Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

The longlist is out for the Tournament of Books 2024! With 58 book options, I'd love recommendations on where to start / which books you think will make the short list.

Here's a link to the long list: https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the...

And here's a listopia of the longlist (thanks NancyJ!): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

UPDATE: Here's a link to the page that has all the judgements on the rounds of the tournament: https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/2024/

Of the longlist, I've read only read one: The Guest (and I gave it 2 stars...)

Less than ideal, considering I don't really love cramming 16-18 lit fic books into three months, with one of those months being December, but there are a lot on the list that I'm excited to read.

I have The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store slotted in for February for my IRL book club pick.

I just returned Birnam Wood back to the library because I knew I wouldn't get it finished in time for my hold, but I jumped back on the holds list and it isn't too long.

I'll probably jump on the audio of Hello Beautiful when I'm done with my current listen.

I had Happiness Falls planned for January, but I may bump it up to December if it makes the short list.

I definitely plan on reading Chain-Gang All-Stars. I had planned on using that for my IRL book club, but I was worried that the violence mentioned in the reviews would be too offputting to some of our members. I'm going to tackle it though.

I've heard that the Big Swiss audio was fantastic so I'll be listening to that one in January.

These are all books I planned on reading anyway, so I'm hoping some/most/all of them get onto the short list lol. There's always a few short list books that are out of left field and have been read by very few people, so I'm just hoping they are available at the library.

Nothing read for me either, although quite a few are on my TBR.

I generally prefer hard copy to digital, but don't know if I could for Brainwyrms - that cover is just :shudder:.

I saw the list last night, and have only read 3: Big Swiss, which was entertaining but only about 3.5 stars for me, Land of Milk and Honey which was meh, and I'd only recommend if it makes the shortlist and you are really interested in reading as many of them as you can. I also read Lone Women which I actually loved- kind of a horror western genre.

I'm trying to finish ATY for a second time this year, and already have books slotted for that, so I'm not sure how many more of these I will get to before January. But from the list I'm most interested in
The Bee Sting
Chain-Gang All-Stars
Happiness Falls
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
The Librarianist

There are others too, but I think I'll wait to see what the shortlist looks like before I tackle them. I haven't planned anything for next year yet, so I'll see where I can fit some of these in to my challenges.

This year I read 14/18 of the TOB books and dnf'd two of them. This year, if I really don't like the choices, I'll dnf early. There are just too many other good books out there to read!

I've read:

5 stars: (outstanding, a favorite)
Wellness
Study for Obedience

4 stars: (liked a lot)
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
Birnam Wood
Chain Gang All-Stars
This Other Eden
The Librarianist

3 stars: (liked it)
The Fraud
Let Us Descend
Land of Milk and Honey
Biography of X

2 stars: (it was ok)
The Bee Sting (this is a love it or hate it type of book)

I probably won't read them all - some sound like they are not in my areas of interest, but I will likely read:
Mobility
Sing Her Down
Lone Women
American Mermaid
Vintage Contemporaries
The Shamshine Blind
Blackouts

This list may actually get me to read Hello Beautiful, which I've been on the fence about reading based on reviews from friends with similar tastes.

Wow Joy, you've read a lot! This will probably get me to read Wellness, which was a book of the month pick last month but I didn't pick it because of the length and the male author. But it's turned up on so many Best of 2023 lists so...

I only read one: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano and gave it 5 stars

Emily wrote: "I have The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store slotted in for February for my IRL book club pick. ."

This is on my want to read shelf, but I've read nothing on that list so far. I probably won't read most of them, but McBride is such an amazing writer (I've given 2 of his novels 5 stars and I give very few books that.)

I'm thrilled to see Open Throat on this list! Not only was it probably my favorite book of 2023, it's one of the best books I have EVER read! & bonus points for anyone who wants to read more books on the list but may be feeling overwhelmed--it's really short. I think I read the whole thing in like 90 minutes.

I also thought Wellness was great, & went down easy for a 600-page book. I was so excited for Rouge, but found it disappointing. I read Idlewild & am kind of surprised to see it on this list. It was just okay, I thought. I feel the same about American Mermaid. They're both perfectly fine books, but I'm not tripping over myself to recommend them. I did love Birnam Wood though. There are a few other titles that are currently on my nightstand, slated to be read before the end of the year.

