Tournament of Books discussion
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Beautiful World, Where Are You
2022 ToB General
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2022 TOB Shortlist
Ruthiella wrote: "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..."Yes, take care, Janet and I hope 2022 is much better. <3
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."Phyllis, congratulations! You're waaaay ahead of me, but I do still have 2 months...there are 5 that I'm waiting for at the library and two with lists so long I'm a little worried that on Feb. 24th I'll find myself buying them. One is the Shteyngart, btw -- I haven't traditionally liked him (despite his being yet another graduate from my Alma Mater), but the reviews of this made me put it on my list even before it made the shortlist. So I do have some hopes. But I'll have to get it first.
I'm almost through with The Trees, which I'm loving (it takes a lot for a book to make me laugh out loud; Farcel Fondle did it), which will be #7. Intimacies is on deck, followed by All's Well, The Echo Wife, Libertie, Several People are Typing, and, god help me, the Rooney. Then I'm stuck waiting for the rest to come in.
Oh Janet, I'm so sorry. But glad to hear of your new granddaughter!
Interesting, I just read Intamacies and am audiobooking The Echo Wife and I pair them as women who have to put up with men's nonsense.
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..."I'm so sorry Janet. I hope your son is doing ok.
I went a little overboard with the library holds, so now I have Lockwood, Kitamuri, Shteyngart, and Labatut coming up, while I still need to finish the Ozeki and the Everett...
Kyle wrote: "I went a little overboard with the library holds, so now I have Lockwood, Kitamuri, Shteyngart, and Labatut coming up, while I still need to finish the Ozeki and the Everett..."haha that happens to me too!
Kyle wrote: "I went a little overboard with the library holds, so now I have Lockwood, Kitamuri, Shteyngart, and Labatut coming up, while I still need to finish the Ozeki and the Everett..."I am a little obsessive about my library holds - putting a ton on hold and then pausing them all until I'm ready for more. Double check if your library can pause your holds! Mine I keep moving forward in the line, but they don't show up until I release the hold.
Bretnie wrote: "Kyle wrote: "I went a little overboard with the library holds, so now I have Lockwood, Kitamuri, Shteyngart, and Labatut coming up, while I still need to finish the Ozeki and the Everett..."I am ..."
Yes! I also use the "pause" hold strategically now. So glad they added that feature. :)
Jason wrote: "In Concrete is free to download at Edelweiss. https://www.edelweiss.plus/#keywordSe..."Wow, thanks for the info!
Jason wrote: "In Concrete is free to download at Edelweiss. https://www.edelweiss.plus/#keywordSe..."Just doublechecking..... Amazon sent me an email saying I had to approve the sender's email address before they could download the file. It's not an Edelweiss address, which makes sense since it would come from the publisher, although it's not the english lang publishers name either. So just double checking that this is legit. The sender's email address is: kindle@abovethetreeline.com
I'm not sure. It went directly to my Kindle.
Nadine in California wrote: "The sender's email address is: kindle@abovethetreeline.com."This is the address used when Edelweiss sends kindle books and it is safe to approve!
I just finished listening to The Echo Wife and ended up really liking it. At first I really didn't like the author's writing style or the narrator's style (she is the same one from The Children's Bible last year and I didn't like that narration either). I thought it was a great concept but a poor execution.However, as it went on, it took more and more twists and turns and I was glad I had kept up with it (if only because it was a TOB book and I'm determined to finish all of those, ha- also, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because I try not to DNF most books and sometimes, like now, I'm well rewarded for my stubbornness in not wanting to quit!)
Also, someone, I believe maybe in this very thread, said that it was an allegory about being groomed for abuse and that really changed my understanding of the book and I started liking it a lot better. So, thank you, to whoever that was!
Now I feel that this book is pretty similar to Piranesi from last year (which I also really liked!) in that it showed me what happens when one is programmed, conditioned or brainwashed to accept another person's reality and/or abuse and/or to be used for that other person's purpose, and what is capable of happening when one tries to break free of the prison they're being held captive in by someone else (and/or society). I liked the exploration of free will versus pre-destination... how much are we really capable of breaking out of the constraints of the realities of our mind so that we can truly live for ourselves and build our own reality?
