Tournament of Books discussion
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2015 Books
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2015 ToB Competition Discussion
"Uh....there's a ton of violence in TKAM"Well, of course, but were we necessarily talking about books with no violence, or books that are gently beautiful? Despite the violence, the tone of To Kill a Mockingbird is overally beautifully gentle. If we're talking just about books that have no violence, I can probably list plenty of good, if not great ones.
But that's off topic -- so glad to hear of people enjoying Wittgenstein Jr., jess. And Poingu, I'm really glad you liked Annihilation; I started it yesterday and am looking forward to a marathon read today and possibly finishing it off, at which point I will start....A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall. And I love it when people mention the Bechdel test, because (and watch me preen as I say it; I feel like I bring this up way too often!) I went to college with Alison Bechdel.
Hey -- can we apply the Bechdel test to all the books in the ToB? Just a quick run through in my mind tells me they'd fail overwhelmingly...well, except for The Paying Guests.
Ellen wrote: "And I love it when people mention the Bechdel test, because (and watch me preen as I say it; I feel like I bring this up way too often!) I went to college with Alison Bechdel. "I have to say that Alison Bechdel has gone from God to Demi-God in my estimation just recently for blurbing the odious Adam but that is still very very cool.
Annihilation passes the Bechdel test in nearly every scene. (Go, Annihilation)
Ha, I've had a couple conversations recently about WHY WHY WHY did Bechdel blurb Adam. WHY!?
I tried to remember whether the TOB books I have finished passed the Bechdel but I can't remember. I think Paying Guests, Adam and Untamed State do. I don't remember if S11 does. I feel pretty sure that Dept of Spec and Silence Once Begun fail?
Yeah, good point. Maybe she knows the author?
yeah, but i know the author and I wouldn't blurb that book. just kidding... i can only think that it was something like, "help younger dyke authors/comic artists be successful. first novel, wrote for the L word, in a Le Tigre song alongside you, etc. etc."
Just finished Annihilation, and I really liked it. And the longer I think about it, the more I like it, so that's a good sign. When I woke up at 4:00am last night, I was able to picture myself in the middle of Area X (which surprisingly I found relaxing) - the writing was so vivid in creating mood & setting. The plot is weird, and having read it on the heels of Station Eleven, I found myself comparing how vastly different two post-apocalyptical books can be. It would be interesting to see these two paired against each other in the TOB.
Glad to hear that, Trish. The friend I'm reading ToB books with liked it a lot, too. I'm on maybe the 10th page and am looking forward to getting into it.Just found this, from Poingu: "Ellen, I think my TBR from you alone is at about 9 books now, starting with, hmm, last year's TOB dark horse, The People in the Trees".
OK, then I'm officially in your head. My work here is done.
I, for one, would LOVE to hear what Poingu thinks about TPitT.
jess wrote: "I, for one, would LOVE to hear what Poingu thinks about TPitT."Ok! I will share when the time comes.
Meanwhile I just caved and joined Downpour.com so that I can buy audiobooks of some of these novels and at least have a chance of getting through more of them before the TOB is over.
So now I find myself trying to decide whether to use my 1 monthly credit to buy either A Brief History of Seven Killings or The Paying Guests. One thing that can't ever be said about TOB is that these books are all the same.
Kerry wrote: "Shannon, I realize my sentence was ambiguous. I actually meant to convey that real-world sexual violence is shockingly common, so realistic fiction would reflect that..."Yes. Thank you! I'm grateful to live in a time when women are creating literature out of their experiences as survivors of horrendous sexual assaults. Roxane Gay is Exhibit A.
Poingu wrote: "So now I find myself trying to decide whether to use my 1 monthly credit to buy either A Brief History of Seven Killings or The Paying Guests."i have only read 'the paying guests', of the two books you noted. to me, it's not worth spending your money on. borrow it from the library.
Poingu wrote: "jess wrote: "I, for one, would LOVE to hear what Poingu thinks about TPitT."Ok! I will share when the time comes.
Meanwhile I just caved and joined Downpour.com so that I can buy audiobooks of s..."
I suggest you use your credit for A Brief History of Seven Killings; I suspect narration might help with some of the dialect.
Poingu wrote: "I just caved and joined Downpour.com so that I can buy audiobooks ... So now I find myself trying to decide whether to use my 1 monthly credit to buy either A Brief History of Seven Killings or The Paying Guests. ..."Definitely Brief History. Marlon James is a god among writers, and the audio version immerses you in the accents, vernacular language, etc.
ok! I pushed the button! Thank you everyone. I agree Marlon James is an incredible narrator even in the brief excerpt on the site.
Poingu wrote: "ok! I pushed the button! Thank you everyone. I agree Marlon James is an incredible narrator even in the brief excerpt on the site."Poingu, if it's the same audio version that iTunes and Audible carry, there are actually seven different actors reading the different chapters. It is quite an experience!
