Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The Tournament of Books is an annual literary contest in which 16 books are put against each other in a head-to-head tournament bracket. The winner is always a surprise!

Our read-a-thon winner Megan chose this prompt, saying, "I read through the ToB short list for the first time this year and it was so much fun! I found myself interested in books I would have otherwise never picked up because of it. I think it would be a great way to push people out of their comfort zones."

Spreadsheet with all of the Longlists throughout the years (note that everything on the shortlist was also on the longlist): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
More about the Tournament: https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/about

ATY Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

What are you reading for this prompt, and what year was it longlisted?

Prior to this prompt I'd never heard of the Tournament of Books and I don't recognize a lot of the titles that are on the lists. I've tentatively chosen Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue, which was longlisted in 2017.

Love this prompt because I've followed the tourney judgments for a few years, and independently of this prompt being chosen, had decided to try and read more of the shortlist for the upcoming year.

Given that, I'm going to wait and see what gets listed for this year, although there's a lot already that are tempting.

(Also, so no one makes the mistake I did - I went into the spreadsheet and thought, there should be more titles than this - then found it has multiple pages.)

I have many old and new Tob books on my tbr. I will probably use this prompt as a feeder for other prompts too. I plan to read at least a few of the 2025 books as well.

Wellness
The Imperfectionists
The Orphan Master's Son
There There
Dept. of Speculation
Snow Road Station - I’m reading a different book by the author now and I like her writing.
The Luminaries
Tell the Wolves I'm Home
Big Swiss

dalex, Behold the Dreamers was so wonderful. It was the first book I read that really made me feel like I was experiencing the 2008 financial crash (for better or worse), and to do it through the eyes of immigrants... heartbreaking but so beautifully done.

I have read the ToB shortlist the last couple of years so I'm selfishly very glad this prompt got in so that I can use it for the shortlisted books. This year reading in order was a bit of a challenge since I had to squeeze in 12 ToB books before March and they only fit a few prompts (surprisingly, the less than 2024 ratings had the most ToB options lol).

NancyJ, The Orphan Master's Son was one of the best books my book club has ever read! And I also really liked The Luminaries (it felt much shorter than it actually was).

Emily wrote: "NancyJ, The Orphan Master's Son was one of the best books my book club has ever read! And I also really liked The Luminaries (it felt much shorter than it actually was)."

Good to know! I was wondering about both of them. I’ve been avoiding long books this year, and I vow to change that next year.

Two of my TBR books fit this: The Sense of an Ending and The Ministry of Time.

Planning The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and The Mothers.

Emily wrote: "dalex, Behold the Dreamers was so wonderful. It was the first book I read that really made me feel like I was experiencing the 2008 financial crash (for better or worse), and to do it through the e..."

Thanks! According to Amazon, I purchased the kindle version in May '20 so I guess it's time to read it.

This looks like a good time to read And the Mountains Echoed

I've had a shelf for the Roosters for a while and just never gotten around to reading them, so I'm going to try to slot a few of them into other prompts as well. My Sister, the Serial Killer will probably be my fill for this prompt. Roosters:

I can't imagine that I won't change these choices fifty times but these are the beginning choices:

Brooklyn - Colm Toibin (2010)
The Burgess Boys - Elizabeth Strout (2014)
Search - Michelle Huneven (2023)

I started The Bee Sting by Paul Murray in February but it was too heavy of a book so I put it aside. I did make a little progress last month but the current character’s POV section is driving me nuts, for some reason no periods or commas are used, so far there have been two question marks. The previous characters’ POV sections used punctuation. So, I really don’t think I will finish it this year but hope to next year.

Possibly Rouge, Julia, or American Mermaid

Because I received this book from my subscription to Interrabang Books Signed First Editions Club, I'm reading Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton.

I found a handful of ToB books on my TBR: Piranesi, Chain-Gang All-Stars, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Bewilderment, Disappearing Earth.

I never heard of the Tournament of Books before. I was delighted to find one from 2010 that i own - That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo.

I always like this prompt and I always have at least a half dozen of the books on my shelf not yet read. But! I found one that is both translated and the author is from a country I need to fill on my world challenge. So I'm reading The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso. The book is set in South Africa, the author is from Barbados. What can go wrong with 2 cranky old ladies living next to each other?

I'll be reading What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama. I don't know what year it's from, I just looked through the spreadsheet until I found something that was on my priority TBR for 2025.

It's from this year's tournament! Excellent choice!

I’ve heard of this Tournament in this group, probably by Emily! I found 17 books that I own so I hope to read one of them. My top choices, that I haven’t slotted elsewhere, are: 2023 - Trust, 2017 - Moonglow, 2015 - The Book of Strange New Things, 2014 - The Luminaries, 2007 - The Road, and 2005- Jonathan Strange…

I am eagerly awaiting the release of the 2025 long list within the next few weeks! I do still have a few books from this year’s long list that I’d like to read, but might try to fit them in to later in the year prompts.

Pam wrote: "I’ve heard of this Tournament in this group, probably by Emily! I found 17 books that I own so I hope to read one of them. My top choices, that I haven’t slotted elsewhere, are: 2023 - Trust, 2017 ..."

I really enjoyed Trust, but I needed to read spoilers to figure out the structure of the 4 books in one. Some spoilers did spoil the twist at the end though. Send me a DM if you need a tip.

