Tournament of Books discussion

I got things started off right by selecting the right war novel in the play-in round, but just lost my champion in the first round! I'm actually pretty pleased!

Yeah, I thought The Round House might take it all, too.

I'm pretty bummed about The Round House going out so quickly. I thought it was an excellent book.

There is always the Zombie round.

well...that was interesting. (just thought i would link in the decision for round one.)

you know...when i made my picks, i didn't give a whole lot of weight to my choices based on the judges. this morning, before the result of the fault in our stars v. the round house , i thought, 'hunh! I bet lepucki goes with green'. DOH! probably should have thought about my picks just a bit more, eh? i had erdrich's novel going to the finals but i do have green's as a zombie pick...so...i guess we'll see what happens.

i really enjoyed the arguments made by lepucki and the commentary from kevin and john! i am not really a YA reader at all, but every now and then i will give one a try if i am thinking of giving a book to my 15yo niece. the fault in our stars happened to be one i did recently read and i loved it so much. it gave me hope for the YA market but i didn't have faith in it for this competition. i liked the john hughes comparison john made.

I'm pleased with the results so far. I did think The Round House had a stronger chance because "everyone else" seemed to love it. Go figure. And I was surprised by how much Judge Bradley seemed to dislike Fobbit.

I loved his reasoning because I very much agree. I read tfios in a day but Round House took much longer and at times I had to force myself to go back to it. From the distance of time though more about Round House stuck with me or replayed in my head so I actually picked it to win.

I haven't read Fault, so I'm not sure what is better, but I wasn't in love with Round House.

I did enjoy this critique better than the "play in" round, which I found to be a bit mean-spirited and off putting.

I think The Round House is hard to pick back up because it's dark. Not like "Sisters Brothers" Dark; it's a weary, real world dark that makes it a hard place to go back to. But it's written better than the "Fault in Our Stars," and I'm shocked that it's moving forward, basically because it's the quicker read. I'm a John Hughes fan, myself, but I would never argue that he should have ever won an Oscar.

okay...THANK GOODNESS for today's decision. i was going to pop a vein in my head if it went the other way. heh.

I can only laugh I would have gone exactly opposite of the first two decisions and my reasons for Round House would have mirrored today's and my reasons for WDYGB? Would have mirrored yesterday to some degree. I did cast my zombie vote for WDYGB?

Topher wrote: "I did enjoy this critique better than the "play in" round, which I found to be a bit mean-spirited and off putting."

Topher, I'm just curious - what about the Play-In critique did you find mean-spirited/off-putting?
I just read the essay that John Warner mentioned in yesterday's commentary (http://slate.me/OvmDVo) and so it's got me thinking about people's reactions to harsh(er) online criticism. I, for one, am all for it, but I'm curious to see what bothered you on this particular one.

Drew wrote: "Topher wrote: "I did enjoy this critique better than the "play in" round, which I found to be a bit mean-spirited and off putting."

Topher, I'm just curious - what about the Play-In critique did y..."

In general, I'm all in favor of negative criticism. However, something about the ToB (to me) is its light-heartedness. If I'm reading a review in LRB or The Times, I would have no problem with a rough critique. The ToB has been about a love of reading, fun, and the absurdity of book "competitions"(although i've noticed that has changed a bit over the last couple years). So, it wasn't so much the negativity itself that bothered me, but where it is. On the other hand, I read the Slate article and greatly agree with its premise.

I also wish that ToB, if they're going to have 3 war novels competing together, wouldn't have chosen a military man to judge them. There's too much personal prejudice ("Here’s the problem: I’m that “road meat.” My soldiers were that “road meat.” Um, ok.), which is understandable, but just not for me.

That said, I really liked Billy Flynn, and am happy it moved on.

Today's decision was probably not a bracket-buster for anyone, right? Did anyone read Ivyland?

I read Ivyland. I thought it had potential but it was a bit too disjointed for me, I agreed that he tried to tie it together and didn't totally achieve it. I don't think I need to be spoon fed a story but he jumped around to the point where it became a distraction. I didn't dislike it but I wasn't disappointed it lost. I didn't love Gone Girl though so I was indifferent to this match up.

I did love May We Be Forgiven (which based on the comments it appears people either love or hate). I liked Billy Lynn's but was happy to see MWBF move on. I read 14 of the tournament books and it was, unexpectedly, one of my favorites.