I don't want to say too much more as it's hard for me to talk about this book much at all without spoiling it all (much like Piranesi). I still didn't love the writing style, and thought it could be much shorter than it was (at first I was thinking it could all be a short story instead, but now I'm thinking more like novella because a lot happens the closer you get to the end) and I'm still not a fan of the narrator but this was a thought-provoking read that will stick with me so for that reason alone it ranks up there with the top handful of favorite books I've read in the past year or so.
One thing I love about TOB is that it exposes me to books I'd probably never notice or read on my own and I'm beginning to think it exposes me to whole genres I thought I wouldn't like but do. Perhaps I just really like sci fi/fantasy type books although I used to think I liked realistic, literary fiction.
Speaking of that genre of book- I was able to get Klara and the Sun back from the library so I'll continue on with listening to that one next. In between I'm listening to a romcom (The Echo Wife had a very heavy subject matter and was rather hard to read emotionally so I like to balance it out with easy breezy books) and in eBook form I'm reading a memoir which is also rather hard to digest emotionally due to similar themes of being raised by dysfunctional parents (Now Beacon, Now Sea).
Anita wrote: "I just finished listening to The Echo Wife and ended up really liking it. At first I really didn't like the author's writing style or the narrator's style (she is the same one from The Children's B..."You can probably speak a little more freely about the book on its dedicated discussion page, here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I feel like The Sentence was written for the TOB, pandering to the judges and commentariat. Who can resist a book about books and bookstores?! I'm only a little ways in but loving hearing Louise Erdrich's narration, and the metaness (her own bookstore as the location, and herself as a character).
Jason wrote: "In Concrete is free to download at Edelweiss. https://www.edelweiss.plus/#keywordSe..."Thanks! What app to do you open this file in?
The Trees looks like it's going to be a favorite for me, although I'm only about a fourth in. And this is coming from someone who didn't really care for Telephone.
Me too. Telephone was not for me, but I’m really enjoying Trees.
I really liked Telephone -- but The Trees really blew me away.
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."Winner winner chicken dinner
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "... Winner winner chicken dinner"Tee hee. I just lucked up on having read a good number of them before the lists releases, and then I ended up with a slow work month during December. Had to get them done or life wouldn't allow it between December and March.
I know we are all wrapped up in thinking about the 2022 ToB in March. But can one of you moderator people start a thread for the 2023 ToB? I really want to say that Lemon, Yeo-Sun Kwon's 2019 novel(la) just this year released in English translation [okay, technically released 10/12/21], should at least be on the ToB longlist -- and I think on the shortlist.I'm not sure if I loved it or hated it, but it is haunting me. My lack of assuredness about my feelings is all tied up in how much the prose changed in translation, how much difference cultural differences make to understanding a complex story, whether this is a book that just demands to be read in a single sitting and then immediately re-read to begin to understand its meaning? In short, it is to me a perfect ToB book to talk about with you brilliant people. But it is for the 2023 ToB.
Happy TOB 2022 - I have completed one and only one but ever the optimist I'm hopeful that I will work my way through the list.
I'm hitting the halfway point, I think? Intimacies and No One is Talking came in from the library and they're both relatively short, so I feel like I'm making good headway.
wow. early. None of the matchups jump out as intriguing in any particular way. Maybe Klara v Echo Wife in the second round, but EW isn't beating the play-in winner.
Wow! I wasn't thinking about the bracket date at all. Exciting to see!Although as usual I'm bummed about most of it, especially All's Well vs The Trees and the Ozeki vs. Labatut. (Hoping for zombie saves...) Also hate that the Rooney and Lockwood are up against books that will probably be considered weaker. I wish they did seeding differently, maybe not a book's sales and notoriety but review averages, or some other metric that would pit annoying books against each other, or against brilliance.
I found an audiobook of Subdivision on Scribd. There's a couple of other's shortlist books there too. Copeland Cane and Libertie I found, but I didn't look for them all. I'm on a 30-day free trial. https://www.scribd.com/g/76yxfy
very cool! it's up so early this group (knowing this group, as I do) could probably put together a whole tournament in the next six weeks, and pick our own winner!
Trees and Matrix going up against each other so early isn't thrilling
Elizabeth wrote: "Wow! I wasn't thinking about the bracket date at all. Exciting to see!Although as usual I'm bummed about most of it, especially All's Well vs The Trees and the Ozeki vs. Labatut. (Hoping for zomb..."
