Tournament of Books discussion

Tournament of Books 2017 Shortlist

and now we play the waiting game

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

Yikes, only 2 for 18 for me (Homegoing & Underground RR) but knew I was likely in trouble as it was a disruptive year of (non)-reading for me... glad to have a handful that will likely (finally!) get off the TBR pile (Mothers, Moonglow, Nix, Vegetarian, Lucy Barton).

So sports play-in is: Throwback, Sudden Death, Sport of Kings?

Oh, e-book-wise Charlie Freeman available for $1.99, looks like everything else "full" price.

Happy Reading!

I've read two.. Got some work cut out for me.

Happy reading.

6 of 18, I definitely have some work to do! I was happy to see Throwback Special on the list, I'm not a huge sports fan, but it was one of my favorites of the year. An odd, interesting, sometimes hysterically funny book. I went ahead and placed holds for all the ones I haven't read at my library. They don't have Black Wave though so I will have to find that elsewhere!

All The Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Moonglow by Michael Chabon
Sudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue
We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Nix by Nathan Hill
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
High Dive by Jonathan Lee
Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet
The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan
Version Control by Dexter Palmer
Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
Mister Monkey by Francine Prose
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Black Wave by Michelle Tea
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

& brackets here: http://www.themorningnews.org/p/here-...

Thoughts, anybody? Are we all busy ordering books at powells.com? I'm most surprised by the fact that I've read 13 of these, and by the inclusion of Mister Monkey and Lucy Barton, books I liked/loved respectively, but that felt almost too traditional for the TOB. I'm happiest to see Sport of Kings, Homegoing, Charlie Freeman and Moonglow, and most looking forward to reading Sweet Lamb of Heaven. And I think Underground RR will be the one to beat.

I've read three and a half of the nineteen (The Mothers, The Underground Railroad, My Name is Lucy Barton and halfway through Moonglow). I thought I would of had more since I read a lot of new releases last year, oh well time to start reading!

Ed wrote: "Yikes, only 2 for 18 for me (Homegoing & Underground RR) but knew I was likely in trouble as it was a disruptive year of (non)-reading for me... glad to have a handful that will likely (finally!) g..."

Thank you Ed! I grabbed that one.

Like you, this was a terrible reading year for me and because of that I have read ZERO.

5 for me.
I have question, I never had any interest in reading Charlie Freedman as the premise sounded similar to We are all Completely Beside Ourselves, which I didn't love. Is it similar or comletely different, just both have families living with chimps?

Also, I'll never learn, The ones I read from the long list never make the short list. How can Association of small bombs not be there. I just finished it and loved it.

Jan wrote: "Thoughts, anybody? Are we all busy ordering books at powells.com? I'm most surprised by the fact that I've read 13 of these, and by the inclusion of Mister Monkey and Lucy Barton, books I liked/lov..."

the shortlist has convinced me to finally shell out for Moonglow. But I'll probably grab Version Control, Sudden Death and the Nix given all the love in this group for those two and (hoped-for) shortlist discounts at Powells! Meanwhile I'm surprised to have already read 5 and half-read another 5. I've been hogging my library's copy of Sudden Death for the last six months because no one in my district seems to know about it but I suspect I won't be able to continue to renewals now.

A little better than I thought -- I've read 3, 4 others are already on my list, and 3 of those I already have out from the library. However, I will finally be forced to read The Vegetarian, grumble, grumble. For some reason, from the beginning it's appealed to me NOT AT ALL. Sure hope I'll be pleasantly relieved.

I've read 8.5 of the 18. I'm happy with that. Problem is I've read all the short ones, lol

This was my best year ever coming in at 7 read!

I though Charlie Freeman was very different than WAACBO, I read both liked both but like Charlie Freeman more.

Now I need to prioritize all the ones I haven't read, a few of which weren't really on my radar at all

Ok, up next are The Nix and We Love You, Charlie Freeman! On deck is The Mothers. Spot me -- I'm goin' in. *dives headfirst*

Susanw wrote: "5 for me.
I have question, I never had any interest in reading Charlie Freedman as the premise sounded similar to We are all Completely Beside Ourselves, which I didn't love. Is it similar or coml..."

I felt like they were very different in writing style, tone, and theme.

Hey, waaaiiiiiiitttt a minute. I have to go back and read the page -- there are 18 books here.