All right, I went over the list again & decided that the books I'd already read were so good, & the books that were already on my TBR list were ones I was so looking forward to...Why not just read all 58? Lit fic is my preferred genre anyway, I'm done with the annual challenges I was doing in 2023, & my way of approaching new challenges is to read what I like & see how it fits into a given prompt. Pretty much everything fits SOME prompt.

So I've made myself a master list. I've read seven of the books already, in progress with one, I own but have not yet read one, I have eleven checked out of the library, 13 on hold, I've suggested two for purchase by my local library system, & the rest (23) are going to be checked out of the library as they show up on the Lucky Day shelf or as my holds clear (right now I'm at 40 holds, which is the maximum allowed). Lately I've been reading about one book a day so this seems achievable, even if some books take me two or three days.

As usual, I haven't read any of them, though I do have the audio of Heaven & Earth Grocery Store and Birnam Wood. With Audible, all books are 1 credit and available right away, whether old or new. It seems like those of you who do Book of the Month Club have a similar deal.

My library book group reads mostly lit fic but they wait a year or so to make sure enough copies are available. I rarely buy brand-new hardcover books, except that my husband gives me a gift certificate for Christmas each year to our local indie book store. When he started it, he gave me the dollar amount to match my age, so each year I get $1 more, one benefit of aging!

Clara, that's an impressive goal! I have Birnam Wood on deck when I finish my current print, but I have low hopes for December and the holidays.

The shortlist is posted!!

American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Blackouts by Justin Torres
Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky
Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
Dayswork by Chris Bachelder
The Guest by Emma Cline
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

And the play-in round:
The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt

Wooo! I've already read 4, but would love to figure out which of these titles work for AtY prompts in Jan and Feb, and which ones I might have time to finish before December 14, when the zombie votes are due. Does anyone see any good match-ups between the books on the list above and any of these from the first 9 prompts for next year?

1. A book with a title that ends in A, T or Y - The Guest, The Librarianist
4. A book related to something mentioned in the lyrics of What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong ??
5. A book set in one of the 25 most beautiful cities in the world - none that were immediately obvious

6. A book with wings on the cover - The Bee Sting
7. A book with a pronoun in the title - WYALfiitL
8. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand - none that I saw
9. A book with fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads - 6 of them, that I noticed

And for my prompt I wish had made the list, I was going to choose either "about something you take for granted" or "fish out of water" - do any of them fit either of those?

I was leaning WYALfiitL for What a Wonderful World, because the cover reminds me of the song (and also skies of blue). That was the only one that I felt fit well enough to count.

The Shamshine Blind is set in dystopian San Fransisco, so I may go that route for 25 most beautiful cities.

I'm using one of the books from this list as connected to something I read in 2023 because I read most of the shortlist this year, so the fact that both books made the shortlist of ToB is a connection I'm willing to use.

Nearly all but the horror books (Boys Weekend and Brainwyrms) are available at my library either right now or within 2-4 weeks so I think I'm just going to jump in with the shorter books and the ones that don't easily fit one of the first two months of prompts.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is my book club pick for February, so I'm waiting until then for that one. I'm using Big Swiss for the prompt that didn't make it (GR Choice Award nominee), and any other ones from this list for the connected to 2023.

Chrissy wrote: "Wooo! I've already read 4, but would love to ..."

This might be a bit of a stretch for #4, but I would use it:

blurb on the book: "What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community,"

in the song lyrics: "I see friends shaking hands - Saying, "How do you do?"

Chrissy wrote: "Wooo! I've already read 4, but would love to figure out which of these titles work for AtY prompts in Jan and Feb, and which ones I might have time to finish before December 14, when the zombie vot..."

I read and really liked both Open Throat and The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.

Open Throat is a very short book that’s perfect for wild animals. It’s told from the pov of a Mountain Lion living near the Hollywood sign (which actually happened). Its habitat was reduced and it is endangered because of it. It’s set in nature with green trees etc, so it could work for Wonderful World too. It sounds grim but it’s actually rather delightful (I’ve heard others use that word to describe it too.)

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - I don’t recall if it literally described friends shaking hands or saying I love you, but it’s full of friendship and heart, and people helping other people, so it fits also. I loved it.

