Tournament of Books discussion

Here's a place for us to start talking about books published in 2016, contenders for the March 2017 Tournament of Books.

Here's a link to The Millions' Most Anticipated 2016 Books thru June... *only* 93 books to potentially add to the TBR pile!

http://www.themillions.com/2016/01/mo...

Ed wrote: "Here's a link to The Millions' Most Anticipated 2016 Books thru June... *only* 93 books to potentially add to the TBR pile!

http://www.themillions.com/2016/01/mo...-..."

Thanks for sharing.

At a brief glance I saw a good number of books that I was already anticipating reading and a couple of others that caught my attention.

Happy Reading!

Here is the Kirkus Review's:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/lists/m...

And here is Brooklyn Magazine...

http://www.bkmag.com/2016/01/01/our-2...

I was really hoping that 2016 would bring me a new Ann Patchett. Sadly, no sign of her yet.

2017? And I thought I was obsessed with the ToB.

Oh, what the hell..

Flavorwire's 50 most anticipated books of 2016

http://flavorwire.com/554364/the-50-m...

I was really hoping that 2016 would bring me a new Ann Patchett. Sadly, no sign..."

@Lljones--FYI, Ann Patchett never sells books until she's done writing, so her books often don't have as much lead time between announcement and publication. She's one of my favorites, but you never one of her books is coming until it is. There might still be a chance!

so annie proulx has an 800-page novel coming out 14 june: Barkskins. i am stupid-excited about that.

and today i learned colson whitehead has a new one slated for september. very few details yet, though.

Oh, yeah, I think Whitehead's is about the Underground Railroad. I am really excited about that one.

Gayla wrote: "Oh, yeah, I think Whitehead's is about the Underground Railroad. I am really excited about that one."

yeah -- that's the title 'the underground railroad'. his website directs to entertainment weekly, where this very brief bit is shared:

"he takes us into the past with his thrilling tale of a young enslaved woman racing to freedom in the South."

oh - ha! there is a GR record! D'oh!! why didn't i check that earlier? for some reason i felt it just wasn't here yet. haha!!

The Underground Railroad: A Novel

Barkskins and The Underground Railroad: now I'm stupid excited! Thanks, guys!!

Jan wrote: "Barkskins and The Underground Railroad: now I'm stupid excited! Thanks, guys!!"

right??? i feel the same way. :)

Another early '16 list: http://www.readbrightly.com/must-read...

Haven't read this yet, but am now dying to. ToB doesn't seem to look very kindly on humor contenders, though.

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/14/4622632...

just going to link it in here, mainon. thanks for the NPR review. i enjoy their reviews and broadcasts so much.

American Housewife: Stories, by Helen Ellis

my 2016 releases wishlist is now fairly behemothic, and doesn't even cover stuff coming later in 2016. but, from it i am most looking forward to:

- The Queen of the Night, by alexander chee
- Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains, by yasuko thanh (not sure about US release, though. canadian book.)
- Everybody's Fool, by richard russo
- Vinegar Girl, by anne tyler
- LaRose, by louise erdrich
- Commonwealth, by ann patchett
- The Underground Railroad: A Novel, by colson whitehead
- Here I Am, by jonathan safran for
- The Muse, by jessie burton


edited for a typo

LitHub just put out their list of Buzz Books Spring/Summer Preview

There are sooo many possibilities here. I am feeling overwhelmed. I really need to stop seeking out these lists and do more reading right now! :o)

Jane from B.C. wrote: "LitHub just put out their list of Buzz Books Spring/Summer Preview

There are sooo many possibilities here. I am feeling overwhelmed. I really need to stop seeking out these lists and do more re..."

right? i have been going through lithub's this morning too. i think my only consolation at this point is i've read through a number of lists and catalogues so there aren't an avalanche of surprises/new titles. there's still a lot... i am just past the overwhelmed stage, i guess. haha!!

also -- a powerball win (not that i play) would have resulted in my new bookshop and ALL THE BOOKS! ;)

(love that nonfiction is included on lithub's too!)

