Which 16 books would you choose for TOB 2016?

[Alex]

Ellen wrote: "Sigh. I know all (or a lot) of you loved Brief History, but I found it unreadable. I ... was rooting for A Little Life."

I think they were both worthy books but I was happy for James. A Little Life will certainly win one of the big American awards (be it the NBA, the NBCC or the pulitzer). Don't fret.

[Janet]

I heard a really positive comment in that A Little Life is already selling like hotcakes so with A Brief History winning the Man Booker, now both books will be selling well.

[Lark]

okay, I think I know the 16 books I would choose for TOB 2016--anyone else?

Sadly I don't think any of these will make the round of 16! These are my favorite reads, so the list doesn't include A Little Life which will with close to 100% probability make the final 16, or Fates and Furies, which also probably will make it and which I also hated...so these are not my predictions, they're instead they're the books published this year that I've read and loved and that I wish would get TOB recognition.

1. Speak by Louisa Hall
2. Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis
3. Gutshot: Stories by Amelia Gray
4. Satin Island by Tom McCarthy
5. After Birth by Elisa Albert
6. Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish
7. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
8. Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson
9. The Sellout by Paul Beatty
10. Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson
11. Delicious Foods by James Hannaham
12. Sweetland by Michael Crummey
13. Aquarium by David Vann
14. Mort e by Robert Repino
15. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
16. In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar

[Janet]

If Preparation for the Next Lifeand Delicious Foods don't make it, someone is asleep at the wheel.

[Jan]

Janet wrote: "If Preparation for the Next Lifeand Delicious Foods don't make it, someone is asleep at the wheel."

I second that emotion. :-)

[Lark]

Maybe this is the year our group here needs to have an Alt.TOB tournament.

We could run it here from Jan-Mar while waiting for the official TOB tournament. All we need is to pick 16 books somehow through our collective wisdom, and then get 16 volunteers to judge the 1-1 rounds.

This may strike you all as ridiculous but I would totally love that.

[Juniper]

Janet wrote: "If Preparation for the Next Lifeand Delicious Foods don't make it, someone is asleep at the wheel."

I haven't even read the Lish book yet, and I agree with this statement. I really liked 'Delicious Foods' and think it will be a great contender!

[Juniper]

Poingu wrote: "Maybe this is the year our group here needs to have an Alt.TOB tournament...

I think this is a cool idea. Lots of awards have unofficial 'shadow' leagues that develop.

I have not had a great year of reading, and haven't read a lot of 2015 releases. Or if I have, they haven't stood out as Tournament contenders.

**********

Has anyone talked about Saint Mazie - or did I already offer it up for consideration? In a year that's seen a lot of mediocre books for me, I was quite taken with 'Mazie'. :)

[Jan]

Jennifer wrote: "Has anyone talked about Saint Mazie ...."

I haven't seen a lot of buzz about Saint Mazie but I read it and liked it quite a lot. It was different. Not sure if it would be TOB material or now.

If there's an Alt.TOB, I suggest starting with 8 books rather than 16. :-)

[Juniper]

Hi Jan -- I know, right -- I think it would be a more traditional choice for the ToB... but it has stood out for me this year, so wondered how others felt about it. Glad you liked it too! :)

[Juniper]

(Sorry this is probably the wrong thread for my 'Saint Mazie' chat. I should have put that in the Contenders thread, not this one.)

[Sue]

100% agree!

Janet wrote: "If Preparation for the Next Lifeand Delicious Foods don't make it, someone is asleep at the wheel."

[Ellen]

Ack! I have enough trouble keeping up with the TOB! I'd have to quit my job if we set up an Alt.

[Lark]

Ellen wrote: "Ack! I have enough trouble keeping up with the TOB! I'd have to quit my job if we set up an Alt."

You wouldn't have to read them all--you might have fun volunteering to judge one round, though? That would be a 2 book commitment. That's probably what the actual judges do. It would give us something to do Jan-March and probably we will end up with a few actual TOB books so we'll be readier when March comes

I'm going to start a new thread and see who responds--if no one is into this then I'll wait with the rest of you guys.

[[deleted user]]

Count me out of an Alt.TOB. The Rooster is already an alternative for the traditional book awards, and that's what makes it great. I like the anticipation about which books will be chosen, followed by the outrage over which worthy contenders were overlooked. I look forward to and delight in discussing the judge's critique and participating in the commentariat during the tournament, especially when the decision is controversial. A pre-tournament would take away some of my enjoyment of the main event.

