Tournament of Books discussion

I'm not remotely ready to start thinking 2018 with the 2017 shortlist on the horizon, but here's a space for the rest of y'all!

And fodder to kick it off...
http://www.themillions.com/2017/01/mo...

Thanks, Amy!! I'm already feeling torn between reading from the 2017 long list and wanting to start reading new books. Top of my radar right now: Rush Oh, Huck Out West, and Idaho.

I'm about 35% of the way into Idaho, and am madly in love with this book! This writer is a serious talent.

I stupidly started The Animators YESTERDAY, what was I thinking?

AmberBug wrote: "I stupidly started The Animators YESTERDAY, what was I thinking?"

Oooo, but The Animators is sooo good. Definitely a contender for next year. I loved it!

I'm about 75% on Idaho and I think it is fantastic!

The Animators looks good adding that to my list.

I'm on the hold list at the library for Idaho (they have it on order) and I have an ARC of The Animators. I'm eager to read both of these AFTER I read the Rooster competitors. Which will commence as soon as I find out what they are.

I'm reading Roxane Gay's Dangerous Women now. The first short story is both horrifying and tender.

I'm discovering that I am a less patient person than I had previously thought.

I just finished Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin and I feel like it's a definite contender for one of the "weird/experimental" slots.

I'm excited to get to Fever Dream, seems like it would be perfect for my taste.

I got The Animators as an ARC last year and LOVED it. It's not without flaws, but the characters and dialogue were just very true to life in a way that seems rare to me in contemporary fiction (sarcastic, profane, creative women are a paricular soft spot of mine).

i read The Antiques, by kris d'agostino last week. not sure if it is a possible contender, but it reminded me of The Nest a little bit. i didn't particularly like either book, but if there's a ToB dysfunctional family slot... the antiques would fit there. :)

Has anyone seen any buzz about Sour Heart: Stories yet? I am really looking forward to it based on Zhang's poetry. I haven't seen any ARCs pop up yet, but it's not out for quite some time.

Rene Denfeld (of The Enchanted fame) has a new one coming out this year.

Finished ARC for Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley and it was amazing! Such a joy to read even with incredibly dark themes and plot lines.

Alex, that looks good! Thanks for the recommendation. Ooh, and Diana, I'll be watching for the new Denfield book.

Dianah wrote: "Rene Denfeld (of The Enchanted fame) has a new one coming out this year."

I just finished The Child Finder by Denfeld, and it is stunning. Totally rooster-worthy!

Lincoln in the Bardo is definitely a contender. Also Difficult Women.

I'm going to put this here:

Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo wins next year's rooster...

I have not read it yet.

Jason wrote: "I'm going to put this here:

Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo wins next year's rooster...

I have not read it yet."

There should be a prize for the person who first predicts the next year's winner! That's bold :)

Jason wrote: "I'm going to put this here:

Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo wins next year's rooster...

I have not read it yet."

I have read it and I totally agree!

I figured the Saunders had a chance long before it was released... but looking at the Amazon preview, it looks like it was written in a very unconventional way. Is the entire book like that? So I'm glad to see someone saying they read it and think it has a chance.

C wrote: "I figured the Saunders had a chance long before it was released... but looking at the Amazon preview, it looks like it was written in a very unconventional way. Is the entire book like that? So I'm..."

It does have a very different structure/format and yes the entire book is that way. At first I was very put off by it but stuck with it and it was well worth it. I think this feature makes it even more of a TOB contender.

C wrote: "I figured the Saunders had a chance long before it was released... but looking at the Amazon preview, it looks like it was written in a very unconventional way. Is the entire book like that? So I'm..."

The many voices are heavy at the beginning and then reappear from time to time, there are definitely chunks where 2-4 major narrators take over (in the audio these are Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, George Saunders!) but by then the setting and context are pretty well established.

I have to shout out the new John Darnielle. It was a tragedy that Wolf in White Van didn't make the tournament a few years ago and Universal Harvester is a more mature, far weirder book - it's one of my early picks for best of the year, for sure. Ditto the new Jeff VanderMeer, although I could see them not wanting to include him so soon after Annihilation was on the bracket...

Hearing great buzz about Patty Yumi Cottrell's "Sorry to Disrupt the Peace" and Catherine Lacey's "The Answers" - I have both of those ARCs sitting on my shelf, waiting for me to get through Tournament reading...

I'll also second that bet that the Saunders is the early favorite, because what the hell else is gonna have as much hype - and, from what I hear, live up to it?

I'm currently reading Transit by Rachel Cusk and wonder if it will make next year's competition. It would fall into the category of quieter, short novel, but there are usually a few of those included.

I'm just really blown away by it.

Alison wrote: "I'm currently reading Transit by Rachel Cusk and wonder if it will make next year's competition. It would fall into the category of quieter, short novel, but there are usually a few of those..."

did you really like Outline as well, alison?

Oh, I wish Outline was included. I still want to get to that one.

Jennifer wrote: "did you really like Outline as well, alison? ..."

I liked it quite a bit, but I'm enjoying Transit even more. I don't know if it's because I knew what to expect going in, or if Transit is a stronger novel, though.

Thanks for linking the Millions list, Amy! I have been woefully out of the new releases loop and hadn't seen it before--I'd only heard of one of the books (Difficult Women, which my mother gave me a copy of for my birthday).

My first thought was, "EEEEEEEE A NEW JESMYN WARD BOOK!" And then I kept reading, and as of now, I've put 5 more books (The Separation; The Woman Next Door; Devil on the Cross; Isadora; and Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life) on hold at the library. o_O

Fortunately, some of them haven't been released yet, so they should be showing up gradually?