Jane from B.C. wrote: "LitHub just put out their list of Buzz Books Spring/Summer Preview

There are sooo many possibilities here. I am feeling overwhelmed. I really need to stop seeking out these lists and do more re..."

Me too....I spend WAY too much time obsessively putting books on hold at my local library, or finding out about yet more books to put on hold...time that could be spend on actually reading the books.

Heather wrote: "Me too....I spend WAY too much time obsessively putting books on hold at my local library, or finding out about yet more books to put on hold...time that could be spend on actually reading the books. "

me too, and when the books come they make a big tower of guilt where I only get to a few.

Another amazing pastime I've discovered that's about books, but not about reading books: the "secret group" feature on GR. The "bookshelf" feature in group mode is so much more useful than the personal page bookshelf, and it's nice to post my thoughts about books privately and still get the structure of GR, and also I can post threads that match exactly the way I think organizationally about books. I feel more in charge of my own reading experience than I can be on the profile page. But I'm not sure yet if creating this space was just another amazing time sink, or actually valuable to my reading.

Jennifer wrote: "Jane from B.C. wrote: "LitHub just put out their list of Buzz Books Spring/Summer Preview

There are sooo many possibilities here. I am feeling overwhelmed. I really need to stop seeking out these..."

That was my plan if I won... we are desperate for a good bookstore in central CT. Plus... what a life...

what a life, indeed, amber!! :)

Now that we have threads for both "contenders" and "under the radar reads" it feels like a statement to post a book on this thread as a "contender"... be that as it may, Wreck and Order packs quite a wallop. The protagonist is a completely intelligent, completely self-destructive young woman who has no filters, either when it comes to living, or when it comes to telling the reader about her life. Whoa. A "contender" for its bravery and for the rubber-necking fascination I'm having as I read. Plus the writing is stellar. Also lot of people will hate it which is sometimes a plus for ToB contention.

Has anyone read Your Heart Is a Muscle...? I'm interested in doing it on audio but wonder if it might be too disjointed given the multiple characters or perspectives.

I'm looking forward to Wreck and Order!

I was not a big fan of Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist. I found the multiple characters to be completely unbelievable. If it's an ensemble on audio, maybe that would help.

Thanks, Carrie. Unfortunately I believe Your Heart just has one narrator. :-(

nomadreader (Carrie D-L) wrote: "I'm looking forward to Wreck and Order!"

Sorry to report that that thing happened in Wreck and Orderthat some of us have complained is an unfortunate trend in debuts or young-author novels: extraordinary beginning leads to a flatulent middle that dissolves into a puddle of non-momentum by the end.

Just my very singular opinion of course. Maybe it's more fair to just say "the pace slows." It's definitely worth picking up for the utter ruthlessness of the first third of the novel though.

I loved My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (but I am biased because I love anything by Elizabeth Strout). While I am looking forward to Annie Proulx's 800-page novel, this delicious read was a mere 200 pages.
My Goodreads review :
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Past by Tessa Hadley is a remarkable novel. I hope TOB pays attention to this one for next year.

I thought Anne Tyler as I read it, because it's a book that inhabits the terrain of adult siblings learning about themselves and each other. But The Past is so beautifully written, and so full of unique yet believable characters, that it feels like the Platonic Ideal of an Anne Tyler novel.

James Wood gushes over What Belongs to You in his review

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

He also seemed to quite like Black Deutschland: A Novel

In general, I tend to like or love the books Wood recommends.

I'll try the Garth Greenwell for sure.

Jennifer wrote: "so annie proulx has an 800-page novel coming out 14 june: Barkskins. i am stupid-excited about that.

..."

Less than a week before my birthday! Now I know what to ask for as a gift!

Michele wrote: "James Wood gushes over What Belongs to You in his review."

Thanks Michele! I want to read both this and Black Deutschland and think it's interesting Wood paired them in his review--Similar not just because both are novels about gay male expats in Europe, but also both from FSG. Outside of those similarities though they feel really different in tone and style. I've had them both in hand at my bookstore (neither is at my library) but I'm trying to limit my book purchases to 1 per month and I already bought The Yid: A Novel this month...a book I haven't seen reviewed anywhere yet, but it felt like the next one I wanted to own, somehow.