[Lark]

Really? It would take away your enjoyment? I wish I had known that before I posted for volunteers. I don't think it would be so serious as that or take away from the greatness of TOB, myself. More a goofy bookish way to pass the time and share some experiences, and to give people that strange sensation of comparing two books that have nothing in common and need to make a choice between them. Which probably feels something like doing one of those "who would you let into your bomb shelter, the musician or the doctor" types of exercises. Not real in other words.

[[deleted user]]

Poingu wrote: "Really? It would take away your enjoyment."

I'm not saying it would ruin my TOB experience : ), just trying to explain why the idea doesn't appeal to me.

[Lark]

Tina wrote: "I'm not saying it would ruin my TOB experience : ), just trying to explain why the idea doesn't appeal to me."

Oh! Thanks for clarifying. This is a great group and wouldn't want to dampen the enjoyment any of us feels to be here.

[Juniper]

I feel like it will be an interesting (and fun) exercise -- and there may not be much overlap between our unofficial pool of 8 books, and the official 16. So, in my mind, it extends the bookish fun a bit more apart from the ToB. But I do completely appreciate that the idea isn't for everyone.

[Michele]

I would love an alt-tournament and to be a judge. Great idea. Just throwing this out there, but what if we did an alt-tourney in aug-sept. That would be 6 months out of sync and would give us something to do while we're waiting for the next rooster.

[Lark]

Michele wrote: "I would love an alt-tournament and to be a judge. Great idea. Just throwing this out there, but what if we did an alt-tourney in aug-sept. That would be 6 months out of sync and would give us somet..."

Yay, Michele!

There is a new thread now, "Our Very Own Goodreads Alt.TOB?" where it appears we will get enough people to go forward with some kind of wild event with fellow power readers, and we can talk about the details there.

[Michele]

I also want to say that my favorite novel this year has been Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson which I liked better than Delicious Foods, Preparation, The Buried Giant, A god in ruins, Fifteen Dogs. (expecting to love A Little Life, but waiting for library to get the audio edition).

I loved equally The 4th Elena Ferrante book too.

But (semi)hard sci-fi has unreasonable bias against it in "literary circles." That's why I'm giving Aurora some well deserved attention.

[Juniper]

Michele wrote: "... Just throwing this out there, but what if we did an alt-tourney in aug-sept. That would be 6 months out of sync and would give us ..."

I think the idea is to run it, this round anyway, in very early 2016, ahead of the March ToB. If we went to even earlier - to Aug-Sept for the next round (if we do it again) - then we would lose out on including things released later in the year, because we'd have to make choices in July. I would stay away from Aug-Sept just because of holidays and people getting back into life/school. In a couple of groups I have run here on GR, things always seem to slow down a bit over the summer and in a good part of September. I feel like we have time to pull it together for January so that we have this bookish fun as a bridge to the official ToB (I hope this comes across constructively. I really don't want to come across sounding rude or critical of your idea, Michele!)

[[deleted user]]

Michele wrote: "...what if we did an alt-tourney in aug-sept..."

Now this idea I like very much! I'm too busy Jan-Mar reading and thinking about the TOB books to commit to an alt list (and I would want to read them all!) But at mid-year, I would be all for it. We could include the Nov-Dec releases, long-list titles that didn't make the TOB, and books from the first half of the year.

[Ed]

I am very impressed that you all have reading time (and/or read very quickly!). The last few years my January thru March reading has pretty much been exclusively working thru the 16 ToB books...and have never managed to get thru them all (seem to max out at 12-13).

I'd be curious to what makes the alt list here and would definitely lurk (just like I do on the "real" Morning News ToB boards, ha!).

[Lark]

Tina wrote: "Now this idea I like very much! We could include the Nov-Dec releases, long-list titles that didn't make the TOB, and books from the first half of the year. "

I like the idea too but otoh it starts to feel more like 'real' instead of 'fun' to me where I start to think things like "oh, gee, we could invite Goodreads Authors to be judges" etc. whereas this thing starting soon, the "alt.TOB" would be something more like a highly literary office football pool in anticipation of the main event.

I do think Goodreads lacks a meaningful book award sort of event and could probably use one--these "vote for best of" lists at the end of they year are annoying to me because the categories and the choices seem so random.

Ed wrote: "I am very impressed that you all have reading time (and/or read very quickly!). The last few years my January thru March reading has pretty much been exclusively working thru the 16 ToB books...and..."

