Tournament of Books discussion
2023 TOB General
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2023 Shortlist
Oh, so many! Bad Marie, The Devil All the Time, The Invaders, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, White Tears, Washington Black. What about the worst Tournament book you hated, but read all the way through? mine: The Idiot.
Lapvona wasn't in the ToB, was it?Wittgenstein, Jr. *shudder*. And then there were the enormously popular - and winning - books that I just didn't "get", like Fever Dream and - dare I say it? - Normal People.
Peggy wrote: "Version Control for me. Grateful forever that the ToB introduced me to that book and to Dexter Palmer."Me too! It taught me that I could like speculative fiction, which is now probably my favorite genre.
Risa wrote: "You already know what I’m going to say: Idaho.
I’m also grateful to have been introduced here to Percival Everett."
Absolutely agree. I'm sure I would have discovered Everett on my own, but I'm sure it would have taken longer. And Idaho was...eveything. (Where is Emily Ruskovich's next novel?)
I was also blown away by An Untamed State.
Oh, yes - An Untamed State. One of the most powerful - and difficult - books to read, along with People in the Trees. I don't remember what won that year, but I rememer that I was stunned it wasn't Untamed State, which was truly extraordinary.
An Untamed State blew me away but I think I found it independent of the TOB.
totally agree on Normal People! No thanks!Also, while TOB was in intro to Everett, I have yet to read a book of his I like.
In other news, Violin Conspiracy just $1.99
https://bookriot.com/book-riots-deals...
FEVER DREAM 4 LIFE!Gosh, the number of books that I wouldn't have found without the tournament... Makes me appreciate not loving some of this year's books, that looking back I'll remember the books that I DO love. I think Seven Moons will be the book I wouldn't have found outside of the TOB.
Bretnie wrote: "FEVER DREAM 4 LIFE!Gosh, the number of books that I wouldn't have found without the tournament... Makes me appreciate not loving some of this year's books, that looking back I'll remember the boo..."
Fever Dream scared. the. bejeesus. out. of. me. I still remember making the very unfortunate decision to start reading it late at night, when I was away on business travel. Did I read it straight through? Yes. Did I get ANY sleep that night? Nope. No, I certainly did not. I can't say I "enjoyed" it, but it was absolutely effective at doing what it set out to do, so it earned all the stars from me.
My list of "without the TOB...": Augustown
The Throwback Special
Oliver Loving
Version Control
The Animators
Audra wrote: "STEPHEN FLORIDA!!"Oh, yes . Stephen Florida was such a provocative novel. Did I always "enjoy" reading it? No. But was it intensely memorable? Yes.
I will say that, unlike "Idaho", I'd have read SF even without Tournament of Books because Powell's chose it for its "Indiespensables" subscription series ...of blessed memory. Pouring one out for that now .... (To Powells: what happened to Indiespensables? Your many devoted subscribers miss it dearly.)
Never heard of Oliver Loving. What year was it in the ToB?
The Violin Conspiracy is $1.99 on Kindle Deals today for anyone who's holding out. Had my quibbles with it, but it's definitely worth 2 bucks to check it out, I'd say.
Coming into the home stretch, in the middle of Nightcrawling (hmmm) with only 5 more to go. Pretty pleased with myself, seeing as I came in having only read one. Also, ended up liking a few after a run of WTFs. We'll see if my revelatory read is in my remaining 5...
Zachary wrote: "The Violin Conspiracy is $1.99 on Kindle Deals today for anyone who's holding out. Had my quibbles with it, but it's definitely worth 2 bucks to check it out, I'd say."Thanks, Zachary!
LOL is it possible it didn’t even make the longlist in 2019??? I associate it in my head w the TOB…
Bob wrote: "LOL is it possible it didn’t even make the longlist in 2019??? I associate it in my head w the TOB…"I remember you lamenting that it didn’t make the longlist, Bob! (I read it then because of you.)
I'm a completist! For the first time. To celebrate, I went out and bought way too many books.
If I had to give a completely arbitrary and personal ranking, it would be this:Babel
T&T&T
Mercury Pictures Presents
Dinosaurs
An Island
Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Sea of Tranquility
The Book of Goose
The Passenger
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance
Olga Dies Dreaming
Mouth to Mouth
My Volcano
Violin Conspiracy
2AM in Little America
Nightcrawling
The Rabbit Hutch
Manhunt
Kyle, congratulations!! Care to share what new books you got?
