March Madness 2019 - Round 2 (Voting Ended March 12th)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

terpkristin wrote: "Most but not all of the books I wanted to read lost in round 1. Also, in this round, 2 books I want to read are up against eachother. This does not bode well, but does seem like it will continue a ..."

In my in-person book club, there is one woman who uses the list of 50 or so books that get nominated but not picked for our year as her reading list for the rest of her time. And then shares if there were any good ones we overlooked. So I hope to see your reviews of these titles in the what else you're reading thread. :)

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

A Theft of Swords/Martian Chronicles final is looking good

Any of the four left would be fine by me :-)

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Amazingly every matchup, including the semi-finals (all 14 brackets) have been a male authored book versus a female authored book.

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

I really didn't expect that first fifteen lives book to be so popular. It's the only one of options I would not read.

[Silvana]

I'm rooting for Theft of Swords for sword since Trail of Lightning was soooo disappointing (I know, I once voted for it and still regret it).

For laser, I never could connect to Bradbury's writing, so the other one gets my vote.

[Rob, Roberator]

Results from Round 2:

Once again participation dropped off in the second round, and overall participation from last year is down.

View the full bracket here

Tournament Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 3,501
Average Votes Cast: 292
Book With Most Votes: Theft of Swords (208 Votes) (Round 1)
Match-up With Most Votes: TIE! (305 Votes)
The Poppy War vs. Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Round 1)
AND
The Martian Chronicles vs. Infomocracy (Round 1)
Largest Win: Theft of Swords (117 Votes) (Round 1)
Smallest Win: Nexus (3 Votes) (Round 1)
Average Win: 37 votes

Round 2 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 1,132
Average Votes Cast: 283
Book With Most Votes: The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (163 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: The Martian Chronicles vs. After Atlas (293 Votes)
Largest Win: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (57 Votes)
Smallest Win: Theft of Swords (13 Votes)
Average Win: 32.5

Round 1 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 2,369
Average Votes Cast: 296
Book With Most Votes: Theft of Swords (208 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: TIE! (305 Votes)
The Poppy War vs. Black Leopard, Red Wolf
AND
The Martian Chronicles vs. Infomocracy
Largest Win: Theft of Swords (117 Votes)
Smallest Win: Nexus (3 Votes)
Average Win: 42 votes

Sword Bracket
---------------------------------

(1) Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan (152 Votes - 52.2%)
vs.
(8) The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (139 Votes - 47.8%)

Winner: Theft of Swords
Total Votes: 291
Margin of Victory: 13

---------------------------------

(4) Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (151 Votes - 54.9%)
vs.
(5) Red Sister by Mark Lawrence (124 Votes - 45.1%)

Winner: Trail of Lightning
Total Votes: 275
Margin of Victory: 27

---------------------------------


Laser Bracket
---------------------------------

(2) The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (155 Votes - 64.1%)
vs.
(7) Nexus by Ramez Naam (98 Votes - 35.9%)

Winner: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
Total Votes: 273
Margin of Victory: 57

---------------------------------

(3) The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (163 Votes - 55.6%)
vs.
(6) After Atlas by Emma Newman (130 Votes - 44.4%)

Winner: The Martian Chronicles
Total Votes: 293
Margin of Victory: 33

---------------------------------

[Rob, Roberator]

Theft of Swords narrowly snuck by. Overall I went 3-1 in round 2.

I'm a bit surprised Nexus lost by so large a margin, it's a really good book. Although I did vote for Fifteen Lives because I own it and haven't read it yet.

I'd like to see us read it at some point.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Rob wrote: "Theft of Swords narrowly snuck by. Overall I went 3-1 in round 2.

I'm a bit surprised Nexus lost by so large a margin, it's a really good book. Although I did vote for Fifteen Lives because I own ..."

I also own but have not read Fifteen Lives, but previously read and enjoyed th entire trilogy that Nexus begins.

[David]

Iain wrote: "I hope After Atlas loses.. don’t want to have to read two books....nominating the second book of a sequence, who does that...."
Each book is stand alone - the author has structured it so you don't have to have read the earlier ones to know what is going on.

[Tracey]

I've read all 3 but read them out of order and it was fine.

[Tracey]

Oh and also they are all very good 😛

[Rick]

4-0 baybeeee....

Of course each time I 'do well' it makes the choices harder the next round. Hmmm....

[Rick]

Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth wrote: "I really didn't expect that first fifteen lives book to be so popular. It's the only one of options I would not read."

Why not?

[Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth]

Rick wrote: "Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth wrote: "I really didn't expect that first fifteen lives book to be so popular. It's the only one of options I would not read."

Why not?"

Gonna sound strange, but it's a mental health thing. I had a dream once where I had slipped back into the body of myself as a child with all my memories intact and realised I could fix all the messes I have made in my life. That gave me such a happy feeling and then I woke up and... hello reality. :( I've made a lot more messes since that dream and waste too much time planning the things I will do differently when I go back (ha!) Sometimes I lie in bed at night willing myself to go back and I convince myself I can, which is, of course ridiculous, but it is also very upsetting. I need to break away from that fantasy, and the premise of the book sounds like it will draw me deeper into it.