Redeployment on CD is in for me at the library! Not only will it make it easier for me to get through a book I'm not all that interested in, but it will enable me to double up books efficiently. Total win.
I read Redeployment in print and I do think the audio would have been better. Let us know.
I have A Brief History, Wittgenstein Jr. and the Neapolitan one, left to read. I don't even know if the third worth picking up since it's what, the third in the series? I'm really feeling The Bone Clocks as a serious contender.
April,You are way ahead of me, so read them all! From what I have heard, the Ferrante series is worth reading ToB or no ToB. I plan on starting with the first and reading all three.
A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall: I am almost done, thank the reading gods, including carmine, peridot, and all the others too. Unlike Poingu, I am not having fun. Somebody else implied the prose was intentionally overwrought. I hope so. The book includes some of the worst metaphors I have ever encountered. The story itself is not very gripping. It suffers horribly in comparison to, among others taking on Art, Th Blazing World. And did I mention the prose? There are tons of references to the classics, however. I will agree the author is smart and tried to stuff too much research into his debut.
I finished Wittgenstein Jr and really liked it. I thought it was a wry and bittersweet satire that was affectionate to the people involved (well, to people who are not dons…but are dons people, really??), that mocked the pretentiousness without denying that the pretenses could still have value and could be sources of joy as well as ridiculousness, and that the pain of philosophy could be a face of depression, of suicide. The book reminded me of Muriel Spark while I was reading it, though she would have definitely have included women--women are very, very absent in WJ. I doubt it'll make it out of the first round, but I'm fond of it.I think an interesting match-up for it would be Annihilation (which is still my favorite of the shortlist). They seem like inverses of each other: one's the story of a group of professional women on a research expedition into a wild land resistant to human comprehension, and the other's a story of a group of young academic men rather aimlessly finishing up at a very human institution dedicated to preserving and making a sport out of human comprehension. But both stories involve the limits of what we can know, meaning-making, searches for truth (from Annihilation: "Nothing that lived and breathed was truly objective--even in a vacuum, even if all that possessed the brain was a self-immolating desire for the truth"; from WJ: "Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognise itself. The only way to truth is through one's own annihilation"), interpreting possible descents into madness, descents into the life and loss of a loved one (and the journals/notebooks left behind), the terroir of Area X and the terroir of Cambridge (though I don't think the concept of "terroir" comes up until later in the Area X trilogy), the futility of holding yourself apart from what you are analyzing and how those borders disintegrate, desolation and what is colonizing you without you necessarily knowing, of pushing through the hellish landscape before you to the other side and into the hopefully peaceful unknown--the after philosophy--and I think their final passages even echo each other.
(And, also, this is why I love the TOB. On my own, I doubt I'd have thought to put the two books in conversation with one another.)
Megan wrote: "I finished Wittgenstein Jr and really liked it. I thought it was a wry and bittersweet satire that was affectionate to the people involved (well, to people who are not dons…but are dons people, rea..."Great analysis, Megan. That would be an interesting pairing indeed!
Just to add my $0.02. I follow the conversation but don't usually participate. I have read many of the same books as most of you and seem to feel about the same. I have read All the Light We Cannot See, An Untamed State, Redeployment, Station Eleven, Everything I Never Told You, Dept of Speculation, The Paying Guests, and Annihilation.
I did not like Annihilation, but then again it was vaguely horror, and I don't like horror. I should have had my husband read it instead. He would have been a better judge of its merits. I liked all the other books, except that I was mostly underwhelmed with The Paying Guests. My favorites are Redeployment, Station Eleven, and Dept of Speculation. What impressed me most about Dept of Speculation was how the author made a novel out of a string of sometimes witty, sometimes poignant vignettes.
I most recently finished reading My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. I liked it, but I don't know that I liked it enough to read the sequels if it weren't for the tournament.
I would like to read a few more titles before the tournament, but right now I feel like I am drowning in my TBR pile. I started working part-time at the local library in the fall, and I can't seem to stop checking out too many books!
Last year I made it a goal to read at least the first 50 pages of all the books, except Hill William, which I refused to buy and was not available through my local library. I am not sure if I will decide to attempt this project again. I find it hard to stop once I start, so it may have to wait until panic season right before the tournament begins and in the opening days when I am more willing to play a frantic catch-up game.
Rachel wrote: "Just to add my $0.02. I follow the conversation but don't usually participate. I have read many of the same books as most of you and seem to feel about the same. I have read All the Light We Cann..."
I am going to play a little devil's advocate here. First, welcome Rachel and I do hope you won't feel I'm picking on you. My question for you is do you not consider Redeployment and Station Eleven "horror"? I do. But I should say I have not read Annihilation.
