Tournament of Books discussion
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2017 TOB - General
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2017 Longlist
Sara wrote: "You got my hopes up!! ;)"Me, too! Now I'm all disappointed. : (
That's a good reason to get out of bed tomorrow morning :).
I have read 12 of them. And lots are books I have meant to read. I think it is going to be a great TOB!!
Ok let's see -- 5 I have read; 2 I own but haven't read; 2 I have from the library and have currently started; 3 I have from the library but haven't cracked yet. 7 of the 16 books in the alt tournament https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... made the longlist. Nice job!
Anyone start a Goodreads list yet? I can make one, just don't want to duplicate work if anyone else has started.
Rachel wrote: "Two absences I've noticed: A Gentleman in Moscow and Innocents and Others." Thanks for pointing those out! The missing ones are the hardest to spot. Yeah, I would especially have expected to see Spiotta on the list. Ace wrote: "I have to go into hibernation now." Haha! See ya later, buddy. :-)
Amy wrote: "I'll post it in about 1 hr!"Thanks, Amy! I thought of you and Jason, our Alt TOB spreadsheet/data gods, as soon as I saw that spreadsheet. :-)
So I think I spend way too much time reading current lit fic. I've read 29 and have 8 more piled up around the house or on my iPhone (for audio).I'm happy to see the Alt TOB crossovers, and very happy to see Imagine Me Gone, Barkskins, and Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, all of which got pretty good reviews but didn't become the breakout hits they would have if I were in charge of the world. And 13 Ways, Pond, and Orphans of the Carnival, which I needed a reason to track down and read and now the TOB has given me one.
Such a happy day! Do you think Nozlee and the gang realize how much pleasure they give us?!?!?!
Fantastic list! So glad it's finally out. A few other omissions I'm bummed about though: News of the World, Dodgers, and Sweetgirl.
Was a little disappointed not to see News of the World, Sweetbitter, and A Gentleman in Moscow on there, which were some of my favorites of this year. Otherwise, a good list! I have read 14 already and have a few more checked out from the library. Can't wait for March :)
Some Longlist numbers:Books I've already read: 19
Books I read quite a bit of and quit on: 2 (The Association of Small Bombs (I know, I know...but I was a semi-final Alt-TOB judge and when I found out it didn't advance I stopped reading it) and And Again
Books I'm currently reading: 1 (Moonglow)
Books I currently have checked out: 8!
Books I voted for in the TOB poll as my favorite 2016 read: 1 (The amazing The Unseen World, which I'm so happy to see made the cut)
Books other than The Unseen World that I would consider my other 2016 favorites: 2 (The Nix and Swing Time...and that number may rise to 3 when I finish Moonglow; I'm loving it)
And finally, because when I was going through the list it seemed quite female-heavy (in a great way! what other literary award list that isn't specifically for woman skews heavier female?) I went through like a psycho to see how many were female-written, and the answer is, 64. A slight majority. I may have made a few errors in my tabulation though because I was going by names and Goodreads Author photos.
Heather wrote: "Some Longlist numbers:Books I've already read: 19 ."
Heather, you're amazing.
I haven't counted but I'm not seeing many 2016 books I've read on the TOB longlist at all.
poingu wrote:"Heather, you're amazing.
I haven't counted but I'm not seeing many 2016 books I've read on the TOB longlist at all."
Well Poingu, you, IMHO, are a bit of an outlier as far as TOB goes. In fact, I like your reading lists better. But TOB is fun too.
I have read 11, have many others in my TBR pile, and (one of my favorite things about this tournament) had never heard of a good number of the titles. Great list! Hope a few of my favorites make the cut.
I have read 18 from the long list already. Moonglow is up next on my TBR pile. I feel like this is the most I have ever read off the long list. Hoping my luck continues with the short list but I won't hold my breath :)
I have read 11 of these and was pleased to see my vacation reading books are all on there. I'd hate to have to run to the library this afternoon and exchange them!
I've read seven and have five on hand. Another couple on the list are on my Santa wish list. Things get tricky for me now, because I like to wait to read what I have on hand until short list is known. Then I have some flexibility to work those in while I wait for library holds and the purchase or two from Powell's. This assumes my on hand all make the cut. (Barskins, Commonwealth, Homegoing, The North Water, and Underground Railroad). In the past I've read 9 or 10 of the shortlist pre announcement. Think my odds aren't as good this year. Anyone want to suggest what they think is a lock or near lock for the shortlist?
