very early years used to be much more slapdash and playful. If everyone agreed that TOB was a silly game to prove book awards were meaningless, rather than treating them as we do now, where the outcomes matter to us and we appreciate the deeply thought-through literary criticism many judges write to support their choice, then today's judgment would be completely in line. I sort of miss those days!

Congrats to Heather C, who ran away with the brackets and is unbeatable tomorrow!

Phyllis wrote: "Congrats to Heather C, who ran away with the brackets and is unbeatable tomorrow!"
Indeed! Unless I'm missing something, no one picked either of these two books to triumph, so Heather C is the champ. (I'm just happy to be in the running, #2 but quite behind.)

We were on such a great streak with great judgements that I guess we had to have one clunker. I did not understand the framework he was using (I mean, I understood it as explained just not why it was useful for this tourney). And, yes, Lauren--the overuse of very stood out to me, too.

These past two days have been crushing. I'm having trouble summoning the ability to care too much about tomorrow's outcome.

Peggy wrote: "We were on such a great streak with great judgements that I guess we had to have one clunker. I did not understand the framework he was using (I mean, I understood it as explained just not why it w..."

Same! I'll probably focus on my excitement about all the books people will recommend. Since summer tournament books have proven to be quite important in the regular tournament, I'm hoping we can get some great ones this year. :)

Well done Heather for predicting the unpredictable!

Peggy wrote: "We were on such a great streak with great judgements that I guess we had to have one clunker. I did not understand the framework he was using (I mean, I understood it as explained just not why it w..."

Me three! I couldn't care less who wins, I gave up on the whole thing Tuesday, but I'm very much looking forward to recommendations, since the only 2022 books I've read so far have been 3 stars (or lower.)

Also I haven't bought any books yet this year! Which is really rare for me, but I haven't seen any that felt like must-have's yet, and I've been trying to get through older books I already own. So I'm going to allow myself at least a couple that come highly recommended from folks I trust, and take a trip to my favorite indie this weekend. Planning ahead and allowing myself a little splurge is so exciting! (I'm such a nerd.) Looking at recommendations, reading samples and deciding will make today feel like Christmas.