I thought there were a few books written by Canadian authors, but I didn’t tag them yet.

Those are 2 of the ones I’ve already read, but it might help someone else so thanks!

Emily - Shamshine is really set in Daly City, they only venture into SF for one short scene that I remember. If you are in BIO mode, you might like to know, but for KIS I’m sure it’s fine.

Eh that is a prompt I felt I could be a bit wiggly on - I don't really like setting prompts to begin with. Thanks for the head's up though... having the Golden Gate Bridge on the cover is enough for me lol.

I did notice that The Bee Sting has wings on the cover, if you are aiming to read the play-in books as well! EDIT: I see you already put it on your list!

I sat down and figured out my plans. This is one time I'm kicking myself for deciding to read in order since Open Heart would be perfect for the wild animal prompt, which is one I don't have a lot of options for. But alas. I'm committed.

(Buddy read for prompt one so not ToB)
2. A book connected to something you read in 2023 - Big Swiss
3. book that fits a suggestion that didn’t make the final list (GR Choice Award) - Chain-Gang All-Stars
4. A book related to something mentioned in the lyrics of What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong - What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
5. A book set in one of the 25 most beautiful cities in the world - The Shamshine Blind

6. A book with wings on the cover - The Bee Sting
7. A book with a pronoun in the title - WYALFIITL if my hold doesn't come through for spot 4
8. A book by an author from Canada, Australia or New Zealand - The Librarianist (Canada)
9. A book with fewer than 2024 ratings on Goodreads - I'll see which of the books I have left to read at this point, but currently Boys Weekend, Blackouts, The Shamshine Blind, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, and Dayswork fit

Emily wrote: "The shortlist is posted!!

American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Blackouts by Justin Torres
Boys Weekend by Matt..."

Patrick deWitt is Canadian.

Open Throat is very much a "fish out of water" story.

Oh thanks Ciara... I'll save it to read then.

Oof I just read Dayswork and man, it was BORING. Maybe it's because I haven't read anything by Melville but... it's not great when I DNF a 250 page book lol

Ciara wrote: "Emily wrote: "The shortlist is posted!!

American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Blackouts by Justin Torres
[book:Boys Weekend|632..."

I like your take on Open Throat as a fish out of water story!

I’m reading American Mermaid now, and enjoying so far. There’s a great description early on of teaching high school English.

I’m starting American Mermaid next so I’m glad to hear that! The cover is so pretty.

The brackets have been released!

https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the...
(scroll to the bottom)

How are y'all feeling?

So far, the only pairing where I've read both books is American Mermaid and Monstrilio, and Monstrillio takes the win, hands down.

I'm pretty bummed that Open Throat is up against The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store in the first round. My money is on the latter to win the whole tournament (I think it will face off against Chain-Gang All-Stars), but I had hoped Open Throat (my personal fave of 2023) would make it a bit further before being knocked out of contention. We shall see!

I haven't read either but I was also sad to see those two up against each other since I've heard great things.

Posting this here as a tracking post to see what I've read and what I predict will win in the first round.

✔️ means I read it
Strikeout means I won't get to read it due to library constraints

✔️ Blackouts by Justin Torres
✔️ Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky
WINNER: Boys Weekend

✔️ Dayswork by Chris Bachelder
Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
WINNER: Dayswork, but I hope it also gets out quickly lol

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
✔️ Open Throat by Henry Hoke
WINNER: TBD

✔️ Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
WINNER: Big Swiss

✔️ The Guest by Emma Cline
✔️ The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo
WINNER: The Shamshine Blind

✔️ Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt
WINNER: Chain-Gang All-Stars

Play-In Winner: TBD
✔️ What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
WINNER: TBD

✔️ Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
✔️ American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
WINNER: Monstrilio

The play-in round:
✔️ The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
✔️ The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
WINNER: TBD

I've had the best intentions about reading this list, but I've also been absolutely terrible at managing my library holds since mid-December. Each time I'm ready to start one of the books I own from the list, another hold becomes available that I forgot to adjust/suspend. Due to the lengthy list of others wanting the library books, I give them priority when the hold becomes available.

Owned but still not read:
Cold People
The Guest
Chain-Gang All-Stars
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

Currently borrowed from the library:
Big Swiss
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
American Mermaid

On the library hold list:
The Bee Sting
The Auburn Conference

The only tournament title I've read is The Shamshine Blind.