Janet wrote: I am going to play a little devil's advocate here. First, welcome Rachel and I do hope you won't feel I'm picking on you. My question for you is do you not consider Redeployment and Station Eleven "horror"? I do. But I should say I have not read Annihilation. Why not included An Untamed State? I am pretty sure I scared my family with my sobbing while I read that book over the 4th of July holiday.
But to try to answer your question...
I didn't realize Annihilation was "horror" when I started it. It was the feeling it gave me while I was reading it--that creeping creepiness (I know! I'm such a wordsmith!) as they ventured down the stairs of the tower. It wasn't just suspense, but something else. I was the child that had nightmares about Darth Vader, alligators that crawled out of toilets, and dolls under my bed. I do not do that brand of horror well. Station Eleven certainly had creepy moments, but for me it wasn't the same. The simultaneously told back story also provided a counterbalance. War stories are something else entirely, and creepy is not really the word. Horrible, but not horror.
Rachel wrote: "Why not included An Untamed State? I am pretty sure I scared my family with my sobbing while I read that book over the 4th of July holiday"... And re Annihilation, "that creeping creepiness (I know! I'm such a wordsmith!)" ..."Rachel, I think I love you!
Rachel, thanks for clarifying and to continue with the "horror" derivatives, I would describe An Untamed State as horrific but not horror....lol.
Just started "Annihilation" myself and agree with Rachel that it most certainly fits quite snugly into the horror genre (and just snuck a peek at how it was shelved here on Goodreads and after sci-fi, horror is next). Again echoing Rache3l, there is a creepy, mysterious tone/feel to it.. not a slash 'em, gruesome type book (well, at least not year), but that ever-present unease of the "boo!" moment. I am finding it refreshing to have a real genre type ToB book like this vs. the "literary fiction" conventions that we've been discussing, tho it's certainly well-written/compelling (again, thus far).
I'm about 50 pages into A Brief History of Seven Killings, 'reading' both from the print hardcover and from audiorecording. Doing both as the spirit moves me is really adding to my enjoyment and understanding. Words to describe my initial take on this book include "impressive" and even "dazzling." There is a lot going on here and a remarkable imagination conceived and wrote this book. It hasn't captured my heart, though.A longlist contender,Euphoria, snuck in there for my reading today, and it captured my heart completely. What were they thinking, leaving this book off of the round of 16? I love it a lot more than any of the shortlist books I've read.
Euphoria was a great read and it wasn't completely overlooked for awards as it won the Kirkus prize.
Poingu wrote: "I'm about 50 pages into A Brief History of Seven Killings, 'reading' both from the print hardcover and from audiorecording. Doing both as the spirit moves me is really adding to my ..."Reading the book and the audiobook at the same time! Awesome idea! Though I'm not sure why I didn't think of that -- reading books with tapes basically taught me how to read way back when.
C, I'm not doing both print and audio at exactly at the same time--I'm mixing them and alternating them. I'm not sure if that was clear before. In some cases looking back over the chapter that I have just heard on the audiobook clarifies what I'm listening to. While it's not quite Finnegan's Wake it is a little hard to keep it all sorted out.
Poingu wrote: "C, I'm not doing both print and audio at exactly at the same time--I'm mixing them and alternating them. I'm not sure if that was clear before. In some cases looking back over the chapter that I ha..."Wow, I wish I'd thought of that. Sounds like a great way to get the most out of this book!
Just finished Silence Once Begun....it was a 4 star read for me but mostly because I'm a politics junkie. It's quite unlike anything I've read before so bonus points for uniqueness but didn't affect me emotionally.
I liked Silence Once Begun and I never would have found it without TOB, but like Janet I wasn't affected by it. I am not sure I have ever read another book that felt so distant. I didn't connect with any of the characters.
I'm finishing up my 8th book (All the Birds, Singing) and I think I'm in the minority but my favorites so far are A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall and Everything I Never Told You. My least favorite by far is The Bone Clocks. But I still have An Untamed State, Seven Killings, and The Paying Guests to read.
I love ToB. (I almost miss it already ... looking forward to next year's tourney!)But, today I also have a sense of lightheartedness because I have decided I have read as many of the books as I am going to. I only have Wittgenstein Jr and Adam left ... plus an unfinished Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay because I wasn't enjoying it as a standalone.
And I am well and truly ready to move on to other reading (though to be honest, I had a little fling with The Girl On The Train as a mind cleanser last week!).
A lot of this year's selections have been a chore for me, as in :
... not my cup of tea at all : A Brave Man Seven Storeys High, The Paying Guests, A Brief History of Seven Killings, All The Birds, Singing, All The Light We Cannot See, Annihilation.
... or ok but not terrific : Dept of Speculation, Everything I never Told You .
... or enjoyable but not lingering loves : The Bone Clocks, Silence Once Begun.
... liked a lot, but not enough to buy a hardcopy to go on the bookshelf : Redeployment, Station Eleven, An Untamed State.