Mainon wrote: "Haven't read this yet, but am now dying to.
http://www.npr.org/2016/01/14/4622632......"

It was awesome! and subversive which might help it with TOB?

Just discovered Marcy Demansky (Bad Marie from ToB 2011) has a new one coming out in October.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Dianah wrote: "Just discovered Marcy Demansky (Bad Marie from ToB 2011) has a new one coming out in October.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..."

Thanks Dianah! I liked Bad Marie a lot.

Beatlebone should be in the 2017 ToB. In fact, Beatlebone should WIN ToB 2017. Short, sweet, hilarious, sad, touching and quirky enough to keep you just a bit off balance. It's a buddy/road trip story with 1978 Post-Primal-Scream John Lennon as one of the buddies, traveling with a great Irish chauffeur-fixer-sidekick to a tiny remote island off the coast of Ireland that Lennon owns. If you do audio at all, this one is a fantastic listen -- read by Kevin Barry himself.

Thanks for mentioning Beatlebone. I read a review some time ago and forgot to mark it for consideration. It sounds great. ps. I just won an advance copy of Doubter's Almanac, so I'll share my thoughts. (After I finish TOB reading, 3 books to go)

You're welcome, @Beth, and congrats on being down to the last 3 TOB16 books!!!

Took a quick break from TOB reading (4.5 to go, but the .5 is ALL, so really like 5) to read the new Yann Martel (of Life of Pi fame). The High Mountains of Portugal is something I could really see in the TOB! It's got a somewhat unusual structure (it's a triptych) and the linked stories each have their own distinct flavor. There are some bizarre (nearly absurdist) features, such as men walking backwards as an outward indication of their psychological resistance to "facing" the world, and an unexpected theme involving the similarities between chimps and humans.

I overuse parentheticals when I'm excited about something. Anyway, I'm not sure if Martel is too well-known an author to be a TOB contender, but the strange and unexpected charm of this book gave me some of the same feels as "All the Birds, Singing" last year.

Lljones wrote: "And here is Brooklyn Magazine...

http://www.bkmag.com/2016/01/01/our-2...

I was really hoping that 2016 would bring me a new Ann Patchett. Sadly, no sign..."

Lljones--breaking news--a new Ann Patchett novel is in fact coming in September. It's called Commonwealth. So excited!

Books that currently seem likely according to my spidey-senses. All links go to reviews.

What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell
The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie
The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal
Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa
The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee

Sara wrote: "Books that currently seem likely according to my spidey-senses. All links go to reviews."

Thanks Sara!

Honestly, I'm so excited about many 2016 reads already that I've started a Listopia list for next year's TOB tournament, if you want to come vote:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

What better way to pass the time the day before this year's tournament kicks off?

Ha! I just checked your list and it shows every book as being in my TBR list.

Ohhh...I loved Bad Marie.

Dianah wrote: "Just discovered Marcy Demansky (Bad Marie from ToB 2011) has a new one coming out in October.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..."

poingu wrote: "Honestly, I'm so excited about many 2016 reads already that I've started a Listopia list for next year's TOB tournament.."

Added the two books I keep hearing about!

The Association of Small Bombs, by Karan Mahajan may be a consideration.

some weighty comparisons in the book's description - Mohsin Hamid, Dave Eggers, Arundhati Roy, and Teju Cole and a rave review in the NYT (haven't read it all because i am weird like that in trying to keep away from too much info. before i have a chance to read a book for myself): http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/...

i caught this intro (image/screen capture) on twitter:

Jennifer wrote: "The Association of Small Bombs, by Karan Mahajan may be a consideration.

some weighty comparisons in the book's description - Mohsin Hamid, Dave Eggers, Arundhati ..."

I hope to start this book later this week.
I need a "reading" vacation.

I think both Innocents and Others and A Doubter's Almanac have a chance of showing up in next year's TOB.

Currently reading We Love You, Charlie Freeman: A Novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge and I think it deserves consideration.