Tournament of Books discussion
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2023 TOB Longlist!
message 51:
by
Maggie
(new)
Dec 09, 2022 12:50PM
Ok folks, I have only read Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance (by far my worst pre-shortlist showing ever). I like the list in terms of things I anticipated wanting to read, but getting to completist might be tough this year 😭😭😭
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Oh, and if people have suggestions as to which of these are good in audiobook, please share. I’m about to go on a walking pilgrimage, so I have more time to listen than to read…
Juliana wrote: "Zombie votes due Dec 16 by midnight. Which books are folks rooting for?"I think I'm going to vote for Seven Moons...Really I've only read 2 of these, and DNF 2, but that's the book that's been intriguing me since it was first nominated for (and then won) the Booker. I've been waiting for months for my library to get a copy in, but now I may have to just buy it.
I hope your kid is feeling better soon, Amy! I am in the middle of Disorientation and Sedating Elaine and I would normally put them down because they didnt make the short list, but with these two, I feel like I need to finish both before I start the rest of the short list. Kind of relieved we won't be discussing Sedating Elaine though, honestly.
It's here it's here it's here! You all are the only ones in my life that get why I just jumped out of my chair when I saw the email in my inbox. :) Off to put a bunch of library holds in order!edited to add: the bracket is already out too! Doesn't that usually come later?
edited again to add: I think it'll be super fun to have Calvin Kasulke as a judge - Several People are Typing. Looking forward to that. :)
Amy wrote: "I HATE PALIMPSEST! its such an pretentious word ...."I'm not going to try to talk you out of your hate for palimpsest, but...
I think for a word to qualify as a pretentious word, there has to be another, perfectly serviceable, ordinary usage word that is a synonym.
I am so very happy with this short list! I’ve only read 4 but 3 of those I loved. Am I going to have to reread Sea of Tranquility? I did not like it and for sure don’t have time but how can this be? The first 2 of hers that I read are among my all time faves. Only disappointed that Horse is not on the list cuz I just started reading it for book group and so far so good. Love the sorta sci-fi pics. I recommended both Manhunt and My Volcano to my sci-fi book group and Manhunt was a hard no but we are reading My Volcano.
Maggie wrote: "Oh, and if people have suggestions as to which of these are good in audiobook, please share. I’m about to go on a walking pilgrimage, so I have more time to listen than to read…"All but two of the books are available in audio, which is great! I've only read two on the list, but I thought T&T&T was great on audio.
Happy with the list. I’ve read seven and am glad several I’ve been wanting to read made the list, particularly Babel and TomorrowX3. And very happy to have the list so early.
Olga Dies Dreaming and Nightcrawling are great on audio.
Juliana wrote: "Zombie votes due Dec 16 by midnight. Which books are folks rooting for?"Last year was my first year really following this, and I never fully understood the zombie vote.
*Nm my first question, I see where to vote. I just pick my favorite? How do you all pick, when you have only read a few of these?
There are a lot of opinions on how you should vote for the zombie! but in general my opinion is that you should vote for the one you would be saddest if it were kicked out, which might be your current favorite of the short list.
Nadine in NY wrote: "How do you all pick, when you have only read a few of these?"Here's how I do it:
1. Vote for my favorite of the ones I've read by the deadline (which is usually like 2)
2. Instantly regret my decision after finding a new favorite based on the very next book I read.
3. Question what other people are likely to have voted for vs what I voted for and analyze what I should have voted for based on who needs my vote the best.
4. Forget who I even voted for by the time March comes around and just hope everyone else voted for my favorites.
Bretnie wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "How do you all pick, when you have only read a few of these?"Here's how I do it:
1. Vote for my favorite of the ones I've read by the deadline (which is usually like 2)
2. In..."
All. Of. THIS!
#4 works really well. when i try to game things with #3 strategy, i have ALWAYS regretted it. every single time.
Bretnie wrote: "Nadine in NY wrote: "How do you all pick, when you have only read a few of these?"Here's how I do it:
1. Vote for my favorite of the ones I've read by the deadline (which is usually like 2)
2. In..."
LOL!! Okay this is reassuring because I think this is going to be EXACTLY my process!!! onward to step 1 ...
Vote for Anthony Marra as a prize for winning ToF?
They do have the bracket up, so maybe look for your favorite to see if it's going up against a heavy hitter.
Amy wrote: "Joy D wrote: one of my pet peeves....."I HATE PALIMPSEST! its such an pretentious word and such an AWFUL mouthfeel! It was correctly used in Atkinson's Life After Life as well but still bugged me."
omg. I must have blocked that from my memory - it's my favorite book of all time. How could I?! Lol.