I'm stealing your idea, Emily! I am making some predictions even without having read in a few cases - mostly based on reviews I've seen so far. Maybe after reading more of them I'll adjust.

Blackouts by Justin Torres
✔️Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky
WINNER: Blackouts

Dayswork by Chris Bachelder
✔️Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
WINNER: Dayswork

✔️The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
✔️Open Throat by Henry Hoke
WINNER: H&EGS

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
WINNER: TBD

✔️The Guest by Emma Cline
✔️The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo
WINNER: The Shamsine Blind

✔️Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt
WINNER: Chain-Gang All-Stars

Play-In Winner: TBD
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
WINNER: TBD

✔️Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
✔️American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
WINNER: tough call! I loved both... I'll guess Monstrilio b/c it is a bit weirder

The play-in round:
✔️The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza
✔️The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
✔️The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
WINNER: The Bee Sting

I understand that feeling Brooke. I just went through my holds/requests again and realized I had never requested Open Throat (one I really want to read) and The Bee Sting (which has a million week wait). We will see if I get to those before the tournament starts... I'm hoping so, even if I have to read them in formats I wasn't intending.

I'll play along. Unfortunately, there are some books that I am unable to get at the library, and they aren't ones I am interested in owning in any format- so I doubt I'll be able to complete the list (I read 14/18 last year-- and DNF-ed an additional two of them.)

These are my thoughts.

✔️Blackouts by Justin Torres
✔️Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky
WINNER: Blackouts

Dayswork by Chris Bachelder
Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
WINNER: TBD (can't find either of them in free format)

✔️The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
✔️Open Throat by Henry Hoke
WINNER: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (but close call on this one)

✔️Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
✔️The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
WINNER: Big Swiss

✔️The Guest by Emma Cline
The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo
WINNER: TBD

✔️Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt
WINNER: Chain-Gang All-Stars

✔️Play-In Winner: The Librarianist
✔️What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
WINNER: The Librarianist

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
WINNER: TBD

The play-in round:
The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza
✔️The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
✔️The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
WINNER: The Bee Sting

So far, my favorite is The Bee Stingfollowed by Chain-Gang All-Stars. I'm trudging through Sacajawea and American Mermaid. Will read Shamshine Blind this weekend, I hope. I also want to squeeze Monstrilio in at some point.
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I am going to try to read as many pairs as i can before the Tournament starts:

Blackouts by Justin Torres
Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky
WINNER:

Dayswork by Chris Bachelder
Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
WINNER:

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
WINNER:

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
WINNER:

The Guest by Emma Cline
The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo
WINNER:

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt
WINNER:

Play-In Winner: TBD
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
WINNER:

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
✅American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
WINNER:

The play-in round:
The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt

Katherine, my library doesn't have Boys Weekend, which I'm ok with after reading the synopsis. Same for Brainwyrms, especially since Brainwyrms is going up against Chain Gang and I currently want Chain Gang to win the whole thing!

Unless you superrrr love Herman Melville, you aren't missing anything with Dayswork lol.

I'm now at 9/16 read! With all of the others (minus Brainwyrms) checked out from the library. Here we go on a marathon of shortlist reading!

I have read 6:
Big Swiss
Chain-Gang All-Stars
The Guest
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
Open Throat
The Bee Sting

Currently reading:
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library

My favorite was The Bee Sting, surprising even myself by liking it more than The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. My least favorite was either The Guest or Chain-Gang All-Stars (sorry, Emily). For different reasons. I enjoyed reading The Guest more, but I thought Chain Gang was a better book.

I have no desire to read all the books left. I do want to read Monstrilio and The Shamshine Blind. Maybe American Mermaid and The Lost Journals of Sacajewea.

Joining in - not sure I will get to all of them:

✔️Blackouts by Justin Torres
Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky - probably will not read this one
WINNER: Blackouts

✔️Dayswork by Chris Bachelder
✔️Cold People by Tom Rob Smith
WINNER: Dayswork (by a landslide)

✔️The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
✔️Open Throat by Henry Hoke
WINNER: Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin - probably will not read this one
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling
WINNER: TBD

The Guest by Emma Cline
✔️The Shamshine Blind by Paz Pardo
WINNER: TBD

✔️Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt - I will not be reading this one
WINNER: Chain-Gang All-Stars

Play-In Winner: TBD
✔️What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
WINNER: TBD

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova - I will not be reading this one
✔️American Mermaid by Julia Langbein
WINNER: American Mermaid

The play-in round:
The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza
✔️The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
✔️The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
WINNER: TBD

Oh man, the fact that you gave Dayswork BY A LANDSLIDE means that I will not enjoy Cold People because whew, I hated Dayswork lolol.

