2022 TOB Shortlist

[Phyllis]

I’m on my 14th of 18 finishing up The Book of Form and Emptiness. My hands down favorite is The Trees. I also loved: Klara and the Sun; Intimacies; In Concrete; Subdivision; and All’s Well. Haven’t yet read: Our Country Friends; Beautiful World; Several People Are Typing; and The Echo Wife.

[Tim]

Bob wrote: "How's everyone's progress? Any early favorites to win? I've done 10/18 "

Also 10/18 (although I'm afraid I count the DNF's in that) and halfway through #11 (Ozeki). I'm saving a couple likely favorites for later, so counting those in anticipation, I've got 9 books I'm enthusiastic about (including =Intimacies, Theresa, so you aren't alone), which makes it a pretty good year for me. (Despite the Rooney redux.)

[Bretnie]

I'm excited that I haven't yet read many people's favorites!

So far my favorite is Intimacies, which was a surprise to me since the tone/style isn't something I'm usually drawn to.

But I've only read 5 so far (although almost through 2 more that are in the good but not favorites bucket).

[Nadine in California]

I've read 7, DNF'ed 4, am willing to read 1 (Subdivision) want to read 1 (In Concrete) and another 5 are Hard No's. There are two that I genuinely loved - The Matrix and The Trees. I feel no compunction to read them all ;)

I should add Intimacies to my 'loved' group. Quiet voices get overlooked ;)

[Jan]

Thanks for asking this, Bob. I’ve finished 8 and my favorites of those are Matrix and The trees. Still want to read Erdrich, Garreta, Labatut, Ozeki and Shteyngart. Planning to skip Gailey, Lennon, Meruane, Norris and probably Rooney.

[Peggy]

How do you all do it?!? I think I'm only at six read thus far! But of those, I feel like if The Trees and Matrix met up in the final I would be in agony as I loved them both so much. I enjoyed Intimacies, too, but am a big shrug on Klara.

I'm starting The Sentence next...

[Audra]

I'm 5 in. Matrix is also my fave by far. I'm about to start Itimacies.

[Anita]

You all are much faster readers than I am!

Here's my quick assessment of the ones I've managed to completely or partially read or listen to so far (often the library takes them back before I've had a chance to finish or I jump around to other ones depending on the dates they're due to be returned).

Libertie - finished - okay

Rooney - finished - blah

Klara - in progress but waiting to get back from the library - liking it so far

Echo Wife - currently in progress but took a break to listen to another one with an earlier return date - kind of in between blah and okay and wtf is this

No One is Talking About This - currently in progress - very wtf and not at all what I was expecting from the cover or title. (I thought it was fantasy or sci fi and about some very serious topic and I guess I was right about the last part but the tone is way more glib than I was expecting.) I feel like I must be missing something because I like some of the parts separately but all put together I just don't get the appeal. This book makes me feel OLD! I thought she must be a very young writer and that I'm just not hip enough with the social media language and vibe but when I looked her up I saw that she's only a couple years younger than me. Oops.

[Kyle]

Echo Wife is on sale (3 bux) for the Kindle today.

I've got 5 (Matrix, Beautiful World, Sentence, Klara, and Libertie) and am working on no. 6 (All's Well) with 7 and 8 (Trees, Book of Form & Emptiness) out on loan from the library. Nothing has really challenged Matrix for the top spot, although I liked Sentence... even if it was just "here's what happened in a year at Louise Erdrich's bookstore". (The list of books at the end was nice!)

[Elizabeth]

I've read 10 so far, DNF 2. I'm still planning to read The Sentence, and have In Concrete out from the library, so I'll at least try it, I don't think I'll read the other 4. Taking a break from TOB books right now, though, because I want to end the year on books I know I'll love (a Deborah Levy and Love Songs of W.E.B Dubois.)

My favorites by far were The Trees and When We Cease, followed by Intimacies and the Ozeki.

[Phyllis]

Well, having finished 14 of the 18, I feel like the shortlist books taken as a body capture the zeitgeist of 2021 in a way I didn't appreciate when I was first looking at the titles and descriptions. I remember last year's ToB shortlist as feeling like a whole lot of apocalypse and not being sure I was happy about that. This year, I feel like the play-in theme of "tumult" carries through in every book of the shortlist, and again I'm not sure I'm particularly happy about it. I mean, seriously, this list of books seems to portray all of the ways in which people struggle and ache and fall apart, and all of the ways in which people get beaten down by the "systems" in which we live, and all of the ways we are destroying the natural world while we rage against the machines of bureaucracy & politics & religion & corporations & artificial intelligence & bigotry. My empathy genes are in overdrive from this shortlist and I want to stand on my patio and scream into the abyss.

[Anita]

Phyllis - from your post I can see why they decided to include the Rooney then.

It's a depressing list, you're right.

