Tournament of Books discussion

and here's the almost final 16, the judges, and the brackets/dates of matchups:

http://www.themorningnews.org/article...

Final 15

• The New World
• The Sellout
• Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel
• The Turner House
• Fates and Furies
• Our Souls at Night
• Ban En Banlieue
• The Story of My Teeth
• The Tsar of Love and Techno
• The Sympathizer
• The Whites
• Oreo
• The Book of Aron
• The Invaders
• A Little Life

TOB Play-in Round

• Avenue of Mysteries
• A Spool of Blue Thread


The Judges

• Blake Bailey is the author of biographies of John Cheever, Richard Yates, and Charles Jackson, and he is working on the authorized biography of Philip Roth. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Parkman Prize, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent book, The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait, was a finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Award.

• Maria Bustillos is a journalist and critic based in Los Angeles. She has written on culture, politics, technology, and business for the New Yorker, Harper’s, the New York Times, The Awl, the Guardian, Bloomberg, etc. Her first published fiction appeared in the Paris Review earlier this year.

• Jaime Green’s essays have appeared in The Awl, The Millions, American Theatre online, and elsewhere. She also hosts and produces The Catapult, a podcast of new writing read aloud.

• Danielle Henderson is a new TV writer and old freelancer. She lives in the “not Brooklyn” part of New York City.

• Brad Listi is the author of the novel Attention. Deficit. Disorder.: A Novel and the founding editor of The Nervous Breakdown, an online culture magazine and literary community. He is also the host of Otherppl with Brad Listi, a weekly podcast featuring interviews with today’s leading writers. He lives in Los Angeles.

• Liz Lopatto is the science editor at The Verge. Before that, she worked at Bloomberg News and before that, founded the Kenyon Review’s blog. Her interests include cats and space explosions.

• Syreeta McFadden is a Brooklyn-based writer, photographer, and adjunct professor of English. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Guardian, BuzzFeed, NPR, The Nation and Storyscape Journal. She is the managing editor of the online literary magazine Union Station and a co-curator of the group Poets in Unexpected Places. She is currently working on collections of short stories and essays.

• Lizzie Molyneux is a writer for the Emmy-winning animated Fox show, Bob’s Burgers, with her writing partner/sister Wendy. Her dog thinks she's pretty great.

• Wendy Molyneux, along with her sister Lizzie Molyneux, writes for the TV show Bob’s Burgers, for which she also voices the massively unpopular character Jen the Babysitter. She is also a frequent contributor to McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and other humor sites, and has had several pieces included in the Best American Nonrequired Reading anthology series over the years.

• Celeste Ng is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Everything I Never Told You. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, One Story, Gulf Coast, The Millions, and elsewhere, and has been awarded the Pushcart Prize. She earned an MFA from the University of Michigan and lives in Cambridge, Mass.

• Kit Rachlis is a senior editor at California Sunday Magazine. He was editor-in-chief of the American Prospect, Los Angeles Magazine, and the LA Weekly, and executive editor of The Village Voice.

• Doree Shafrir is a culture writer at BuzzFeed and the author of the forthcoming novel Startup (Little, Brown). She lives in Los Angeles.

• Choire Sicha is a co-founder of The Awl, BookForum columnist, former Gawker editor, longtime TMN writer, and author of a book of nonfiction.

• TMN 2016 Reader Judge John Taylor is a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he works on the inpatient consultation service in the emergency department, serves as assistant training director for the MGH/McLean residency, and is a project manager in behavioral health integration. He is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School. He lives in Cambridge, Mass.

• Miriam Tuliao works for BookOps, the shared technical services organization of the Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library. She is a member of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association and American Library Association.

• Jeff VanderMeer’s most recent fiction is the New York Times bestselling Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance), which won the Nebula Award and Shirley Jackson Award, and made Entertainment Weekly’s list of the top 10 books of the year. Paramount Pictures/Scott Rudin Productions acquired the movie rights with Alex Garland set to direct. VanderMeer’s nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Washington Post, The Atlantic’s website, and the LA Times.

• Daniel Wallace is the author of five novels. He directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

• Kelvin Yu is a writer currently working on the Fox animated series Bob’s Burgers. A Los Angeles native, Yu studied theater and communications at UCLA. He is also an actor whose credits include Milk, Star Trek, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and, most recently, Master of None.

• Jess Zimmerman is a writer and editor who’s appeared in Hazlitt, the New Republic, the Guardian, The Hairpin, and others. The Toast once said she was “on fire” but it turned out she was fine. She lives in Brooklyn with all the other writers, and when not working spends most of her time aging, feeling terrible about aging, or frequently both.


Brackets

Visit the TOB site for the brackets, and a PDF printable version: http://www.themorningnews.org/article...