I know I'm being difficult, but since I read so many books in a year I tend to try and do the challenge a few times, even with twists. So are there any books on the lists that could be considered a picture book, a children's book or even young adult?

Deborah wrote: "I know I'm being difficult, but since I read so many books in a year I tend to try and do the challenge a few times, even with twists. So are there any books on the lists that could be considered a..."

There are a lot that have been shelved as YA, Young Adult, read-for-school, school, coming of age, etc. I looked through the listopia for books I remember with young protagonists, and checked for the tags. These all work for YA related tags, and some have middle school tags. Even if they have more adult tags than YA, I would still consider them fair game.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn West, also Sing, Unburied, Sing
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Tell the Wolves I'm Home
Small Country by Gael Faye -read for school
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Where the Crawdads Sing

Others to check
The Nickel Boys
Sabrina & Corina
A Girl Returned
Klara and the Sun
The Book of Goose
The Violin Conspiracy
Brooklyn
Nothing to See Here


Teachers, librarians, parents, and younger readers in the group might recognize many others too.

NancyJ wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I know I'm being difficult, but since I read so many books in a year I tend to try and do the challenge a few times, even with twists. So are there any books on the lists that could..."

Thanks

One of my books that is been the longest on my TBR and physical shelf is Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I'm glad that I finally get to read this one.

Are there any illustrated books or graphic novels?

Boys Weekend was on the shortlist last year and is a graphic novel!

I'm hoping the 2025 longlist gets announced this week! Last year it was announced around this time.

Emily wrote: "Boys Weekend was on the shortlist last year and is a graphic novel!"

Thanks!

The 2025 longlist is posted!

https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the...

I've updated the spreadsheet above to reflect it, and will continue to update it as the shortlist and winner get announced.

But this does add 72 more possibilities for this prompt!

Emily wrote: "The 2025 longlist is posted!

https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the...

I've updated the spreadsheet above to reflect it, and will continue to update it as the shortlist and winne..."


Someone started a listopia already. Let me know of it’s not accurate,
I can delete this link if it’s not.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Now that we have the new longlist... I'm narrowing things down to:

Redshirts
Good Material
The City and Its Uncertain Walls

I own Redshirts, so I should probably do that. But the audiobook for Good Material is narrated by an actor I like, so I might do that one just as an excuse to listen to him talk.

The Murakami book looks interesting, though.

On this year's longlist the two that interest me are Model Home and Martyr!. Otherwise I'll have to go digging through the backlist.

The listopia looks pretty accurate, though it's missing one book (should be 71 and this one only has 70 on it).

I'll be waiting until the shortlist is published to decide which book I'll use for this prompt, but since I'm not reading in order, it shouldn't be too difficult to slot one in.

EDIT: Nvm, looks like one of the longlist was removed (I grabbed the list for the spreadsheet within the first hour of the list being posted - looks like there was a book removed because it didn't fall in the correct publication dates. I've updated the spreadsheet to reflect it!)

Thanks for putting up the link to the 2025 list for this. I think I'm going for In Ascension here, from the 2025 list. I started reading it last year, but only got about 20% through it before other books pushed it down the priority list. I should finish it!

I do want to read The Ministry of Time at some point, but I'm waiting for the PB to be released so the kindle price drops.

Other than those, the only one I've heard of is Orbital, which I read and enjoyed last year, and would recommend.

So many choices but I’m going w James by Percival Everett. I’m enjoying it so far.

For this prompt, I read:
The Book of George by Kate Greathead - 4* - My Review

I read The Husbands.

I'm still unpacking it - it was funny, but it was also introspective with some themes that seemed to be running just under the story itself.

A Happy Marriage
Addictive Behavior
The Quest for Perfection

It had a sort of time travel feel to it, but not exactly - more shifting timelines. How what you do today may (or may not) change what happens to you tomorrow. Or next year. Or five years from now.

It was an interesting book.

dalex wrote: "Prior to this prompt I'd never heard of the Tournament of Books and I don't recognize a lot of the titles that are on the lists. I've tentatively chosen Behold the Dreamers by [auth..."

That was such a good book!!

I've never heard of it but boy, I've read lots of their books. I'm torn between reading one of the 2 winners I've not read or even heard of or reading something that's on my TBR list

So either [book:Fever Dream|30763882] or The Book of Goose or for TBR books Hild or The Fireman

I read No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. 2006

I read The Good Lord Bird by James McBride for this topic. It won the 2014 Tournament. (Read Feb 21; 3*)

I read Horse

I read Orbital by Samantha Harvey, from 2025's Tournament of Books.

I was really avoiding James by Percival Everett, as Huck Finn was not for me, and I hadn't enjoyed the adaptation of this book Erasure (made into the movie American Fiction). But I'm SO glad I finally tried it. It was marvelous — the philosophical thoughts of James were quite wonderful. And I'm very glad that Percival Everett chose to spend as little time as possible with the scam artists (The Duke and The King) from Huck Finn — that was the only part of the book I didn't enjoy. The writing was just as good, but those characters just were so infuriating!

Now that I've read one of this author's books I'm looking forward to reading more.

Does the 2017 zombie round count?

Hannah wrote: "
Does the 2017 zombie round count?"

I believe to make it into the Zombie round, it would have had to have been on the long/short list first. The Zombie is for an eliminated book that gets saved by reader votes to re-enter the Tourney. So, yes, The Vegetarian would count.

I read All Fours