'The Underground Railroad' as the National Book Award Winner seems like a lock. I've also seen LaRose and Association of Small Bombs on almost every year end list, though I don't know how that will factor in.
I've read 12, which surprised me. I'm disappointed to not see Dodgers or Sweetbitter, but there are quite a few I'm pleasantly surprised to see, so it's mostly a wash. Of course, paring down 120 to 16 (or so) may mean all the ones I'm excited to see on the longlist don't make the tournament.
I've never seen GR crash so often. Are TOB folks bringing down their servers!? ("We have the power!")
Here's a list of all of the short story collections in the list. Some are more novel-like than others. Let me know if I missed any. The general consensus is that each year we more or less get one in the actual tournament, right?
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl
Pond
American Housewife: Stories
Mississippi Noir
Cities I've Never Lived In: Stories
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
All That Man Is
Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine
99 Stories of God
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl
Pond
American Housewife: Stories
Mississippi Noir
Cities I've Never Lived In: Stories
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
All That Man Is
Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine
99 Stories of God
Here's a group of all those that I would classify as scifi, fantasy, fairytalesque or magical realism. I'm separating it out into two chunks. The first is my guess on the pool that this year's token "genre novel" will come from. Out of this list, my guess is that either Version Control or All the Birds in the Sky will be the genre work we see in the tournament. The other batch is not any less fantastical, but I think we're going to see more than one from this batch make it in. (This doesn't reflect my own personal opinions so much as it represents me trying to imagine what the ToB planners' opinions will be.)
The token batch:
All the Birds in the Sky
Version Control
Black Wave
The Fireman
Tell the Wind and Fire
And Again
The Regional Office Is Under Attack!
The Sleep Garden
The Unseen World
Lovecraft Country
The Last Days of New Paris (I'm not even sure this one is speculative fiction, but Mieville's eclectic novels tend to be classified as genre.)
The literary fantasy batch:
The Underground Railroad
The Lost Time Accidents
Mr. Splitfoot
The Life of Elves
Moonglow
Sudden Death
The Vegetarian
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
These seem to fit, but I know too little about them to really categorize them:
Froelich's Ladder
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
I don't even know what to do with this one. Will they really assign judges to read a book this long? What's the longest one that's ever been in the ToB?
Jerusalem
There appear to be several books about the sea or ships in the long list too, and expeditions. That might be another natural grouping.
The token batch:
All the Birds in the Sky
Version Control
Black Wave
The Fireman
Tell the Wind and Fire
And Again
The Regional Office Is Under Attack!
The Sleep Garden
The Unseen World
Lovecraft Country
The Last Days of New Paris (I'm not even sure this one is speculative fiction, but Mieville's eclectic novels tend to be classified as genre.)
The literary fantasy batch:
The Underground Railroad
The Lost Time Accidents
Mr. Splitfoot
The Life of Elves
Moonglow
Sudden Death
The Vegetarian
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours
These seem to fit, but I know too little about them to really categorize them:
Froelich's Ladder
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
I don't even know what to do with this one. Will they really assign judges to read a book this long? What's the longest one that's ever been in the ToB?
Jerusalem
There appear to be several books about the sea or ships in the long list too, and expeditions. That might be another natural grouping.
It looks like the link to American Housewife is actually linking to How to be an American Housewife.
Sara wrote: "Here's a group of all those that I would classify as scifi, fantasy, fairytalesque or magical realism. I'm separating it out into two chunks. The first is my guess on the pool that this year's toke..."I read Froelich's Ladder. I'd say it is in the literary fantasy batch. One of my favorites this year.
Read: 9Already on hand: 30
Well, at least I can spot talent, even if I don't get around to reading it!
Rachel wrote: "Anyone start a Goodreads list yet? I can make one, just don't want to duplicate work if anyone else has started."just realized you mean a "List" - thanks for setting this up Rachel. For everyone else, the List is here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Dianah wrote: "It looks like the link to American Housewife is actually linking to How to be an American Housewife."thanks for the catch! I had forgotten my trouble with this one on the altTOB Longlist! Fixed now. :)
Hmm, Jerusalem made the long list. I have it but think it's unlikely the TOB gods could be so cruel. So many pages!