But at least that choice and all the choices overall make a bit more sense when you put it that way.

[Phyllis]

Anita wrote: "... when you put it that way."

Thank you, Anita - I needed someone to hear me scream today. I think I'm gonna leave off reading for a bit and go dig in the dirt with my houseplants. :-)

[Phyllis]

Juliana wrote: "I feel like Several People are Typing adds some needed humor and lightness to the list. Maybe that's the one to read next!"
Thank you, Juliana. It is indeed my up-next, for exactly the reason you give!

[Nadine in California]

Phyllis wrote: "Juliana wrote: "I feel like Several People are Typing adds some needed humor and lightness to the list. Maybe that's the one to read next!"
Thank you, Juliana. It is indeed my up-next, for exactly ..."

I recommend on audio, if you can get it!

[Tina]

I'm finishing The Trees today, which brings me to six so far. Loved The Trees, adored The Sentence, and found Intimacies intriguing in a great way. Next up: Matrix and Several People are Typing.

[C]

Lordy, people, you have until MARCH. haha. I have been reading other books, planning to start ToB books mid-January, as I will probably only get around to reading possibly half of the eighteen before March. So that means I have only read the two from Camp!

[Nadine in California]

C wrote: "Lordy, people, you have until MARCH. haha. I have been reading other books, planning to start ToB books mid-January, as I will probably only get around to reading possibly half of the eighteen befo..."

Added bonus, you'll actually remember them, come tournament time ;)

[C]

Echo Wife is $2.99 kindle deal of the day - catch it!

[C]

Nadine in California wrote: "C wrote: "Lordy, people, you have until MARCH. haha. I have been reading other books, planning to start ToB books mid-January, as I will probably only get around to reading possibly half of the eig..."

YESSSS, the memory is another reason why I'd prefer to wait on reading them a bit. :D

[Audra]

C wrote: "Lordy, people, you have until MARCH. haha. I have been reading other books, planning to start ToB books mid-January, as I will probably only get around to reading possibly half of the eighteen befo..."

Yes but school starts on 1/5 SO MY TIME IS LIMITED!

Also Phyllis, I totally agree with you. There were several mehs and ugh I can not do another Rooney, I already broke my no more Groff rule (it was totally worth it, Matrix is one of my top reads of the year). I'm wavering about Trees cause I haven't liked anything I've read of his and people are raving...but I'm not sure I trust people!!

[Amy]

To be honest, I just didn’t get Trees. But I wasn’t the biggest fan of White Tears a couple years ago either which seemed to be doing something similar.

[Mindy]

Yes, my sense of urgency is that I go back to work Monday after being off since the 23rd. Not that it's helping; I'm still behind where I hoped to be, but oh well. I've been in a cross-stitching mood which hasn't happened much lately and I don't want to ignore it.

Loved The Trees and Klara and the Sun.

Really liked The Sentence and The Echo Wife.

Libertie was just about okay and When We Cease to Understand the World was a real slog. I like history, I like historical fiction, but I apparently don't like a bizarre blend of the two.

I didn't finish No One Is Talking About This when I picked it up for Camp, but will give it another try after/if I finish everything else.

Currently reading The Book of Form and Emptiness (liking very much) and In Concrete (jury is still out).

[Elizabeth]

Mindy wrote: "Yes, my sense of urgency is that I go back to work Monday after being off since the 23rd. Not that it's helping; I'm still behind where I hoped to be, but oh well. I've been in a cross-stitching mo..."

Do you do audiobooks, Mindy? I used to cross-stitch while listening, and now I paint (badly, ha.) That really is my happy place, painting while listening...

[Jan]

Elizabeth wrote: "...Do you do audiobooks, Mindy? I used to cross-stitch while listening, and now I paint (badly, ha.) That really is my happy place, painting while listening..."

AAh, yes! Audiobooks & knitting are a great combination for me, although audiobooks while walking is even better.

[Lauren]

Here's my current status on the shortlist:

Finished: 8/18
The Trees - My favorite so far.
Intimacies - Enjoyed this earlier this year, might read it again later if there's time.
Klara and the Sun - I found it a bit too slow when I read it for summer camp, but it had some redeeming qualities.
No One Is Talking About This - Didn't love the first half when I read it for summer camp since I'm not on Twitter. I mostly liked the second half but don't feel the need to discuss this one again.
Libertie - I listened to this earlier this year and didn't love it, but might try it again in print.
The Echo Wife - This was fine, although lots of implausible stuff and it didn't feel like a ToB book to me.
Several People Are Typing - I enjoyed some parts, didn't love others. Also doesn't feel like a ToB book (not a ton to discuss, I would guess).
Our Country Friends - This one didn't hold my attention well on audio. It felt similar to Leave the World Behind but not as engaging, in my experience.

I'm currently reading When We Cease to Understand the World in print and listening to/following along in print All's Well.