Nice listng Kyle! I should be able to finish if I can muster my way through Volcano.
Congrats to the completists! I usually come closer, but this was never going to be the year, due both to life difficulties and the books chosen just not matching my preferences. Pretty sure My Volcano is the last of the books I’ll read (unless judge/commentariat comments sway me during the tournament.) My order among the few I’ve read is:
Seven Moons
The Book of Goose
T, T&T
(Probably) My Volcano
Sea of Tranquility, although I enjoyed the actual reading quite a bit
Nightcrawling
Dinosaurs (DNF)
MPP (DNF)t
Olga (DNF)
Babel (DNF)
(These last 3 are at the bottom mostly because I was so disappointed.)
This is the first year I can remember where I actively and deeply disliked some of the books chosen, and felt very meh about some others. All were books I’d read before the shortlist announcement. I haven’t revisited them but I’m thinking a well written judgment in their favor will get me to reconsider.
Kyle wrote: "I'm a completist! For the first time. To celebrate, I went out and bought way too many books."This is a good and appropriate way to celebrate! I am counting down the minutes until the new Rebecca Makkai is released (soon), and though I'm not a completist, I am still racing out to buy this book.
Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, Edwards' The Book of Ebenezer de Page, Alex Pheby's "Mordew", Mary Renault's "The King Must Die/The Bull from the Sea", and Alexander Maksik's "Shelter in Place."
I've got three books to go, so it looks like I'll be a completist, although I didn't plan to be. This year was going to be my year of reading what I want, when I want to, but give me a list and I am helpless. Overall, this was a fine year--a few I would have read anyway (Dinosaurs, Sea of Tranquility), a few surprises (Seven Moons, Mouth to Mouth) and a few duds (The Passenger, The Rabbit Hutch). But there were also a few that felt a little too mainstream and simple for this tournament, so that instead of just not liking them much, I felt like I'd wasted my time.
Looking forward to the tournament and hoping very hard that the discussion moves back to being with the day's judgement instead of sequestered onto discord.
Alison wrote: "Looking forward to the tournament and hoping very hard that the discussion moves back to being with the day's judgement instead of sequestered onto discord. It was confirmed on the Facebook account yesterday that discussion is on the website; Discord only for summer camp.
Lee wrote: "Alison wrote: "Looking forward to the tournament and hoping very hard that the discussion moves back to being with the day's judgement instead of sequestered onto discord. It was confirmed on the..."
OH MY GOSH this is amazing news!!! Discussion on the Morning News site instead of Discord!! YESSSS. (I don't go to Facebook for anything, so thanks for sharing this, Lee!)
Kyle wrote: "Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians"Love that book. Enjoy!
Lee wrote: "...It was confirmed on the Facebook account yesterday that discussion is on the website; Discord only for summer camp."This is THE MOST EXCITING thing I've heard in a while. I had been afraid to even hope.
That is good news! I wonder how many drifted away because of Discord.
Best news I've heard all week. Thanks!
Lark wrote: "This is the first year I can remember where I actively and deeply disliked some of the books chosen, and felt very meh about some others. All were books I’d read before the shortlist announcement. ..."I agree. Lots of what we over here would call bowl of oatmeal.
This is such great news re: no Discord. I've got 2.5 books left, so I may be a completist. (Although, I stopped one short last year and didn't end up caring. So, who knows!)
The Passenger almost made me quit the list altogether, so this Discord news might be what propels me to be optimistic about a rebound for the end of the list.
Kyle wrote: "I'm a completist! For the first time. To celebrate, I went out and bought way too many books."That's definitely the best way to celebrate - congrats!
I'm one book away; then I'll post my rankings.
Lee wrote: "Alison wrote: "Looking forward to the tournament and hoping very hard that the discussion moves back to being with the day's judgement instead of sequestered onto discord. It was confirmed on the..."
Thank goodness! I can only handle small bits of Discord. It's just too overwhelming.