This makes me look a little hard to please!!! And maybe so. But I am loving the discussions and the different perspectives that other readers have. I am loving exposure to books, authors and genres I might miss. I am loving identifying what I like and why I like it.
And I now have a little time for reflection and distillation of thought before the tournament begins! Bring it on!
But for now, All My Puny Sorrows and Sweetland await!!
Julie wrote: "I love ToB. (I almost miss it already ... looking forward to next year's tourney!)But, today I also have a sense of lightheartedness because I have decided I have read as many of the books as I ..."
Julie - that's so funny. I went to a really cool book bar last night in Denver with friends and as I was looking through all the fabulous books I decided right then to get back to reading what I'm excited about instead of what I need to read to finish off the tourney. I'm at 9 and I have my favorites and a couple to root against so I'm happy. I'm finishing the last book of the Southern Reach trilogy which I never want to end. I'll read Redeployment because I"m next in line for the library copy, and then I'm on to The Girl on the Train too and whatever else makes me excited to read again. I can't wait for the brackets, but I'm good with not having read every single book.
Janet wrote: "Just finished Silence Once Begun....it was a 4 star read for me but mostly because I'm a politics junkie. It's quite unlike anything I've read before so bonus points for uniqueness..."It reminded me of that terrible Kevin Spacey movie (2003) The Life of David Gale ... nothing at all really made me feel connected to it.
I was quite surprised by how much I liked A Brave Man..., I didn't expect to enjoy it quite so much from the summary.
I'm slogging through A Brief History and expect to wipe out Wittgenstein Jr. once I pick it up. Still can't commit to reading the Ferrara though.
Julie wrote: "I love ToB. (I almost miss it already ... looking forward to next year's tourney!)But, today I also have a sense of lightheartedness because I have decided I have read as many of the books as I ..."
Congratulations Julie!
This is my first year to try reading as many TOB books as possible before the tournament begins. It's been amazing, and kind of mind-flushing, to read so many books so quickly. My faith in human creativity has been renewed, as well as my respect for the publishing industry. The variety on this list is really something.
Also the experience of having someone else choose what books I should be reading has been interesting. I had only read 1 of the short list before it was announced, and many of these I never would have read on my own.
Sherri wrote: "Julie wrote: "I love ToB. (I almost miss it already ... looking forward to next year's tourney!)But, today I also have a sense of lightheartedness because I have decided I have read as many of t..."
Cool book bar in Denver? I live in the burbs of Denver. Where is the bar located?
Sherri wrote : "I went to a really cool book bar last night in Denver ..."Siggghhhh with envy!
I started and finished Wittgenstein Jr. tonight, a break from Seven Killings, and I can't even bring myself to dislike it. It was like reading static on a TV screen. Or maybe it's just too deep for me.I would also like to know what a book bar is.
C wrote: "Please explain what a book bar is!"if it is the same idea, i remember this story about book bars, or bars with literary themes: http://flavorwire.com/382271/15-amazi....
I too have pretty much finished my TOB reading. I still have Annihilation waiting but I'm very happy to hear some now reporting that they have liked it. Horror doesn't deter me so I will start it once I finish some of that "palate cleansing" reading from the library. Oh, and that includes finishing Redeployment so I can return it on time.I don't know what a book bar is but our local indie has Noir at the Bar night once per month. I haven't gone because, for the most part, their selections don't interest me. But it does sound like fun.
Julie wrote: "Sherri wrote : "I went to a really cool book bar last night in Denver ..."Siggghhhh with envy!"
This place is super cool! If you're ever in Denver, check it out. It's a an indie book store, a bar, a coffee shop, whatever you want it to be :). Books, beer, wine, coffee =what's not to love?
http://www.bookbardenver.com
Here is the Phoenix version...just getting started.http://www.changinghands.com/firstdra...
The best one I've ever been to is in Asheville, NC
http://www.batteryparkbookexchange.co...
Good to know about these if our travels are other than of the armchair variety.
Jennifer wrote: "C wrote: "Please explain what a book bar is!"if it is the same idea, i remember this story about book bars, or bars with literary themes: http://flavorwire.com/382271/15-amazi...-..."
Thank you so much for sending this link! The pictures! It made me want to take a trip just to visit these bars.
The Iceland book bar reminded me that I used to organize my books by color and it was a terrific way to find stuff. Just recently I've organized chronologically by first publication date which was startling and wonderful as a way to really understand what things were published at nearly the same time--Communist Manifesto, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Origin of Species, all so close together on a shelf, gives me a different understanding of the mid-19th century, for example, especially when you throw Moby Dick in between.
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I'm paying late fines on Birds Singing right now. It is so short, I feel like I should be able to finish it, but it is emotionally draining me and I'm not getting through it quickly. Sometimes short books feel really really long.