Amy wrote: "Dianah wrote: "It looks like the link to American Housewife is actually linking to How to be an American Housewife."thanks for the catch! I had forgotten my trouble with this one on the altTOB Lo..."
Also, Listen to Me by Pittard brings up a romance by the same name, but different author.
And Sharma's Problems link is broken. Sorry to be so annoying, just clicking through them all and thought you'd want to know.
Happy to see the list!! But am I the only person in the world who thought The Noise of Time was amazing???
Amy wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Anyone start a Goodreads list yet? I can make one, just don't want to duplicate work if anyone else has started."just realized you mean a "List" - thanks for setting this up Rachel..."
You're wonderful!
Ugh, I've only read 7, but have 24 others. Time to hit the books
I've been lovingly gazing at the list. :D I'm impressed. Looking forward to MANY of these. Terranauts by Boyle, Here I Am by Foer, the Dana Spiotta and that Dave Eggers book didn't make the list (not like I've read any of these). Almost all of the books I mentioned on my gigantic list last year at the end of the tournament made the long list. But I think that happened last year too. I like to see what other book brains think though! There are only 12 books on this list that I didn't know about before today.I'm happy to see Last Days of New Paris, Orphans at the Carnival, Never Open Desert Diner make the list... as well as a ton of the other books I've been looking forward to. I don't think Mississippi Noir will make it, since it's short stories written by many writers. It's hard to say which will be the final 16. I don't think there are a large number of shoe-ins here.
Road trip play-in round?
Dianah wrote: "... Sorry to be so annoying, just clicking through them all and thought you'd want to know."Not at all! thank you very much for catching these. the GR page was having connectivity problems when I posted this so I didn't get a chance to confirm all the links at the time. You saved me a lot of work!
Sara wrote: "Here's a group of all those that I would classify as scifi, fantasy, fairytalesque or magical realism. I'm separating it out into two chunks. The first is my guess on the pool that this year's toke..."There is usually also an 'experimental form/novella' entry which in this case I think would be one of:
Grief is the Thing with Feathers (114 pages)
Pond (148 pages)
Multiple Choice (128 pages)
and maybe Margaret the First (178 pages)
I was already planning to pick Sleeping Giants for the win. I'm really surprised we didn't get Sleeping Giants or Dark Matter. I'm pulling for LaRose now. I've read 14, but I don't think I'll try worry too much about the long list since I never choose the right books to read for to get ready for the tournament anyway.
I've read 21 so far, and have a few others queued up. (Swing Time is beside me in bed right now. Hooray for the weekend!)I kept the ToB in mind all year with my book choices (this thread and the alt.ToB helped so much!). I requested another six or seven from the library today, and am ready to hibernate!
Random thoughts about the longlist...
Overall, it looks like a good list that will provide for plenty of conversation and disagreement. I thought last year's longlist was ridiculously inflated. But 120 books? That's nuts! How does one begin to speculate on the shortlist when we are starting with so many? I've only read a few, but I own many of them. I'm hoping for fewer "experimental" books in the final 16 this year. And fingers crossed that Jerusalem does not make the cut; I don't have the time or inclination to make that commitment!
My big disappointment (there is always at least one) is that for the third time in a row my favorite book of the year, this time A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, is not on the list.
Overall, it looks like a good list that will provide for plenty of conversation and disagreement. I thought last year's longlist was ridiculously inflated. But 120 books? That's nuts! How does one begin to speculate on the shortlist when we are starting with so many? I've only read a few, but I own many of them. I'm hoping for fewer "experimental" books in the final 16 this year. And fingers crossed that Jerusalem does not make the cut; I don't have the time or inclination to make that commitment!
My big disappointment (there is always at least one) is that for the third time in a row my favorite book of the year, this time A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, is not on the list.
Amy wrote: "There is usually also an 'experimental form/novella' entry which in this case I think would be one of..."
I would include Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine with the 'experimental' books, all of which I hope not to see on the shortlist.
Sara wrote: "What's the longest one that's ever been in the ToB?"