Here is the schedule of this year’s match-ups:

March 7
2015 ToB Introduction
by Kevin Guilfoile & John Warner

Play-in Match
March 8
Avenue of Mysteries v. A Spool of Blue Thread
Judged by Lizzie Molyneux, Wendy Molyneux, and Kelvin Yu

Opening Round
March 9
Fates and Furies v. Bats of the Republic
Judged by Maria Bustillos

March 10
The Sympathizer v. Oreo
Judged by Brad Listi

March 11
The Turner House v. Ban en Banlieue
Judged by Miriam Tuliao

March 14
Our Souls at Night v. The Whites
Judged by Syreeta McFadden

March 15
A Little Life v. The New World
Judged by Choire Sicha

March 16
The Book of Aron v. The Tsar of Love and Techno
Judged by Doree Shafrir

March 17
Play-in Winner v. The Story of My Teeth
Judged by Daniel Wallace

March 18
The Sellout v. The Invaders
Judged by Liz Lopatto

Quarterfinals
March 21
TBD v. TBD
Judged by Kit Rachlis

March 22
TBD v. TBD
Judged by Jess Zimmerman

March 23
TBD v. TBD
Judged by John Taylor

March 24
TBD v. TBD
Judged by Danielle Henderson

Semifinals
March 25
TBD v. TBD
Judged by Jaime Green

March 28
TBD v. TBD
Judged by Jeff VanderMeer

Zombie Round
March 29
Zombie Pick No. 1 v. TBD
Judged by Blake Bailey

March 30
Zombie Pick No. 2 v. TBD
Judged by Celeste Ng

Championship
March 31
TBD v. TBD
All Judges

**********


And make sure you cast your Zombie vote, embedded in the announcement: http://www.themorningnews.org/article...

Way to give a gal a 'jolt' even before she's had her coffee :o)

I will probably be off in the 'salt mines' when the final list drops (unless it is posted in the next hour), so I won't tune in to comment again until this afternoon. I will be check in on my breaks though.

Thanks for being 'at the ready', Jennifer!

i am totally on standby, jane. haha!! ridiculous!! but i am in some very good company around here. :)

post #1 now updated with the list and the judges. phew. tweaking still going on to link stuff in. :)

happy? disappointed? what do you think?

Mostly happy! I'll admit I'm sick of hearing the debate around A Little Life, so that was a mild disappointment. But I'm thrilled about Oreo and Story of My Teeth, and The Sellout. I'm excited about reading Ban En Banlieue. I'll probably skip John Irving. The others are possibilities to read; I'll just have to think on it a bit.

I'm really excited that Blake Bailey is going to be a judge. I love his bios.

I think it looks like a great list of books. I can't wait to hear what people have to say about The Sympathizer, Fates & Furies, and my beloved The Tsar of Love and Techno.

I'm pretty happy also; I've already read 7 of them (and if A Spool of Blue Thread beats out the Irving title, then 8 of them) and I'm excited to read The Tsar of Love and Techno, The Sympathizer, and The Invaders. The other 6, I'm less excited about reading but I'll probably at least try a couple of them....Oreo and Bats of the Republic, anyway. Don't know if I can go there with the protagonist becoming soot, soil and diesel tho (sorry Ban En Banlieue).

i feel mostly happy too. the two previous TOBs had me feeling fairly 'meh' with the choices. i've read a few of the 2016 choices already and own most of the rest, so that's good. not sure if i can manage to read them all before march though... :/

This is a pretty awesome list. I would have been pretty disappointed if A Little Life didn't make it... still gives me chills to this day.

I've only read 3 from the list but MANY that I wanted to read. Good times.

thank you for our painstaking work, jennifer.

I've read 0! I accomplished my goal! I love a fresh start.

Overall quite happy with the list! Only 4 read thus far, but at least the behemoth A Little Life under my belt and no other entrants even challenging that page-wise!

As mentioned yesterday, wanted to get Sellout, Turner House, Tsar, and Spool off my TBR pile... and curious about many others, notably Oreo and Teeth, thanks to this forum!

Would like to get to (have the excuse for) the Irving since his books really stoked my love of reading in my younger years.

there is no book in the long list whose absence from the short list breaks my heart, but there is one book whose absence makes me happy, and three books i'm THRILLED to see in the short list, namely A Little Life, Oreo, and A Story of My Teeth. way to go jury!

I'm impressed by all of it, the book list, judges, podcast commentators. Feels like a solid competition (discussion?) this year. I've read two (Fates and Furies, The Story of My Teeth) and own three others (The Sympathizer, The Sellout, A Little Life). There are at least three others that I've mostly ignored, but am now intrigued by (The Whites, Tsar, and The invaders), plus I few that I've been eyeing (Ban en Banlieue, Oreo).