Now I need to figure out what to do about how the first three days of the tournament conflict with AWP (the biggest writing conference in the country that I'm attending for the first time this year). I'll have a packed schedule and wasn't planning to bring my laptop... Does anyone remember how mobile-friendly Disqus is during the tournament? I'm guessing I won't get in too much participation those days since I'll be on PT (Seattle) and likely won't have time to check anything until the evening. :(
Lauren, I always had pretty good luck using Discus on my phone.
Lauren wrote: "I'm guessing I won't get in too much participation those days since I'll be on PT (Seattle)..."Enjoy the PNW! If you are a morning person, PT is a big advantage. When they open the event for the day at 9:00a or 10:00a on the East Coast, you can get an hour or two of complaining before you have to be at work (or the conference). But if you were planning to wait till after dinner, you'll be able to read in peace, since everyone will be done for the day.
I have tried to use Disqus with my (Android) phone using the Firefox browser, and find it possible, but not super-convenient. If I can wait to get to a desktop, I'll do that, especially once there are a lot of comments.
Tim wrote: "Lauren wrote: "I'm guessing I won't get in too much participation those days since I'll be on PT (Seattle)..."Enjoy the PNW! If you are a morning person, PT is a big advantage. When they open the..."
Sadly, I'm not a morning person, but I'll attempt to stay on CT (going to be very early local time), so it's possible I can catch the judgment before I start the panels each day.
The only positive of Discord over Disqus is that everyone checks out of Disqus in the afternoon/early evening each day, so if you don't post in the first few hours after the judgment is released, you'll be commenting into the void... But I'm definitely not complaining about sticking to Disqus for the tournament. ;)
Phyllis wrote: "Lauren, I always had pretty good luck using Discus on my phone."Great to hear! I think I'll need to leave the laptop at home, if only for more room in my carry-ons for books purchased at the conference. :)
Lauren wrote: "I think I'll need to leave the laptop at home, if only for more room in my carry-ons for books purchased at the conference. :) ..."The very best reason to pack light!
I'm at the point in my ToB reading where I just want to read other books now. This happens every year, but with this genre-heavy list, I just want a nice literary novel about adults living in a real place and everyone has a name. On the other hand, I was surprised to like The Violin Conspiracy as much as I did.
Alison wrote: "I'm at the point in my ToB reading where I just want to read other books now. This happens every year, but with this genre-heavy list, I just want a nice literary novel about adults living in a rea..."I'm right there with you, Alison. I'm powering through with 1.5 books left, but Oscar Wars is just sitting there waiting for me to dig into juicy Hollywood gossip history. I'm also missing gay romance (where both parties are alive.)
Zachary wrote: "I'm also missing gay romance (where both parties are alive.) "I mentioned this in another thread, but have you read The New Life, Zach? So good.
Elizabeth wrote: "Zachary wrote: "I'm also missing gay romance (where both parties are alive.) "I mentioned this in another thread, but have you read The New Life, Zach? So good."
I haven't yet, Elizabeth, but it's on my radar. Grateful to know it has your stamp of approval!
Apologies to all for the double-posting. This came up over in the discussion about The Violin Conspiracy, but it seems more appropriate here, and I am curious what others think.I think we likely have a wide range of views about what constitutes "genre" especially if we are somehow trying to distinguish that from "literary." For myself, I'm pretty sure it is rarely possible to make that clear of a distinction between the two.
I think you could possibly classify this year's books as (among other ways):
coming of age: The Book of Goose; Nightcrawling; Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance; Olga Dies Dreaming (although coming of age late in life, like delayed adolescence); The Rabbit Hutch
dystopia: 2 A.M. in Little America; Manhunt
mystery/thriller: Mouth to Mouth; The Violin Conspiracy
sci-fi/fantasy: Babel; My Volcano; Sea of Tranquility; The Seven Moons of Mali Almeida
That just leaves as unclassified in my list: Dinosaurs; An Island; Mercury Pictures Presents; The Passenger; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
I'm not suggesting anyone has to agree with my classifications; just that they are possible. I think it has been not uncommon to see several "genre" books in the shortlist the past few years, assuming genre means romance or western or mystery or sci-fi/fantasy. But it's all in the eye of the beholder, yes?
Tournament of Books
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I’m also grateful to have been introduced here to Percival Everett.