Risa wrote: "Tim wrote: "Haven't had a chance yet to fully process, but I've read two and DNF'd two (which now I'll have to go back and try again). Glad we got at least a small chance to talk about =The Torqu..."
Ditto - LOTS of reading. I've only read 1 and 1/2! Yikes...
Well, there's my reading set for the next few months! I've read a whopping two. This is the norm for me so I don't know why I'm so aggrieved. But The Violin Conspiracy is on deck as is Olga Dies Dreaming, so we shall see.I'm in the midst of Horse right now and completely bummed it's not in the mix as there's a lot to dig into and it's just really good (so far). Also surprised Now is Not the Time to Panic isn't on there as it was the ToB that first introduced me to Wilson. I'm listening to it now and think I'll pause to get onto some shortlisters.
No clue where my zombie vote's going. I assume Tomorrow(3) will get a ton, but trying to game it out is almost always a bad idea as others have noted. Maybe I'll throw a dart at the Shortlist???
Well, we missed the shortlist guessing! I had a list of 20 sitting in an e-mail draft that I thought would make the shortlist and I was correct on NINE of them. I'm thrilled because with hardly trying, I have three in a stack next to me (out of only four longlist books in that stack, the extra is 'Search') and I just happened to be in the middle of 'An Island'.
Have actually already read 9 and am halfway through Seven Moons. Not every book I would have wanted but a good number of them. Great list!
Brilliant Zombie voting strategy, Bertnie! haha. I usually just do not vote for a zombie because I figure I have not read them all so I don't want to pick a favorite.I'm a bit sad 'Seven Steeples' and 'Toad' didn't make the shortlist but there were also some books that I wanted to avoid reading that also didn't make the shortlist, so that evens things out and I'm pretty happy with this shortlist. Only a couple I don't feel like reading.
Also I will note that Two Dollar Radio generally does a “Santa Fucked Up” sale after Christmas every year. They are publishers of My Volcano and many other top-notch books so if you want to pick that up bundled with some other books for a great price WHILE supporting a small publisher, I highly recommend it. I say this while staring at the 9 books from them I have on my shelf.
I'm relatively happy with the short list, even though my most-anticipateds aren't on there, so it will be tougher to prioritize those now. Here's my breakdown:
-Babel: I have this in my BOTM since I suspected it would make the short list, but I'm very intimidated. Long fantasy books kind of break my brain, so this will take a ton of work, likely listening along while reading the print. The hold time is 10 weeks though, so I won't get to this right away.
-Book of Goose: I have a copy of this and look forward to it!
-Dinosaurs: My library hold for the audiobook just became available.
-Manhunt: Ugh, I was really hoping this one wouldn't be on the short list. Can those who've read it share which part of the book the graphic scene is in and about how long it is? I'm willing to read it if I can skip over that scene.
-Mercury Pictures Presents: Just checked out the audio version from the library, but Marra books are usually best in print. Has anyone listened to the audio version? Did it work?
-Mouth to Mouth: This book's success was completely dependent on the strong ending, in my opinion. It gives us a bit to discuss, but not too much. 3.5 stars
-Nightcrawling: This book was devastating and tough to read. Impressive how young the author is. The ending worked for me, but I don't think I could handle reading this one again. 4 stars
-Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance: Even though I just finished this, without reviewing my reading journal I'm already forgetting any details other than it was much more about grief, and there was no mystery/thriller element. 4 stars
-Olga Dies Dreaming: I'm glad this made the list! Plenty to discuss here. 4.5 stars (and if anyone doesn't have a copy, you can have a chance to win it through the giveaway in my newsletter if you want :) http://eepurl.com/ie8YXn )
-The Passenger: My library hold for the audio version has a 10-week wait...
-The Rabbit Hutch: This also has a 10-week wait at the library, so I'll have to wait my turn.
-Sea of Tranquility: Read this summer, decent but nothing too exciting. 3.5 stars
-The Seven Moons...: Really looking forward to this, but since I only have it in print (no audio is available) it's going to take me a while since I've become a slow reader for long books that I don't have the audio for.
-Tomorrowx3: Definitely enjoyed this and I think it will be a fun discussion. 4.5 stars
-The Violin Conspiracy: I'm listening to this now (love how the narrator is the same from Hell of a Book). The writing is nothing special, but I'm engaged with the story.