I am still sad Dear Life didn't win. Building Stories is one of the four I didn't get to so I'm trying to be fair but Dear Life was just so good.

I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed May We Be Forgiven. At first, I was thinking of it as a bizarre, almost farcical book because of all the outlandish things that happen in such a dead-pan kind of tone. And I hardly knew what to make of a narrator (I can't really think of him as a protagonist, it seems), who just exists, almost unable or unaware of a need to act, while insane, outlandish, even horrible things happen. I think that if I weren't reading it for the TOB, I probably would've given up on it. But I'm so glad I didn't! I slowly became converted and invested in Harold and his menagerie of relatives and this is now one of my favorites from the Tournament.

So today's judgment . . .

(view spoiler)[Is it the first true upset of the tournament? Did anyone think Heti had a chance over the Groff although neither seemed universally beloved? (hide spoiler)]

Christina, I was completely shocked by this morning's verdict. Although I personally agreed with Judge Max, I never expected that this round would go the way it did. The other rounds were more predictable.

I didn't feel any love for either entry. I just assumed the one with the most vocal haters was going to go down.

If it beats Bring Up the Bodies, I might swoon like a character in a 19th-century novel.

This one surprised me only because I had not read one single thing about HSaPB that made me want to read it. I enjoyed Arcadia, but didn't love it the way some folks did because I felt that Groff missed so many opportunities for a satisfying payoff to all of the emotional tension she had built in the first 2/3'rds of the book. I commented at the time (we read it together in the rooster group) that the last third of the book seemed like one long epilogue, and left me wanting. Still, it's beautifully written.
I still don't think I'll read Heti.

If you were taking bets, what do you think the odds would be for tomorrow's match-up? It's Bringing Up The Bodies VS How Should a Person Be?

Saeed Jones just broke the tournament!

Wow.

I am so surprised! I thought there was a chance this might happen, being very barely aware of Saeed's work, but I never dreamed it would *actually* happen.

If I had seen jess's comment more than 20 minutes ago, I would have said HSaPB didn't have a prayer.

It really has become The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake of this year's tournament.

If it takes down Gone Girl, the Internet might explode.

I couldn't even read the commentary, I'm so disappointed :-( I tried--twice--to read HSaPB, and couldn't get past page 30. BuTB is far superior, in every way. Sigh.

While I typically try not to say stuff about books I haven't read, my cynical/conspiracy theory sides think this is an upset for upset-sakes. While both judgments for HsaPB were well-explained (tho granted against everything else I have heard about it), Bodies advancing would have been snoozy. Alas, I will fully admit to not zombie voting for it because I figured it didn't need any help.

I haven't had much to say about this year's tournament as have had no/very little quibbles with the results (plus one of my favorite phrases: "the anticipation of an event is often greater than the event itself") -- but Mantel is almost in a league of her own, so perhaps it's a fairer fight for the remaining entries to duke it out.

My ToB obsession makes me want to give HSaPB a shot as it's the only book missing from my 'read' list from the quarterfinals on, but...

Ed wrote: "While I typically try not to say stuff about books I haven't read, my cynical/conspiracy theory sides think this is an upset for upset-sakes."

Exactly! I've been wondering if we are all in some kind of demented reality TV show (without the TV part) where the stage is set in advance to elicit the most shocking response. Ha!

I certainly hope not, and although I am not pleased with the outcome of today's match up, if Judge Jones truly believed in the merits of HSaPB and didn't love BuTB, then I can respect that. Even though it's so wrong. So wrong.

I really loved Sheila Heti's comments on this decision. I am glad she piped up.

I'm not quite as conspiracy-thepry minded as some of you, but I definitely get the feeling throughout this year's TOB that the expectations a judge has going into the book is at least as important as the book itself. It seems like almost every judgment has been of the form "I expected to love Book A and hate Book B, and Book A didn't live up to my hopes while Book B surpassed them, so I choose Book B." This of course does mirror how 'real people' read books, so I don't begrudge it but it is something I have noticed more this year than I recall in previous years.

That said, so far in this year's TOB pretty much every book I read has been eliminated and when two books I read were against each other the judge chose differently than I would have, so maybe I'm just being petty.