Any audiobook recommendations from the shortlist? Have some credits waiting.

i am kind of excited about Celeste Ng, Daniel Wallace and Jeff VanderMeer being on the judging roster. while each person sounds like they will be an interesting panelist for the TOB16, these 3 stood out a bit more for me.

(though all the bob's burgers people are cracking me up!)

Jennifer wrote: "i am kind of excited about Daniel Wallace and Jeff VanderMeer being on the judging roster. while each person sounds like they will be an interesting panelist for the T..."

I agree! I was fairly excited about them as well.

So happy the list has been posted. I've read A Little Life and Fates and Furies and thought both were excellent. I'm currently reading The Tsar of Love and Techno but unlike many of the others posting, I'm not in love with it but am only halfway through and have not read Marra before so I'm holding out hope. Excited to have Celeste Ng and Jeff VanderMeer judging this year.

and celeste ng too -- she somehow got lopped off my comment and i had to edit. :/ i didn't love her novel, but i like her an awful lot. she seems very thoughtful and not shy, so i am super-curious for which pair she will have and what her decision will be like.

Rachel wrote: "Any audiobook recommendations from the shortlist? Have some credits waiting."

I listened to Our Souls at Night and A Spool of Blue Thread on audio. Both were well narrated. Of the two, I'd give the edge to Souls but it's a slim volume and you might not want to use a credit for such a short listen.

Also think the Bob's Burgers writers being involved is great. We just recently discovered that show on Netflix and love it.

The reader judge sounds like an interesting kinda guy.

I've read 7. Purchased Bats of the Republic a couple weeks ago. So happy to see The Tsar of Love and Techno on the list. Time to place some library holds!

Janet wrote: "The reader judge sounds like an interesting kinda guy."

right?? could be a interesting perspective brought in on his judgment.

Kate wrote: "Also think the Bob's Burgers writers being involved is great. We just recently discovered that show on Netflix and love it."

it's pretty hilarious. there are very few shows my husband and i both agree on -- this is one we watch together. though a couple of the voices can be grating at the wrong volume, the humour entertains me a lot.

Jennifer wrote: "Janet wrote: "The reader judge sounds like an interesting kinda guy."

right?? could be a interesting perspective brought in on his judgment."

I hope he gets to review A Little Life....get the shrink take on it....lol.

janet -- HA! i still haven't read ALL... i'm kind of out of excuses now. :)

Rachel wrote: "Any audiobook recommendations from the shortlist? Have some credits waiting."

I listened to Fates and Furies. it worked for me, mostly because i would never have gone past page 50 in the book edition. the audiobook made it acceptable to me. i also listened to Story of My Teeth, but that in retrospect seems a mistake. if you want to save yourself credits you can use my audible account. happy to share the password with you.

I have read only one of the selections - thankfully it's A Little Life, so I won't have a behemoth to read from the other choices! Based on all the buzz here, I think I'm really looking forward to Tsar and The Sympathizer (though Tree of Smoke kind of turned me off to Vietnam books a few years back). I think I will wait until the bracket is released and make sure I read whichever book is paired with A Little Life so I will have at least one round where I've read both books!

Happy day! I'm fortunate to have read 6 of the books. Exciting to see The Tsar of Love and Techno and The Sympathizer which I haven't yet read.

Ban En Banlieue is the only book my library does not carry. Otherwise, the library will provide all unread TOB books.

Thanks to Jennifer for the original post.

so -- play-in round... having these two head-to-head is awesome, but also is painful for me as i love both. perhaps it will be less painful after i have had a chance to actually read irving's new one? haha!! (i've read a bit of it, but not the whole thing.) as much as i love anne tyler, 'blue thread' wasn't a new favourite. has anyone read both already?

I've read four of the seventeen: A Little Life, Fates and Furies, Our Souls at Night, andA Spool of Blue Thread. I own a copy of Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel and have The Whites on loan from my library. Of the remaining titles, really excited to read The Tsar of Love and Techno, Avenue of Mysteries, The Sympathizer, The Turner House, Oreo, and The Invaders. I better get busy if I want to reach my TOB goal of reading twelve books prior to the beginning of the tournament.

jo wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Any audiobook recommendations from the shortlist? Have some credits waiting."

I listened to Fates and Furies. it worked for me, mostly because i would never have gone past page 50 i..."

Ah! Too kind of you. I am ok though. I just spent credits on The Whites, Blue Thread and Fates and Furies so I'll be good for awhile yet. I do recommend A Little Life in audio form. It's long, but it had me actually crying in the car on the way to work so it really worked for me.

The last two years I've managed to read all of the entries. Both years I've been on the last book during the first week of the tourney. My goal is to complete the list again this year. Who's with me?