Milena, I'm with you on The Guest. It was not good lol. If you skip any of the 4 you mentioned, I'd skip American Mermaid. It was more tedious than it should have been and Monstrilio was outstanding and will hopefully knock it out first round!

My current favorites are (in order):

Chain-Gang All-Stars
Monstrilio
Boys Weekend (a surprise!!)
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library

But there's quite a few (like The Bee Sting, Open Throat, Heaven & Earth, etc...) that I have a feeling I will enjoy so I'm excited to continue on this journey!

Well, I only "liked" Dayswork (3 stars) but I hated Cold People.

American Mermaid has been my favorite so far, and I didn't really like Boys Weekend, so YMMV! I think Blackouts will be up next for me because my library hold just came in.

I just finished The Bee Sting a few minutes ago and enjoyed it, but I'm ready for a shorter book. I'm listening to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store right now and Chain-Gang All-Stars just came in. I've been looking forward to reading it, so I think that's my next book!

Chrissy, I read American Mermaid at the same time as Monstrilio, and I found myself wanting to keep listening and not keep reading, so that may be why I have an unfavorable view of Mermaid!

Katherine, I was surprised at how short some of these books are. The Auburn Conference is only 181 pages, Open Throat is also SUPER short, I read Boys Weekend in a couple of hours yesterday. I think the three you listed are probably the longest on the shortlist lol.

I loved The Bee Sting. Did not mind the length at all. Of course, I read it in December, before all the 2024 reading challenges started.

Milena wrote: "I loved The Bee Sting. Did not mind the length at all. Of course, I read it in December, before all the 2024 reading challenges started."

I really liked it too! And after sitting with the ending for a few days, I feel better about it, now. So far it's been my favorite of the group, but I have quite few more to read!

Joy D wrote: "Well, I only "liked" Dayswork (3 stars) but I hated Cold People."

Wow, you HATED Cold People? It wasn't particularly my cup of tea & I feel like the whole thing was set up to have a probably tedious sequel & there were some pretty false notes in it that really smacked of a serious lack of geopolitical self-awareness on the part of a white male author, but I think my baseline obsession with Antarctica precluded me from hating it.

I just finished Chain-Gang All-Stars the other day, & after hearing it hyped up non-stop for months, I was a) really surprised by the ending, & b) generally surprised at how incredibly bleak it is overall. It made me think there may be a certain percentage of people pumping it up that haven't actually read it because there's a weird joyousness around the recommendation that does not comport with the content. I had to take a lot of breaks while reading to regain my composure, & I am can usually handle bleak stuff without a lot of difficulty (for example, Brainwyrms really did not faze me, which is not to say that I thought it was especially good). Just based on hype, I had picked it to be a top two finalist but now I'm not so sure. Having actually read it, it really lacks narrative cohesion.

I still have six books to read (including all three play-in titles), but Open Throat is still my personal favorite, though I doubt it will win, especially being up against such a strong contender in the first round.

I'm someone who has been hyping up Chain-Gang, but I full acknowledge the bleakness of it. I think what I loved so much about it was the thematic elements and way that it gave a point of view on the prisons system without specifically being about our current day prison system (outside of the footnotes). I found it incredibly powerful, if bleak.

I just picked up Open Throat today! I haven't read Heaven & Earth yet (it's my book club's pick for February), but it's another one that I hope will live up to the hype - my book club haven't been fans though.

I read Monstrilio last week and loved it, then just finished The Bee Sting and loved that too. They have some things in common structurally and maybe a little bit thematically too. I have a paper copy of Blackouts at home but I'm having a hard time getting into it, and a Libby copy of Brainwyrms but I might just skip that one. What You Are Looking for... is up next. I'd still like to get to Big Swiss, as well, and maybe Dayswork if I have time. Not sure I'll get to Sacajawea.