Tournament of Books discussion

Let's chat about the summer bracket here!

Which books are getting your votes? Which books are you most excited to build a case for?

I' m rooting for The Safekeep and Creation Lake. I really just hope the books I did not like or passed on or ones we read last summer do not make the cut. I'm not looking forward to The Hisbands vs. Intermezzo, and will not be participating if this happens.

Also, I'm locked out of Discord. I wanted to thank the organizers, but when I tried to get into the account it made me verify my account. When I entered my email it said that email was already being used so I couldn't get in with it (wtf?) so I verified by my phone number. It now says I have no group associated with that phone number, so I have access to nothing. And the ToB doesn't come up in a search.

Does anyone have an invite link to get in? I can't find it from emails.

Amanda wrote: "I' m rooting for The Safekeep and Creation Lake. I really just hope the books I did not like or passed on or ones we read last summer do not make the cut. I'm not looking forward to The Hisbands vs..."

Yeah, I'm assuming Intermezzo will make the cut, and I plan to sit that one out. It's unlikely I'll be able to read most of the new books that make it in, so I'll just be chiming in where it makes sense (what I've read).

I can't generate an invite, but if you go to the Tournament of Books website, there's a link with the invite to the server in today's post.

I've had stuff like that happen with other sites and it's super frustrating.

I voted for 12 books, half ones that I’ve either already read that didn’t make it into ToF and half that I wanted to read but didn’t get to yet. My June reading plan is pretty wide open, so I may get a few more read in time!

Im also unable to log into discord right now, will have to try again on my laptop.

Amanda wrote: "I' m rooting for The Safekeep and Creation Lake. I really just hope the books I did not like or passed on or ones we read last summer do not make the cut. I'm not looking forward to The Hisbands vs..."



Oh I'm definitely NOT voting for Intermezzo!! I wouldn't be so sure that it will get in. I'm an actual Sally Rooney fan and I did NOT like this one. Bright side: if it gets into the brackets, I'll know how I want to vote on it LOL!

I'm going to try to choose some books that feel a little different from the usual ToB choices. I've not read Good Material or Service Model but I think I'll vote for them, they both feel like books we don't usually get in the tournament.

Oh ,and I LOVED Hard Girls so I'm really pulling for Lennon!

I figure at best I can read six between now and the start of the tournament on June 23 (unless folks pick some mighty short books). I plan to start with the four that I own and have not read, which I will vote for just cuz they are sitting here looking at me. After that, the extent to which I can have opinions depends wholly on what the 16 books turn out to be, the order they fall in the tourney, and whether I’ve read them or can get them in time. This is a whole new logistical dynamic that I am looking forward to trying to conquer.

I really just went with the ones I did read and didn't pop up - Nicked, Cahokia Jazz, The Heart in Winter, Hard Girls, Creation Lake - because I'll be honest. My TBR list grows all the time, and I have a full bookshelf of books I plan to tackle over summer.

...you know, after I reread the Neapolitan Novels.

ToB could be a full time job! 🤣 The completionist in me wants to read everything. There are a bunch of books on the long list that were already on my TBR list, so they get my vote and I marked a couple of others that look interesting. We'll see how far I get.

I just voted for books I want to read

I loved Intermezzo and I'm not voting for it because people are so weird about Rooney and I'm not really up for the vitriol she inspires.

There's a book I hated that made pretty much all the award lists and it has a lot of fans here, so I'll skip the rounds that include that one, to be uncharacteristically nice. If we're choosing, that means people's feelings are often involved and a robust discussion leads only to unhappiness.

I'm very interested to see which books are chosen and I'd love to discuss Long Island Compromise and Real Americans with all of you.

I picked a mix of books I've read and (mostly) enjoyed and books I want to read and this would likely give me the push to tackle them. But I'm with you Alison--I stayed away from Intermezzo even though I enjoyed it as that way lies madness.