Oh. Now I see. A 3-book play in on a subject in which I have no interest. Ok.

I love that the blood sport play in round is about sports.

What fun! Only 17 books to read to prepare!! My hubby just told me he will see me in March :) I'm happy with my instinct to go ahead and buy Moonglow just in case. I'm also wondering why I put off reading Underground Railroad, given that it's by one of my favorite authors. Placed a couple library holds and I'm off to check out a couple more. Does anyone have a sense of what will be the harder book/s to locate? I plan to buy a couple from Powells.

Um...which ARE the 3 books about sports? Obviously The Sport of Kings and The Throwback Special -- but... High Dive? Maybe?

Katie wrote: "I though Charlie Freeman was very different than WAACBO, I read both liked both but like Charlie Freeman more. .."

Susanw, I had the same concern you did, and I agree with Katie here. Charlie's author did a wonderful job of NOT developing the plot in expected ways...every time I thought I knew what would happen next, she surprised me, and I loved that. I wouldn't have predicted this would be in the tournament, but I'm glad it is.

Ellen wrote: "Um...which ARE the 3 books about sports? Obviously The Sport of Kings and The Throwback Special -- but... High Dive? Maybe?"

I'm guessing Sudden Death.

Yikes! I've only read one. There are more big names on this list than I expected. I was going for more obscure, but it seems like there are a lot of literary best sellers. It serves me right for trying to predict the ToB.

I've read 8.5 so far! (And only 4 books that I thought might be in made it.)

I think I'll buy* Moonglow because the waitlist at the library is extreme. And maybe buy* Black Wave because I like supporting queer authors whenever possible, and really like Michelle Tea.

*Buying through the ToB spreadsheet so TMN gets the cut! :)

I'm so glad the shortlist is finally here!!!

Here is the shortlist in page length order, from longest to shortest. "MCL" means my public library owns the book; this is the first year they own them all.

The nix 628 MCL
Sport of kings 560 MCL
Version control 495 MCL
Moonglow 430 MCL
We love you, Charlie Freeman 336 MCL
High dive 336 MCL
All the birds in the sky 320 MCL
The Underground Railroad 306 MCL
Homegoing 305 MCL
Mister Monkey 304 MCL
The Mothers 278 MCL
Sudden death 272 MCL
Sweet lamb of heaven 256 MCL
Throwback special 213 MCL
My name is Lucy Barton 193 MCL
The vegetarian 192 MCL
Black wave 176 MCL
Grief is the thing with feathers 114 MCL

Thanks, @Drew! That is helpful!

Thanks to those who let me know Charlie Freeman is different. Hold put on at library. Now I just have to finish, To the Bright Edge of the World - which didn't make it (only 80p left)- before I can dive deep.

Thanks Drew!

I've read 8, which is a super high number for me (hurrah) - but before today only 2 others were on my library hold list.

Much clicking and searching must now happen!

(Of my 8, Homegoing <-my zombie pick and The Vegetarian are my favorites.)

Only 5 books for me (Homegoing, Lucy Barton, Underground Railroad, The Vegetarian and The Throwback Special) so time to get reading! At least I already have 3 of them checked out (The Nix, Moonglow and The Mothers) and 2 that I own but just haven't read (Sweet Lamb of Heaven and Charlie Freeman).

Has anyone read the The Sport of Kings who wasn't really grabbed by the premise of the book but ended up loving it?

Only five books for me, and I'm currently reading The Nix, but astonishingly I'm able to get all but one of the books from my public library with only short waiting lists (one person in front of me). They will, of course all come in at once.

An interesting list, made more interesting by the length of the list they came from. Glad I can return After the Fall to the library unread and get started on the list!

I read Sport of Kings because of the alt.ToB, and actually really loved it. I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise.

I hate sports, but since I loved that one, and the other two sound kind of interesting (especially Throwback Special)... maybe I like reading about sports?

Or maybe I'm going to have an existential crisis about who I am because now I'm thinking about how Friday Night Lights is one of my favorite all-time shows, and how much I look forward to the ToB as a literary bloodsport. So....

Anybody have any suggestions as to which of the shortlist are good on audio? I'll never get through them all if I don't go with a hybrid approach.

AmberBug wrote: "Ed wrote: "Yikes, only 2 for 18 for me (Homegoing & Underground RR) but knew I was likely in trouble as it was a disruptive year of (non)-reading for me... glad to have a handful that will likely (..."