There have been several doorstoppers, the longest of which was Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell at 1006 pages, in 2005, the first year of the TOB.
I would include Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine with the 'experimental' books, all of which I hope not to see on the shortlist.
Sara wrote: "What's the longest one that's ever been in the ToB?"
There have been several doorstoppers, the longest of which was Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell at 1006 pages, in 2005, the first year of the TOB.
Read 5 yay! DNF 2. Currently reading 2. Want to read 26.Knowing my luck, none of these will be in the shortlist ;)
I loved poingu's predictive algorithm from last year:1. NBA winner? = add The Underground Railroad.
2. Is NBA winner a short story collection? = CROSS OUT every other ss collection in contention. Since no, American Housewife would be my pick but only because Oyeyemi has been in TOB at least twice I think.
3. Hot Literary Read of the Year? = add The Girls. Possible Before the Fall, The Nest or My Name is Lucy Barton (all 30k+ ratings on Goodreads)
4. Author Died this Year? = add [last year was [book:Our Souls at Night]]
5. Best War Horse Book? = add Erdrich's LaRose or Chabon's Moonglow maybeThe High Mountains of Portugal or Barkskins and CROSS OUT Russo, Moore, Patchett, Atwood.
6. Author already got enough TOB glory in past years? = CROSS OUT Strout, Martel, Oyeyemi, Semple, probably some others
7. Does the novel add a unique voice to the TOB that represents the full range of best of fiction published this year? add to taste--maybe The Vegetarian, Homegoing, Sudden Death, The Mothers or What Belongs to You
8. Does at least one novel represent social realism and deal with a current social problem? ("Redeployment" slot) = add Behold the Dreamers, The Wangs vs. the World (2008 crash is big this year), The Loner, Imagine Me Gone, maybe Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist
8. For that pinch of YA flavor, take your pick (All the Birds in the Sky for me but could be Yiddish for Pirates)
9. Has that Fun & Quirky TOB Feel where it just belongs on the list? add Rush Oh!, but also and in every category there are many take-your-picks... The Regional Office is Under Attack! has been getting a lot of love though I DNF it.
I think a play-in of road-trip books might just enter in as well.
Already mentioned the 'experimental novella' entry. - {my pick is Pond though I really liked Grief is a Thing with Feathers)
Also, some sort of wry humor or satire entry though I'm not familiar enough with the full longlist to guess at that pick!
also, for your holiday reading planning... I posted page numbers, average GR rating, # of ratings etc. here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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Tournament of Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Kindness of Enemies (other topics)The Kindness of Enemies (other topics)
A Hundred Thousand Worlds (other topics)
Another Brooklyn (other topics)
Multiple Choice (other topics)
More...
- The Kindness of Enemies, by Leila Aboulela
- Rich and Pretty, by Rumaan Alam
- The Daredevils, by Gary Amdahl
- Enchanted Islands, by Allison Amend
- The Bones of Grace, by Tahmima Anam
- All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
- The Never Open Desert Diner, by James Anderson
- Hag-Seed, by Margaret Atwood
- Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, by Ramona Ausubel
- 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, by Mona Awad
- The Throwback Special, by Chris Bachelder
- How to Set a Fire and Why, by Jesse Ball
- The Life of Elves by Muriel Barbery
- Rush Oh!, by Shirley Barrett
- Yiddish for Pirates, by Gary Barwin
- The Mothers, by Brit Bennett
- Pond, by Claire Louise Bennett
- Peacekeeping, by Mischa Berlinski
- Orphans of the Carnival, by Carol Birch
- Tell The Wind and Fire, by Sarah Rees Brennan
- Good on Paper, by Rachel Cantor
- Moonglow, by Michael Chabon
- The Wangs vs. the World, by Jade Chang
- The Queen of the Night, by Alexander Chee