This Summer event feels like almost as much work for the ToB crew as the March event! I did NOT expect a bracket of 16. yikes. The main problem: slow reader. This means a possible additional 16 books to read during June. No way that will happen for me. But I imagine a few books I'm already avoiding will make the bracket.
My two cents: I just finished 'My Friends' by Hisham Matar. I expected to love it as it was on so many awards list but I found it only JUST OKAY.
I will honor Lark's comment that only making it to the long list was great and not vote for 'Poor Deer'.
Hoping we don't have repeat summer books.
I think I might only vote for the FEW books I feel very strongly about, both to make it on the bracket and when they are actually competing.

Alison wrote: "There's a book I hated that made pretty much all the award lists and it has a lot of fans here, so I'll skip the rounds that include that one"

Can't you put the title under a spoiler tag or something - for those of us who want to know....

But also, since summer camp is usually June/July/August, I wish the dates for this were in July or August!

Tim wrote: "Can't you put the title under a spoiler tag or something - for those of us who want to know..."

(view spoiler)[The Safekeep. (hide spoiler)]

Can you post a link to the bracket? I saw it yesterday, but I can’t locate it atm.

Here is the link to the bracket

https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/wel...

I'll likely pop in if I've read the books being discussed already, but otherwise I have left this list behind and replaced it with more current lists to make me feel awful that I haven't read enough.

34 books in 8-9 months for ToB is kind of crazy... If they're doing this again next year, I'll be sure to set a much higher reading target to be able to better participate in both brackets.

Zachary wrote: "I'll likely pop in if I've read the books being discussed already, but otherwise I have left this list behind and replaced it with more current lists to make me feel awful that I haven't read enough."




LOL I feel seen

Alison wrote: "Tim wrote: "Can't you put the title under a spoiler tag or something - for those of us who want to know..."

[spoilers removed]"

I likely share some of your opinions on that one, so you won't be the only dissenter. ;)

For me, it was a fantastic idea/reveal that wasn't executed in a way that worked for me. I categorize it as a major missed opportunity. But I know many loved it, so it obviously worked for other readers.

I'm in the position where I have pretty much read all the books on the longlist that my library has. And, I'm not looking to spend any money on books at the moment.

Phyllis wrote: "Here is the link to the bracket

https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/wel..."

Thanks Phyllis! I realized I misread the heading of this post. I thought we were talking about the TOF for this group. I’m behind, and was curious about the first round of the game.

Lauren wrote: "I likely share some of your opinions on that one, so..."

I got the spoiler a few hours too late, and took that one with me on a flight. I have mixed feelings about it that I would be happy to air out in the summer camp, though, so I hope if it comes up, we get the dissenters and the promoters chiming in.

Calvin wrote: "34 books in 8-9 months for ToB is kind of crazy... If they're doing this again next year, I'll be sure to set a much higher reading target to be able to better participate in both brackets."

No kidding! (However, I'm not sure I want to offer additional suggestions; I'm afraid of this becoming some kind of Monkey's Paw narrative.)

So far, I've read 5 non-shortlist, longlist books (a couple in the lead-up to the tournament, a couple after the camp plan was announced, and one in between that I was disappointed had missed the cut).

Of those 5, there's only one I think would have been a contender.

But there are still a lot of longlist books I haven't gotten to, yet. (Started my 6th....)

Andrew released 4 titles on discord

What are they (for those of us not on discord)?

Over on discord, Andrew says that these are not an absolute lock, but that they have a tremendous number of votes so far and are looking likely:
Creation Lake
The Ministry of Time
Real Americans
Wandering Stars

Phyllis wrote: "Over on discord, Andrew says that these are not an absolute lock, but that they have a tremendous number of votes so far and are looking likely:
Creation Lake
The Ministry of Time
Real Americans
Wa..."



I guess that makes sense, those four have been pretty popular. Even I have read three of them (disliked two, was mid on the third) so I can follow along with the discussion.

I wouldn't be a particularly vociferous voice in support of any of those, but cool

I really enjoyed Ministry and Creation Lake is one that I want to read. The other two... we'll see if I get to them.

Lauren wrote: "Amanda wrote: "I' m rooting for The Safekeep and Creation Lake. I really just hope the books I did not like or passed on or ones we read last summer do not make the cut. I'm not looking forward to ..."