-2 a.m. in Little America: I'm listening to this and it's ok, but I'm considering switching to print since it's not too long and I might catch more that way.
-An Island: While I didn't love the listening experience, I was intrigued by the ending. I might reread this in print if I find time after finishing the rest. 3.5 stars
-My Volcano: I have a print copy of this, and wish there were also an audio version available, but I'll make it work.
So it looks like I've finished six, I'm almost done with two more, and I have access to a copy of the rest, but some have a long wait.
Right now, my zombie vote will likely go to Olga since it's the closest to a five-star read from this list, but I might try to get into some of Seven Moons to see if I want to switch to that as my zombie.
Well now I have no idea how I feel about the word palimpsest. I just laughed hilariously when I ran across the word used correctly on page 192 of Horse. Had to tell you all. I love Horse by the way. Perfect historical fiction for a rainy weekend read. Too bad it didn’t make the short list.
The first time I remember running across the word was in Rushdie's "The Moor's Last Sigh," which used it well. It feels perhaps a little pretentious to use it multiple times in T&T&T, but Sam and Sadie (and Marx) are a little pretentious themselves.
Bryn wrote: "Well now I have no idea how I feel about the word palimpsest. I just laughed hilariously when I ran across the word used correctly on page 192 of Horse. Had to tell you all. I love Horse by the way..."As another commentariat member said, I was relieved that some books in which I had zero interest were omitted from the shortlist, yet bummed that others to which I greatly looked forward ("Horse", among them) also failed to make the cut.
But, time permitting (always the caveat and constraint!), I will still read anything on the Longlist that looks promising to me, especially if others in the commentariat recommend them highly.
So - thank you! "Horse" stays in the TBR .... pile. :-)
Lauren. I’m listening to Manhunt right now, and all I can say is that while it is interesting and good so far, the entire thing is a graphic scene.
Risa wrote: "Bryn wrote: "Well now I have no idea how I feel about the word palimpsest. I just laughed hilariously when I ran across the word used correctly on page 192 of Horse. Had to tell you all. I love Hor..."I really enjoyed Horse. I hope you do, too.
I’m reading Babel now and doing as Lauren suggests, both reading and listening. It is fascinating and not as dense as I expected for such a doorstopper.
I'm loving Babel. It's really hitting on a topic my wife and I have been discussing a lot lately: language rules as a tool of white supremacy and colonial oppression. How declaring to be the owner of the language and decider of the rules and translations gives power to this ruling class. It's not an accident that we call people on the internet that correct your English 'grammar nazis.' Did you see that J.M. Coetzee is delaying his latest novels to be translated into English to fight against the hegemonic power of global English?
I'm listening to the audio version of Olga Dies Dreaming. So far there's one male voice, one female voice and both are working well for me. They sound completely bilingual, like native speakers in both languages. I've returned my print copy to the library since the audio is working so well.
Finished, *loved*, Tomorrowx3. Have already DNF'd *The Passenger*. Almost did right out of the gate, girded my loins, and then got about 1/3 of the way through: just no. I think I get what is happening but also I absolutely don't care. It reminds me of *Lincoln in the Bardo* in all the ways I found that book insufferable. Yuck. So then I skipped back to the *The Rabbit Hutch* which is, sadly, equally (though differently) terrible. I think it's either Olga Dies Dreaming or Babel up next. Probably Olga since i own the physical copy and as a kid I adored the Olga de Polga series by...I'm blanking on the author.
Oh snap, Passenger is like Lincoln in the Bardo? Now I really want to read it.
Oh, man, I wish I'd DNF'd Passenger. It was a nothing burger for me. I don't really see the LitB connection, Passenger was all misdirection (primarily, from an interesting book to a dull one).
Later on we had 18 books to read. Later on. After the shortlist came out at last. Loads of books. Not as many as the longlist. No. No. Not as many. We sat there with them on our nightstand. Our TBR pile. A big pile. Tons of books. We didn't really like tons of books did we. No, not really, and neither do we now. We like one book. We like one book now and we liked one book then, and that one book didn't make the shortlist. Early on we took out as many longlist books as we could. That's right. We'll take this one and this one and this one, this one, and that one too. And so on. Yes, in a big pile. And we couldn't read all of them all the way through. It was simply impossible. We couldn't get engrossed. No matter what book we had in our hands, we found it simply impossible to refrain from wondering incessantly about what kinds of words exactly were inside the other longlist books. We couldn't help it could we. We just couldn't stop ourself from thinking about the other books and which ones might make the shortlist. As long as the shortlist wasn't out yet, we thought about which ones might make the Tournament and were thus precluded from becoming engrossed with the very book we had in our hands. The very book. So then we checked out one book. Yes. Yes. Checkout one book. We did. Checkout 19. Is that what you are reading, they'd exclaim? That won't make the shortlist. Go and get some more. But we could sit for a long time couldn't we with that book beside us. And with that book inside us. It was entirely possible just having that voice inside for ages was really quite special. But did it make the shortlist. It did not make the shortlist. No. No. But should it have made the shortlist. Yes. Yes. Yes it should have made the shortlist. We sat there wondering how the sorts of words it contained created this voice that surrounded us, that absorbed us, that wouldn't let us go. And then the Tournament Organizers let it go. Yes they did. And that was sad. But at least we read it. We did. Yes. Yes. At least we have that.