Beth wrote: "The last two years I've managed to read all of the entries. Both years I've been on the last book during the first week of the tourney. My goal is to complete the list again this year. Who's with me?"

I'm with you, Beth! Last year was the first year I managed to complete the list but I plan to again this year. I've only read 4 of the books (and I'm including Oreo which I'm only halfway through) but one of them is A Little Life so at least there are no doorstops ahead of me.

Same here - I've read ALL & F&F and am three stories in to The Tsar of Love & Techno. I adored A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, but am struggling a bit with the story collection. I do love the way the stories connect, and his writing is beautifully rich and layered, but it's so dense. I guess it just requires more attention than I seem to have lately.

Kate wrote: "So happy the list has been posted. I've read A Little Life and Fates and Furies and thought both were excellent. I'm currently reading The Tsar of Love and Techno but unlike many of the others post..."

Hm, looking at the Goodread stats for the shortlist:

Most read (most number of ratings):
1) A Spool of Blue Thread
2) Fates and Furies
3) A Little Life

Least read:
1) Ban En Banlieue
2) The New World
3) Bats of the Republic

Will be interesting to see the ratings move around this year as more and more people read these.

I find it interesting that this is the first time in my recent memory that the National Book Award winner (Fortune Smiles) is not in contention in the tournament. Perhaps since Adam Johnson did so well with The Orphan Master's Son in the tournament a few years ago they did not want to highlight him again and give others a chance?

I think the closest I've even been is 15/16. We'll see how I do this year considering I've only read *one* so far. I've been hoarding gift cards and ordered 6 from Amazon this am, and my library has 2. So that will get me started.

Not sure where to start. Maybe with The New World.

Brian, I also think short stories in the ToB are tricky. Maybe that's why they skipped Fortune Smiles.

Neighbors wrote: "Brian, I also think short stories in the ToB are tricky. Maybe that's why they skipped Fortune Smiles."

but The Tsar of Love and Techno is a short story collection so they've got one in there. they usually have one don't they? i've only been following more seriously for the past 3 or 4-ish years.

I've read five of the 17 books which is easily the most for me at short list time. And I've listened to the beginnings of two more. I may have a legitimate shot at reading most of these books before tip-off in March.

No real surprises on the list for me. I do have about a half a dozen books to return to the library unread now though.

Rachel wrote: "Any audiobook recommendations from the shortlist? Have some credits waiting."

I listened to The Spool of Blue Thread and liked the audio production. I may seek out some of these from the library on audio to ensure I have more read when the tournament begins.

for those who haven't read it, The New World is gripping and short. it's also a heck of a book. i wouldn't listed to it in audiobook though, cuz you are really gonna want to think about it as it moves from chapter to chapter.

Thanks so much for posting this short list so we can talk about it, Jennifer.

I've read 12. I liked a lot of them. If I think of this list as a whole, it feels like it values innovation above all else. It's as though those who picked the short list are deliberately rejecting the idea of "literary quality" being something that has any kind of meaningful definition, and are trying to pack in as many kinds of writing as possible. To find room for the most innovation possible they left out the NBA winner and put Tyler and Irving on the front porch instead of inviting them to the party.

Usually I go for innovation as a reader. My highest praise is "I've never read anything like this before." But I was kind of hoping for some of the exquisite reads on the long list that I haven't yet gotten to, rather than more pyrotechnics. This list is a bit too hipster for me.

poingu wrote: "But I was kind of hoping for some of the exquisite reads on the long list that I haven't yet gotten to, rather than more pyrotechnics. This list is a bit too hipster for me. "

care to say what, poingu?

Poingu, I think you're right about innovation being the watchword this year. I ended up posting my predictions on Facebook last night, and correctly predicted 7, but it turns out I've only read ONE of the finalists (I finished Bats of the Republic last night, and while I'm not quite sure how much I enjoyed it, it was certainly creative). I'll have read two if Tyler beats Irving.

I started Story of My Teeth at lunch and feel similarly a bit mystified by it. I guess I'd better get used to that feeling for the next couple of months.

okay, of the books i read, Fates and Furies is not particularly innovative and neither is The Whites. the latter is just a really really good police story, written beautifully.

jo wrote: "care to say what, poingu? "

not really!

It could be I'm just suffering from too much innovation altogether, jo. Outside of Tyler and possibly Irving (I haven't read it), the only novel on the list that strikes me as a Novel, in that old-fashioned, baggy monster sort of way, is The Turner House.

But even the long list already felt tilted in this way, toward the new.

Just my mood I guess. Last night I picked up and began to read a 534-page Polish intergenerational saga, Stone Upon Stone. I've read so many short, sharp, innovative novels in this last year that I'm ready for a change.