LOL on measuring the "annoyingness" level of books. ;)
Kyle wrote: "Trees and Matrix going up against each other so early isn't thrilling"Seems like the bottom left is always painful.
lark wrote: "very cool! it's up so early this group (knowing this group, as I do) could probably put together a whole tournament in the next six weeks, and pick our own winner!"Oh goodness - don't tempt us! Haha
At my current pace (a few other book club books getting in the way) I don't think I'll get to my re-reads of Libertie and Intimacies as I'd hoped, so now I just have to aim to finish the others in time, so I wouldn't be able to vote or argue for some of these matchups yet.
Well it seems the ToB gods heard my suggestion that The Trees and All's Well could be a good matchup since they both incorporate fun (in my view at least) revenge fantasy components. While I loved the first 80% of All's Well, I'm definitely pulling for The Trees in that one (and for the rooster, so far). For the other matchups:
-Concrete for me, even though I haven't read it yet. ;)
-Probably rooting for Intimacies here, but I listened to both of these on audio a while back and don't remember many details from either.
-Haven't read Matrix or Subdivision yet, so no opinion there.
-I feel similarly about both No One... and Several People..., so I don't know if I have a preferred outcome on that one.
-I'm getting close to finishing When We Cease... and it's a bit too science heavy but I'm finding plenty of gems, so I'm still open to it. Haven't started The Book of Form... yet.
-Haven't read Nervous System yet, so I'm not sure if I'll like it more than Klara.
-If it's The Sentence or Confessions... going up against Echo Wife I'll likely root for those. If it's Our Country Friends I think I preferred Echo Wife (or could follow it better at least).
My overall feelings on this bracket might change as I read a few more of these.
Elizabeth wrote: "Although as usual I'm bummed about most of it, especially All's Well vs The Trees"Seriously. I don't know what they were thinking. But I'm just going to pretend that round is the finals, and everything else is a consolation game.
Lauren wrote: "Well it seems the ToB gods heard my suggestion that The Trees and All's Well could be a good matchup ..."A good matchup for THE FINALS. Not the opening round!!!!
I am already feeling the angst of the Tournament, worrying that my favorites will unfairly lose to (clearly; of course clearly) lesser books. I kind of wish I didn’t have the bracket yet. I’m just not needing extra angst. But I know having the bracket early in past years helped me decide the order in which to read. So I know its release now is good for a lot of us.
Gosh I just love all the discussions here! Thanks everyone. I have read about half of them so far and I have a spreadsheet, and I calculated if I read 60 pages per day I'll finish by the time TOB starts!
Really not enjoying Matrix.Very boring and characters are just like so thin.
My favorite so far is All's Well.
Elizabeth wrote: "Also hate that the Rooney and Lockwood are up against books that will probably be considered weaker...."If it were me, In Concrete is the easy winner in the first round. I gave Several People 2 stars, so the Lockwood wins the first round in my bracket.
huh, I don't see the brackets on either the site or their e-mails?
Oh, well, I guess it's time to finally read the Rooney, it being up so early in the tournament and all.
Alison wrote: "Oh, well, I guess it's time to finally read the Rooney, it being up so early in the tournament and all."Alison - I think it starts bottom right and goes back down the other side? (Counterclockwise?)
The Rooney really isn't BAD. It's just that there are so many more interesting books out there we could be reading, and Normal People already gave her plenty of time to shine...
That top right holds my favorites, but I still need to get to the vaunted books located bottom left. I have not read anything but the Rooney in top left, but from other reviews and comments it seems like there was disappointment with Intimacies and Libertie from what I have seen. Which makes me feel like we are in for at least 3 rounds of Rooney commentariat castigation.I just picked up In Concrete, hoping to be blown away by it (even if I am one of the few Rooney fans around in this group), because new convos and authors are fun.
Phyllis wrote: "I know we are all wrapped up in thinking about the 2022 ToB in March. But can one of you moderator people start a thread for the 2023 ToB? I really want to say that Lemon, Yeo-Sun Kwon's 2019 novel..."DONE! start adding to our 2022 TBR lists!
Tournament of Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Our Country Friends (other topics)Intimacies (other topics)
Matrix (other topics)
When We Cease to Understand the World (other topics)
The Trees (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Mona Awad (other topics)Sally Rooney (other topics)
Ruth Ozeki (other topics)
Sarah Gailey (other topics)
Katie Kitamura (other topics)
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Sorry to hear that Janet. I hope your 2022 gets much better quickly.