The 2010 Tournament of Books

[nnyhav]

Today [12Jan], The Morning News Selection Committee announces the contenders for the Sixth Annual Tournament of Books, [...] literary awarding gone ferocious, March Madness-style. Each spring we take 16 celebrated novels from the previous year and seed them into a competitive bracket like the kind used in the N.C.A.A. basketball championship. A group of judges is enlisted, and the tournament plays out over the course of five rounds of matches in March. Each match sees two books battling head-to-head in brutal combat, with a judge explaining how he or she has chosen to move one of them to the next round.

The 2010 Tournament of Books by ToB Staff - The Morning News (http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/the_rooster/the_2010_tournament_of_books.php)

The 2010 Tournament of Books Shortlist

All books 30% off at Powells.com (http://www.powells.com/sub/FeaturedTitles2010MorningNewsTournament.html)

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood
The Anthologist, by Nicholson Baker
Fever Chart, by Bill Cotter
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, by Apostolos Doxiadis
The Book of Night Women, by Marlon James
The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver
Big Machine, by Victor Lavalle
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore
Miles from Nowhere, by Nami Mun
That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo
Burnt Shadows, by Kamila Shamsie
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, by Wells Tower
Lowboy, by John Wray

[Daniel del Real]

Wow, March Madness going to literature. This is awesome!
We should do something similar here :D

[DB Cooper]

I must say Im a little disappointed with the books they chose this year. No Inherent Vice?

[Sophronisba]

I must say Im a little disappointed with the books they chose this year. No Inherent Vice?

I'm disappointed, too--I would like to have seen Far North, Chronic City, and/or Generosity on the list. Dan Chaon's Await Your Reply should have had Lorrie Moore's spot.

[Mirabell]

I would like to have seen Far North.

Really? ^^

They have enough questionable books as it is on the list.

[DB Cooper]

I agree that Chronic City and Generosity both should have made the cut. Authors of that status would make for great conversation and matchups, and thus upping the fun quotient of the whole event, Pynchon also. Isnt the whole point of the tournament a whimsical and fun way to look at literature? You simply must have the heavyweights in there for drawing power as well, I mean how many more books does Pynchon realistically have left in him? I havent read Far North, though Im sort of a sucker for post apocalyptic stuff. Though I read Mirabells (well done) review on his blog and that sort of turned me off buying it. Im actually reading Await Your Reply right now. Im about halfway through, its a pretty interesting story but the writing is sort of meh.

[e joseph]

This isn't the Nobel folks, it's goofy li'l tournament for fun. These are the books you get, no second guessing. That said I've only read one half of one book in the tourny, Wolf Hall. So, go Wolf Hall? Oh, and my Mom's read The Help and liked it alot. So, go The Help?

[DB Cooper]

Second guessing is part of the fun, just as with the Nobel.

[Mirabell]

Due what can only be characterized as stupidity, Lowboy lost to The Help in the first round, as did Atwood's novel. These are the pairings of the quarterfinals




March 22 Alex Balk Let the Great World Spin v. The Help (http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/let-the-great-world-spin-v-the-help.php)
March 23 Jane Ciabattari The Lacuna v. Burnt Shadows (http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/the-lacuna-v-burnt-shadows.php)
March 24 Meave Gallagher Wolf Hall v. The Anthologist (http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/wolf-hall-v-the-anthologist.php)
March 25 Carolyn Kellogg The Book of Night Women v. Big Machine

[Stiffelio]

Who decides on the seedings? Is there a draw? Is it played in sets, rounds, are goals scored? Anyway, this thing is SO ridiculously silly.

[Mirabell]

Who decides on the seedings? Is there a draw? Is it played in sets, rounds, are goals scored? Anyway, this thing is SO ridiculously silly.


It's very entertainingly silly. It#s played in k.o. rounds. when you lose you're out, except if you are resurrected in the Zombie round.

Not much more silly, I think, than assigning grades/stars to books.