Thank You Ed -
Charlie Freeman in now on my Kindle. I've on read (1) so work to be done.

One of my friends just listened to Version Control and said the audio was great. I've also heard good things about The Nix audio.

Mindy wrote: "Anybody have any suggestions as to which of the shortlist are good on audio? I'll never get through them all if I don't go with a hybrid approach."

hey amanda!! I went through my library's overdrive audio (my favorite way to do books on tape!) and available was The Mothers, Moonglow, The Nix, The Vegetarian and my name is Lucy Barton (we just moved so I have access to both my town in Indiana and Philadelphia library. They were available in audio at booth so I'm assuming it will be other places). I've had to waitlist a few but a surprising variety was available. I know it doesn't **strictly** answer your question but I'm always down for audiobooks that are free and easy.

Drew wrote: " "MCL" means my public library owns the book; this is the first year they own them all...."

Another indication that this year is short on oddballs, as C just said over on the Long List thread.

I've read 7, and a lot of the remaining ones were books that I previously checked out but just didn't get around to reading, or started a few times but couldn't get that into it (Sweet Lamb of Heaven, I'm looking at you...), I'm excited to get started.

Ehrrin wrote: "IOr maybe I'm going to have an existential crisis about who I am because now I'm thinking about how Friday Night Lights is one of my favorite all-time shows, and how much I look forward to the ToB as a literary bloodsport. So......."

So tell us, Ehrrin, how did you Really Feel about Billy Linn's Long Halftime Walk? Haha!

I've listened to The Underground Railroad and Homegoing. They were both well read in that format but I missed having a genealogy to keep the threads together on Homegoing. (Sections change between descendants).

I've read 6. Some observations:

- I'm not really dreading any of the books when in the past I've been happy to avoid some of the books.
- I'm so happy the inclusion of The Underground Railroad didn't prevent the similarly themed Homegoing from making the cut. I prefer the latter.
- My favorite read of last year made it. Hooray for The Nix, which turns the WMFN on its head. Also surprised and thrilled to see All the Birds in the Sky.
- Lots of chimps up in here.
- Early pick for the win: Moonglow. Why? People seem to love it, but I very much did not.

Mindy wrote: "Anybody have any suggestions as to which of the shortlist are good on audio? I'll never get through them all if I don't go with a hybrid approach."

Charlie Freeman is also good on audio.

I zombie voted for Lucy Barton because I think it's subtly powerful and may get overlooked.

Susanw wrote: "5 for me.
I have question, I never had any interest in reading Charlie Freedman as the premise sounded similar to We are all Completely Beside Ourselves, which I didn't love. Is it similar or coml..."

I'm finding it very different. It has a lot of racial and science themes, and it would be a fantastic matchup for The Underground Railroad. I'm about 50 pages from the end and can't wait to see what happens.

Jan wrote: "Another indication that this year is short on oddballs"

Wow, I think there are a lot of oddballs! In a good way. A lot of crossover/almost genre picks where the story is a bit madcap and not very serious in comparison with others they might have picked. A lot of gentle-to-read, quirky picks imo--All the Birds in the Sky, We Love You, Charlie Freeman, Mister Monkey, The Throwback Special, Version Control, Black Wave

I have read 8 on the Shortlist

I DNF one on the shortlist

Of the 9 I have to read - there are 2 that I might not read - so definitely will be the last if I decide to read.

I have only read two from the list but Lucy Barton was one of my favourite reads last year. The other from the list was The Vegetaritan which was a total bleh for me. So at this stage, I guess I have to say "Lucy To Win" .... but then maybe I should start on that TBR pile

Loved The Vegetarian, Homegoing and Underground Railroad...any of these would deserving winners.

Hated the Nix, so hoping a quick exit.

Moonglow was good, but Chabon has enough love, doesn't need a Rooster.

poingu wrote: "Jan wrote: "Another indication that this year is short on oddballs"

Wow, I think there are a lot of oddballs! In a good way. A lot of crossover/almost genre picks where the story is a bit madcap a..."

Haha, one man's oddballs is another man's mainstream. Or woman's. :-)

Julie wrote: "I have only read two from the list but Lucy Barton was one of my favourite reads last year. The other from the list was The Vegetaritan which was a total bleh for me. So at this stage, I guess I h..."

Hello, Brain Twin. :-)