I can imagine though that there will be significant overlap between the alt books and the TOB list. I'm curious to see if that's the case once we choose books. If we get a few more people to volunteer we'll be able to run a round of 16. Judges would only need to read 2 novels, not all of the selections.

[Michele]

"I really don't want to come across sounding rude or critical of your idea, Michele!"

Jennifer, it didn't come across like that to me at all. In fact, this group consistently impresses me with how civilized everyone behaves. It's the only GR group I feel safe in, actually.

[Juniper]

Awesome!! It's can be so hard to know on the internet through typed comments, without the visual cues. So I do sometimes worry in situations where I am offering input on ideas - definitely don't want to seem rude or dismissive. Ever! This group does have a great bunch of people! I have a GR bubble too, where I feel comfortable and safe. It's a very limited field, but I am glad I found some spots!! :)

[AmberBug]

Poingu wrote: "Tina wrote: "Now this idea I like very much! We could include the Nov-Dec releases, long-list titles that didn't make the TOB, and books from the first half of the year. "

I like the idea too but ..."

I detest the Goodreads awards... I don't know why but I feel like people just vote for whatever book is listed they've read instead of select one that they liked. I always write in my own choice if I can, even if it is vague for the category. For example, I picked The Room to win best Mystery/Thriller but I don't think it'll come close to being listed for next round.

I wonder if they could post examples to vote for from what you read instead of the highest rated they have. This way the selections would be more random. That would probably take more effort than they'd like to put in it for something that happens once a year though.

[Janet]

I never feel right about voting for the Goodreads awards because I feel like I need to read them all in order to make an informed choice.

[Juniper]

AmberBug wrote: " I always write in my own choice if I can, even if it is vague for the category."

I do a lot of write-in choices too. I always wonder about the choices given prominent display. Are they just the most read books of 2015? Without consideration for ratings? (Do publishers pay to have a book featured?) If it was explained somewhere, at some point, I missed it.

[AmberBug]

Jennifer wrote: "AmberBug wrote: " I always write in my own choice if I can, even if it is vague for the category."

I do a lot of write-in choices too. I always wonder about the choices given prominent display. Ar..."

Yes! And have you noticed this year that they have a code written in that denies a book if it doesn't qualify for the 2015?! If they have that, why not just have all votes be write-ins?! That would really make it a Goodreads User Vote.

[Michele]

The Goodreads awards do feel to me like they are about the most marketed or hyped books rather than the best books. I try to get in there and vote for books that are great where I can.

I kinda wish we would vote for older books like from 5 years or 10 years ago. It's so hard to figure out what is the best in the same year it's published.

[Juniper]

Michele wrote: "It's so hard to figure out what is the best in the same year it's published."

It is -- my reading intentions never match my reading achievements, and 2015 has been particularly brutal for me actually getting to new releases.


AmberBug wrote: "If they have that, why not just have all votes be write-ins?! That would really make it a Goodreads User Vote."

I have totally wondered about this too -- just do the first round all as write-ins! Would make for interesting crunching for round two. Heh!

[Beverly]

poingu wrote: "Lljones wrote: "I put down "The Wallcreeper" after exactly ten pages. I was later pulled backed into the hype and added "Mislaid" to the wishlist prior to its publication. I've since removed it.
"
..."

Interesting thoughts on Mislaid. When I first starting reading the book I thought it really could not stand up to the other satirical novels that I have read this year - The Sellout, Delicious Foods, etc and this was satire for beginners.

And when I finished Mislaid - I still thought that but I did think that Mislaid did a good job concerning the issues/expectations regarding women of the time. Maybe because I grew up in the 1950s/60s/70s some the issues just felt familiar and I got some chuckles and head nodding. The 70s were just a breath of fresh air for women.

So I thought it zany and quirky at times - I guess I still surprised to see it made the long list and would be surprised if it made the short list.

[Lark]

Beverly wrote: "Interesting thoughts on Mislaid. When I first starting reading the book I thought it really could not stand up to the other satirical novels that I have read this year - The Sellout, Delicious Foods, etc and this was satire for beginners."

I'm not sold on Nell Zink's novel being "satire" at all, even satire for beginners, because "satire" to me implies something I thought was missing from the novel.

I think of satire as a biting take on reality, where the satire is bringing to light a social issue that's so irrational or terrible that the satire feels close to real life, no matter how exaggerated it becomes.

Nell Zink's novel just felt "zany" to me, without deeper purpose. That might be ok but it left me wanting more.