Of the remaining ones, I'm most excited about The Sentence and The Book of Form and Emptiness.

[Drew]

I’ve been MIA from the group since I retired in June 2019 but was a completist? completionist? again last year. I’m planning to do it again this year although I’ve only read four titles from the shortlist:

The Sentence - not Erdrich’s best work IMHO but I loved the characters and wanted to stay with them forever. Loved the list of recommended reading at the end!

The Confession of Copeland Cane - it took me a while to get into this but I ended up really enjoying it. But that typeface! Ugh.

Klara and the Sun - beautiful writing. It reminded me so much of Never Let Me Go but didn’t affect me so deeply.

No One Is Talking About This - hated the first half, loved the second. It reminded me why I continue slogging through books I’m not really enjoying.

Just started Our Country Friends yesterday. So far so good. I was hoping to never read more Groff or Rooney but I’m trying to keep an open mind.

[Audra]

Drew wrote: "I’ve been MIA from the group since I retired in June 2019 but was a completist? completionist? again last year. I’m planning to do it again this year although I’ve only read four titles from the sh..."

So with you on Groff and Rooney. I found Groff really worth it, possibly my fave of the short list. I just can not do Rooney, nope.

[Tim]

Okay, 11/18 now and a quarter of the way through 12.

I'm afraid to admit I was underwhelmed by Ozeki. I'm going to bring out my inner Crispin if this one takes a round from a stronger book.

There are three books I've started now writing of the inner lives of scientists...badly. I mean, not writing badly (although one of them is a little meh) but not writing an inner life that I recognize as a scientist. Expect more on that in March. (And if I'm really annoyed, maybe I'll frame it in terms of C.A.)

Otherwise, I'm still feeling more enthusiastic about this year's contenders than last year's.

[Tim]

Mindy wrote: "I like history, I like historical fiction, but I apparently don't like a bizarre blend of the two. ..."

I'm not sure I understand what a blend of history and historical fiction is. Isn't historical fiction already a blend of history (and fiction)?

[Tim]

Drew wrote: "I’ve been MIA from the group since I retired in June 2019 but was a completist? completionist? again last year. I’m planning to do it again this year although I’ve only read four titles from the shortlist."

Cheering you on! (But you've got to manage about a book-and-a-half a week pace now to pull it in.)

[Drew]

Tim wrote: "Drew wrote: "I’ve been MIA from the group since I retired in June 2019 but was a completist? completionist? again last year. I’m planning to do it again this year although I’ve only read four title..."

Shouldn’t be a problem. Since I retired and haven’t been traveling, my goal is 100 pages a day. In order to finish before the Tournament starts I only need to read 59.44 pages a day. Piece of cake! (I’m not gloating, really I’m not!)

[Peggy]

School starting 1/4 will definitely slow down my reading; it's generally what keeps me from being a completist each year. In the midst of When We Cease...and I think I love it even though I'm not at all sure what it's doing. Now THAT'S a ringing endorsement! :)

[Mindy]

@Elizabeth, yes I do audiobooks but I generally watch TV while stitching. I like to listen to a book while I'm doing household chores, exercising, driving, etc. I know a lot of people love the needlework/audiobook combo, though.

[Jan]

Nice to have you back, @Drew.

[Lauren]

Welcome back, Drew!

I'm currently reading When We Cease... in print and I'm struggling a bit, mainly with distinguishing what is fact and what is fiction. I feel like I'm learning a lot of interesting things, but then I keep questioning whether each tidbit I mark is actually made up... I'm in the middle of the second chapter. Any advice on how to approach the rest of this book? (I'm not going to that specific thread in case there are spoilers, although I don't see what could be a spoiler since I can't find a narrative thread/story arc yet).

Also, I'm getting toward the end of All's Well (avoiding that thread for spoiler reasons as well), and I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised. I didn't have high expectations for this one since I have no interest/background in Shakespeare, but I'm loving the representation of chronic pain/illness and I'm enjoying where things have been going. I really hope Awad sticks the ending there. I'd be interested in seeing this go up against The Trees since they have somewhat connected "revenge" themes. Oh and the cover is fantastic, especially as you get deeper into the story and the image becomes more meaningful. I might vote it "best cover of the shortlist." :)

[Elizabeth]

Lauren wrote: "Welcome back, Drew!

I'm currently reading When We Cease... in print and I'm struggling a bit, mainly with distinguishing what is fact and what is fiction. I feel like I'm learning a lot of interes..."

I actually looked up some of this while reading, and the science/math and character history (at least the bits I researched) and general personalities seem to be true. The interior monologues of course are fictional, along with any actions they take that nobody would have witnessed, but that all blended so seamlessly with the facts that I started not caring that much of it was made up.