Alison wrote: "I liked it quite a bit, but I'm enjoying Transit even more. I don't know if it's because I knew what to expect going in, or if..."

i get what you mean, i think. i really appreciated what cusk did with outline (as a writing exercise), but for me, the approach left me quite feeling quite detached from it all. it was an interesting reading experience. i had the good fortune of seeing cusk in person, and she was quite delightful and spoke wonderfully on the process of writing outline, and how it came to be. so between outline and the live experience, i feel as though i will like transit more because i am going into it knowing a bit more about what to expect. (with hope this makes sense? reads a bit of a jumble, i'm afraid.)

I don't think I've read any 2017 books yet but I'm already getting a major ToB sense from The Separation.

I'm currently reading The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker and unless it tanks in the back half, it should make the long list, at least.

That's high on the list after TOB finishes this year!

Alison wrote: "I'm currently reading The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker and unless it tanks in the back half, it should make the long list, at least."

Chiming in to share my support for The Animators and my assessment that it's got the chops to be ToB 2017 material. I found the characters and their friendship so potent that a week or so later I'm still thinking about Sharon and Mel.

The Animators was one of my top books last year. It doesn't tank. It certainly deserves to be in next years tourny.

Mother of the Revolution wrote: "I found the characters and their friendship so potent that a week or so later I'm still thinking about Sharon and Mel. ..."

I feel like I'm being emotionally flayed by this novel. So very intense.

I'm firmly team The Animators as well.

i finished reading The Lonely Hearts Hotel, by heather o'neill, last night -- loved it (!!), and think it's a great book for next year's ToB.

I just finished Auster's 4 3 2 1 and unless its 866! page length keeps it out, I think it would be a worthy 2007 Rooster contender.

Just started The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch last night, and it's already killing me. Seriously rooster-worthy.

All of you and your ARCs make me jealous. I haven't even started 2017 books yet or paid close attention.....I just augmented my list from some of the recs here. Thanks

from Nozlee's curation of the TOB championship commentary and comments - possibilities for 2018 TOB:
2084: The End of the World by Boualem Sansal (translated)
2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
300 Arguments by Sarah Manguso (essays)
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
A Natural by Ross Raisin
A Separation by Katie Kitamura
All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
American War by Omar El Akkad
And So On by Kiese Laymon
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Autumn by Ali Smith
Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
Dear Cyborgs by Eugene Lim
Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life by Yiyun Li (memoir)
Devil on the Cross by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Eat Only When You're Hungry by Lindsay Hunter
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Fresh Complaint by Jeffrey Eugenides (short stories)
Gnomon by Nick Harkaway
Goodbye Vitamin by Rachel Khong
Grief Cottage by Gail Godwin
Homesick For Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh (short stories)
Huck Out West by Robert Coover
Human Acts by Han Kang
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
Ill Will by Dan Chaon
Isadora by Amelia Gray
Kingdom Cons by Yuri Herrera
Last Day on Earth by Eric Puchner (short stories)
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran
Made for Love by Alissa Nutting
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris (graphic novel)
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Phone by Will Self
Refuge by Dina Nayeri
Release by Patrick Ness
Savage Theories by Pola Oloixarac
Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer
Shadowbahn by Steve Erickson
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Six Degrees of Freedom by Nicolas Dickner
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama
Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
Startup by Doree Shafrir
Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan
Tender:Stories by Sofia Samatar (short stories)
The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi (short stories)
The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker
The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman
The Changeling by Victor LaValle
The Dark Dark by Samantha Hunt
The Erstwhile: The Vorrh by Brian Catling
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
The Last Kid Left by Rosecrans Baldwin
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
The One-Eyed Man by Ron Currie Jr.
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein
The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen (short stories)
The Relive Box by T.C. Boyle (short stories)
The Secret Books by Marcel Theroux
The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet
The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst
The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omatoso
Ties by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri
Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan
Void Star by Zachary Mason
White Tears by Hari Kunzru
Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki

Well, that'll keep me busy for awhile. . .

I think we can eliminate the new book by Rosencrans, since they tend to exclude authors "in the family" so to speak, and Seven Surrenders. Seven Surrenders is the second book in a complex sci-fi series and will be impossible to understand without the first novel.

Amy wrote: "from Nozlee's curation of the TOB championship commentary and comments - possibilities for 2018 TOB:
2084: The End of the World by Boualem Sansal (translated)
[book..."

That's awesome Amy, thanks for linking the books and authors!

@Sara can we also eliminate short stories and memoirs?

One of our assumptions here in this group is that they always include one book of short stories, but this year they didn't, unless you consider Homegoing a linked set of stories.

The Child Finder - Rene Denfeld
The Book of Joan - Lidia Yuknavitch
This Is How It Always Is - Laurie Frankel

All five-star reads for me and absolutely rooster-worthy ❤

AAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! *Pulls cap over ears and heads under the duvet to hide* So many books! So little time! I'm 57 AND WILL NEVER READ ALL THE BOOKS I NEED/WANT TO BEFORE I DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Ahem*
Ooh, a new Rene Denfeld? *runs off to add it - and about 40 other books - to her list*

New Jennifer Egan?!

If Lincoln in the Bardo doesn't make the short list next year, I'll probably pass out from the shock.

Ellen wrote: "AAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! *Pulls cap over ears and heads under the duvet to hide* So many books! So little time! I'm 57 AND WILL NEVER READ ALL THE BOOKS I NEED/WANT TO BEFORE I DIE!!!!!!!!!!..."

Sisters under the skin, Ellen!