SAME.
No more [apples] for me. Please and Thank You.

Phyllis wrote: "Over on discord, Andrew says that these are not an absolute lock, but that they have a tremendous number of votes so far and are looking likely:
Creation Lake
The Ministry of Time
Real Americans
Wa..."

I've read three of those four.
Ministry was great until ... it wasn't. I personally think it went off the rails. But it will provide decent discussion fodder.
Real Americans was a "meh" for me except for the parts set in China.
Wandering Stars had some beautiful moments. It didn't wow me in the way that There, There did, but I wasn't sorry to have read it.
I have Creation Lake but haven't yet read it, so if I decide to participate in Camp ToB this will be the push I need to move it off the TBR pile.
Thanks for the update, Phyllis, even though most of the apparent shoe-ins weren't favorites for me.

Risa wrote: "Thanks for the update, Phyllis, even though most of the apparent shoe-ins weren't favorites for me. ..."

Yeah, I'm with you on that. =Creation Lake= is on my TBR, but the other three aren't (and your response isn't encouraging me to reconsider). I'm actually surprised that those books are the overwhelming leaders right now.

I absolutely adored The Ministry of Time. I thought it was a great mashup of romance novels and time travel novels in the vein of Connie Willis. I loved it, but can admit that it did borrow from a lot of other media. Though, I don't really think anyone can write an truly original time travel novel anymore, and any time travel media I consume has some timey-wimey shenanigans.

Just a reminder: Today is the last day to vote for the ToB summer bracket!

The full list is up on discord. I’m kind of meh on it - only maybe 2 or 3 that I may try to read, but that’s ok since there’s not much time to do it!

here's the list, btw...

“Absolution” by Jeff VanderMeer
“The City and Its Uncertain Walls” by Haruki Murakami
“Creation Lake” by Rachel Kushner
“Good Material” by Dolly Alderton
“The Husbands” by Holly Gramazio
“I Cheerfully Refuse” by Leif Enger
“Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney
“Long Island Compromise” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
“The Ministry of Time” by Kaliane Bradley
“My Friends” by Hisham Matar
“Playground” by Richard Powers
“Real Americans” by Rachel Khong
“The Safekeep” by Yael Van Der Wouden
“This Strange Eventful History” by Claire Messud
“Wandering Stars” by Tommy Orange
“You Dreamed of Empires” by Álvaro Enrigue

7 I have read and about 3 I own and needed motivation to go back to. Good enough.

I've read 11. Out of the 5 remaining, there is one I am not going to read, and I am still debating Absolution. I have not read the other Area X novels, and I wonder how much I will be missing by not reading those.

Chrissy -- I'm in the same boat. Many of these 16 initially held no interest for me. And since there isn't much time to read them anyway, I might only get to a couple. Sad to see Glorious Exploits didn't make the list!
Amanda -- I definitely think reading the Area X trilogy first would be important! I am actually planning to reread the Area X trilogy before I read Absolution, since I was planning on doing that this summer anyway, and most of the other Camp books I won't be able to grab or don't interest me anyway. This is worrying me about the amount of participation that will happen for Camp though. Even reading six books a summer with way more advance time to read them in previous years was tough enough to get many people to jump in the discussion!

Also, I hear that the Murakami is a sequel to 'Hardboiled Wonderland'. eek.

Also, for Lark's sake, 'Poor Deer' didn't make the list again, BUT in my grand opinion, 'Poor Deer' could have easily taken most or all of these books down. :D :D :D

I’ve read four, and will try to get Hard Materials, Playground, and maybe You Dreamed of Empires from the library in time.

Area X is one of my very favorites, I really can’t imagine enjoying Absolution without reading the rest, they are all very intertwined

Kyle wrote: "here's the list, btw...

“Absolution” by Jeff VanderMeer
“The City and Its Uncertain Walls” by Haruki Murakami
“Creation Lake” by Rachel Kushner
“Good Material” by Dolly Alderton
“The Husbands” by ..."


Thank you for the list. I think it's a good list, a good mix of books. And I also think I'm probably not going to have time to read more than one or two of them (other than the 5 I've already read).