I also love the All's Well cover! It's another similarity to The Trees, I guess, that I didn't realize the picture was made from pills in the same way I didn't realize the bars were names, until I got copies of the books in my hands.

[Cat]

I've read 5! I am determined to read all of them this year! I finished them all in 2019 and it was SO fun to have actually read them all by the time TOB starts. 2020 was well...2020, then 2021 was...well it was 2021. So I didn't read much in either of those years. 2022 is going to be back to reading 5 books a month for the year and actually finishing all the TOB books! (Say I on January 2). :) Let's hope 2022 doesn't turn out to be, well, 2022.

[Cat]

I cannot wait to read The Trees. Telephone is one of my favorite books of all time. I didn't really like Echo Wife very much, utnil I understood it was a book about the grooming relationship versus a science fiction book. Then it made a lot more sense to me and basically broke my heart. I just finished No One is Talking About This and I loved Part Two but could barely handle Part One. It felt like I was endlessly scrolling and that's kind of why I read, to avoid that feeling.
I'm reading Matrix for my in person book club next week and I can't wait to get started on it! I keep lovingly looking at the copy I managed to snag from the library's "Too Hot to Hold" section. I am going to finish A Fine Balance which I started before TOB books, then dive into Matrix. I loved Arcadia and Florida. So many good books this year, I am really stoked!

[Bretnie]

Lauren, I didn't even notice the All's Well cover was pills (on my phone's tiny image of it with the audiobook)! I probably wouldn't have continued reading it without the TOB, but it sure got more interesting midway through, so I'm glad I'm pushing through.

[Lauren]

Elizabeth wrote: "Lauren wrote: "Welcome back, Drew!

I'm currently reading When We Cease... in print and I'm struggling a bit, mainly with distinguishing what is fact and what is fiction. I feel like I'm learning a..."

Very helpful - thanks for this, Elizabeth!

And yes, a closer look at the covers of All's Well and The Trees is rewarding. :)

[Phyllis]

Ta da! I'm done with all of them. The Trees got my zombie vote and is still my favorite to take the rooster, but I have to report that Our Country Friends stole my heart.

[Matthew]

Phyllis wrote: "Ta da! I'm done with all of them. The Trees got my zombie vote and is still my favorite to take the rooster, but I have to report that Our Country Friends stole my heart."

Congrats Phyllis! You're done with tons of time to spare. I wish Zombie voting could have been a little bit later because I've enjoyed some five star reads lately that I hadn't yet gotten to at the time of the vote. And I agree with you about Our Country Friends; it was an unexpected delight.

[Phyllis]

Juliana wrote: "...Any other pairings people think might good?..."

I think there are quite a lot of interesting pairings among these 18:
For coming of age while black in America, I'd match up Copeland Cane and Libertie.
For historical fiction, I'd match up Matrix and When We Cease to Understand the World.
For bodily pain/mental illness, All's Well and Nervous System and The Book of Form and Emptiness.
For online life, Several People Are Typing and No One Is Talking About This.
For living through the pandemic, election, and police killings of people of color, The Sentence and Our Country Friends.
For clones, Klara and The Echo Wife.
For angsty young adults, Beautiful World and Intimacies.
For "experimental" literature (whatever that means), In Concrete and Subdivision.
Leaving The Trees as its own indescribable satire of our country's ongoing pogroms.

[Tim]

Phyllis wrote: "Ta da! I'm done with all of them."

Congrats. Five left for me. I'm stalling out on =Confessions of Copeland Case=, I'm afraid.....

[Phyllis]

Tim wrote: "...I'm stalling out on =Confessions of Copeland Case=, I'm afraid....."
I understand. It did seem to go on too long and I'm not sure what the Jacqueline line did for it, but I think I liked it better than Libertie and the Ozeki. At least it is a character voice/story that seems rarely expressed.

[Tim]

Phyllis wrote: "I liked it better than Libertie and the Ozeki...."

A low bar, if you ask me (apologies to the Ozeki fans out there). But I'll try to stick with it at least a little longer.

[Alison]

I think that the one thing we can count on is that the books with no common themes will be pitted against one another.

I'm deep in the middle of a move and my ability to concentrate on anything deeper than a thriller is gone. Hoping to get it back, but this may be the first year in some time I won't be a completist.

Speaking of which, any of y'all in Illinois?

[Janet]

I don't think I'm going to be a completist this year either. My concentration is shot and the ones I have read haven't exactly thrilled me. It's been a rough year, my adult son was in a rollover accident and the adult son of a friend committed suicide.....but on a positive note I have a new granddaughter. May 2022 serve us better.

[Nadine in California]

Janet wrote: "I don't think I'm going to be a completist this year either. My concentration is shot and the ones I have read haven't exactly thrilled me. It's been a rough year, my adult son was in a rollover ac..."

Janet, I'm so sorry you've been through this. I hope your son is recovering well, and your friend is getting the support they need.