Tim wrote: "Later on we had 18 books to read. Later on. After the shortlist came out at last. Loads of books. Not as many as the longlist. No. No. Not as many. We sat there with them on our nightstand. Our TBR..."Haha. I saw within the first few sentences what you were doing. Bravo, Tim. It would've been such a fun book to discuss.
Maggie wrote: "Lauren. I’m listening to Manhunt right now, and all I can say is that while it is interesting and good so far, the entire thing is a graphic scene."Same. And it's a bit ridiculous.
Tim wrote: "Later on we had 18 books to read. Later on. After the shortlist came out at last. Loads of books. Not as many as the longlist. No. No. Not as many. We sat there with them on our nightstand. Our TBR..."It took me a few more sentences than Elizabeth -- mainly because I have not yet read That Book. (Though I plan to. I don't know that it will end up being the style of book I most enjoy, but sometimes youthful ambition should be served. So I will read it.)
Tim wrote: "Later on we had 18 books to read. Later on. After the shortlist came out at last. Loads of books. Not as many as the longlist. No. No. Not as many. We sat there with them on our nightstand. Our TBR..."Thanks for that lovely stroll down memory lane, Tim! I wish Checkout 19 had made it to the tournament.
Rachel wrote: "Olga Dies Dreaming and Manhunt are currently on sale at Audible for $5.99 each."Thank You for this!
As I haven't read any of the books on the shortlist - I've got to get busy. Thinking about starting with Manhunt to get it out of the way.
Tim wrote: "Later on we had 18 books to read. Later on. After the shortlist came out at last. Loads of books. Not as many as the longlist. No. No. Not as many. We sat there with them on our nightstand. Our TBR..."This comment, all by its onsie, just made me go look for that book. I have a hook inside my mouth. And a smile on my face....delightful comment.
Maggie wrote: "Lauren. I’m listening to Manhunt right now, and all I can say is that while it is interesting and good so far, the entire thing is a graphic scene."I'm glad I'm not the only person who thought that!
I am currently reading Babel and loving it.
Elizabeth wrote: "It would've been such a fun book to discuss."I know. I'm sure it isn't for everyone. But...
Here is Claire-Louise Bennett writing her narrator quoting Edna O'Brien responding to an interview question:
Nell asks her what makes her go on living, and Edna says: "Well, it varies from day to day. Sometimes I'm just waiting for a telephone call or the next meal, or to pick my children up, but when I think about it and pose the question to myself I imagine that in time I would've become a different person and the world around me will be different too. There is this constant desire to break out of one's own skin and into another reality. Sometimes you see paintings of rocks or ocean, or wilderness, and you think not only will I go there but I will partake of a whole new kind of experience. I will be born again through those rocks or in that ocean and the I who now suffers and laughs will do it in a different and possibly richer way."
That's how I felt after reading this book. I broke out of my skin and into another reality, born again through the experience, and the I who now suffers and laughs does it in a different and possibly richer way.
I'm sorry it won't get a shot in the Tournament.
Three people on Discord really seem to like Manhunt.
Tim wrote: "Later on we had 18 books to read. Later on. After the shortlist came out at last. Loads of books. Not as many as the longlist. No. No. Not as many. We sat there with them on our nightstand. Our TBR..."I so glad you liked this -- I knew there was some reader out there who would; just that I am not that reader. I DNF'd at page 126, when I just couldn't take it anymore and realized there wasn't some way it was going to "turn out" that I would be missing out on. Much more of a book you could just drop into anywhere and read a little, it seemed to me, if you were entranced by the prose.
Tournament of Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (other topics)Manhunt (other topics)
Olga Dies Dreaming (other topics)
Olga Dies Dreaming (other topics)
Manhunt (other topics)
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