- And Again, by Jessica Chiarella
- The Girls, by Emma Cline
- Here Comes the Sun, by Nicole Dennis-Benn
- The Red Car, by Marcy Dermansky
- The Wonder, by Emma Donoghue
- Froelich’s Ladder, by Jamie Duclos-Yourdon
- Margaret the First, by Danielle Dutton
- American Housewife, by Helen Ellis
- Sudden Death, by Alvaro Enrigue
- LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
- Mississippi Noir, by Tom Franklin
- Youngblood, by Matt Gallagher
- Night Prayers, by Santiago Gamboa
- The Book of Memory, by Pettina Gappah
- The Lightkeepers, by Abby Geni
- The Regional Office is Under Attack!, by Manuel Gonzales
- We Love You, Charlie Freeman, by Kaitlyn Greenidge
- What Belongs to You, by Garth Greenwell
- Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
- Imagine Me Gone, by Adam Haslett
- Monterey Bay, by Lindsay Hatton
- Before the Fall, by Noah Hawley
- War and Turpentine, by Stefan Hertmans
- The Fireman, by Joe Hill
- The Nix, by Nathan Hill
- Mr. Splitfoot, by Samantha Hunt
- To the Bright Edge of the World, by Eowyn Ivey
- The Vegetarian, by Han Kang
- Dirt Road, by James Kelman
- The Sheriff of Babylon Vol. 1, Bang. Bang. Bang., by Tom King
- I Hate the Internet, by Jarett Kobek
- The Sleep Garden, by Jim Kruesoe
- High Dive, by Jonathan Lee
- Breaking Wild, by Diane Les Becquets
- A Gambler’s Anatomy, by Jonathan Lethem
- Each Vagabond by Name, by Margo Orlando Little
- The Association of Small Bombs, by Karan Mahajan
- Cities I’ve Never Lived In, by Sara Majka
- Thus Bad Begins, by Javier Marias
- The High Mountains of Portugal, by Yann Martel
- Behold the Dreamers, by Imbolo Mbue
- The Lesser Bohemians, by Eimear McBride
- The North Water, by Ian McGuire
- The Glorious Heresies, by Lisa McIrnerney
- Hystopia, by David Means
- The Last Days of New Paris, China Mieville
- Sweet Lamb of Heaven, by Lydia Millett
- Not All Bastards are from Vienna, by Andrea Molesin
- Jerusalem, by Alan Moore
- The Unseen World, by Liz Moore
- The Sport of Kings, by C.E. Morgan
- Travelers Rest, by Keith Lee Morris
- Lions, by Bonnie Nadzam
- The Little Red Chairs, by Edna O’Brien
- City of Secrets, by Stewart O’Nan
- What Is Not Yours, Is Not Yours, by Helen Oyeyemi
- Version Control, by Dexter Palmer
- Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett
- Stork Mountain, by Miroslav Penkov
- Black Deutchland, by Darryl Pinckney
- Listen to Me, by Hannah Pittard
- Grief is the Thing With Feathers, by Max Porter
- A Hundred Thousand Worlds, by Bob Proehl
- Mister Monkey, by Francine Prose
- Barkskins, by Annie Proulx
- Principles to Live By, by David Adams Richards
- A Song to Take the World Apart, by Zan Romanoff
- Lovecraft Country, by Matt Ruff
- Everybody’s Fool, by Richard Russo
- Today Will Be Different, by Maria Semple
- Problems, by Jade Sharma
- Marrow Island, by Alexis M. Smith
- Ginny Gall, by Charlie Smith
- Swing Time, by Zadie Smith
- My Name is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout
- The Nest, by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
- All That Man Is, by David Szalay
- Black Wave, by Michelle Tea
- The Bricks that Built the Houses, by Kate Tempest
- Wreck and Order, by Hannah Tennant-Moore
- Dear Fang, With Love, by Rufi Thorpe
- Private Citizens, by Tony Tulathimutte
- Reputations, by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
- Daredevils, by Shawn Vestal
- Girls on Fire, by Robin Wasserman
- Loner, by Teddy Wayne
- The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
- Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, by Diane Williams
- Ninety-Nine Stories of God, by Joy Williams
- Break in Case of Emergency, by Jessica Winter
- Bret Easton Ellis and Other Dogs, by Lina Wolff
- Another Brooklyn, by Jacqueline Woodson
- The Lost Time Accidents, by John Wray
- Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, by Sunil Yapa
- Multiple Choice, by Alejandro Zambra
- Nicotine, by Nell Zink
You can find the posting here, with brief descriptions on each book on The Morning News' website: http://www.themorningnews.org/article...
Let the Discussion and Predictions flow!