Today
heralds the first day of the 2013 Tournament
of Books and it's my first.
The
Tournament of Books was conceived during a drunken night out in a
Brooklyn bar by staff of The
Morning News. They all agreed that they 'equally loved and
despised book prizes and couldn't there be another way, rather than the big
awards’ incestuous juries and smoke-filled-rooms, to discover the best?'
Apparently,
the way it works is each weekday in March, two fiction books from 2012 will go
head to head, with one of the judges deciding to advance one title into the
next bracket.
At the end of the month, the winner of the tournament is blessed with the
Rooster (I have no idea why it's called a Rooster!)
Along
the way, each judge has to say if he/she has any biases, interests or
connections to the participating authors, and, most importantly, how they
decided between the two books.
They
chose the books from various sources ('publishers, agents, editors, writers, and
critics. Newspapers’ best-of-the-year round-ups, and radio reports we
half-heard in the car. Online merchants, neighborhood booksellers, and also
plenty of ToB readers and followers. We consulted the staff of The Morning
News, we consulted our parents, and we consulted some cowboys in a bar in rural
Idaho (really'). So I think they've pretty much got it covered, don't you!
I
caught wind of it through Book Riot and
have been following their reviews of all the books involved as I didn't have
the time to read any of them myself. Although I have made a want-to-read list after
reading the reviews.
Here are a list of the final books chosen and a list of the original long list.
I am entering my predictions on hungry like a wolf's unofficial TOB 2013 contest.
Play-in Winner
The Yellow Birds
The Yellow Birds
Round 1 Winners
May We Be Forgiven, Building Stories, Bring Up the Bodies, Arcadia, The Song of Achilles, Gone Girl, The Fault in Our Stars, The Orphan Master’s Son
May We Be Forgiven, Building Stories, Bring Up the Bodies, Arcadia, The Song of Achilles, Gone Girl, The Fault in Our Stars, The Orphan Master’s Son
Round 2 Winners
May We Be Forgiven, Bring Up the Bodies, Gone Girl, The Orphan Master’s Son
May We Be Forgiven, Bring Up the Bodies, Gone Girl, The Orphan Master’s Son
Round 3 Winners and Zombies
Gone Girl, The Orphan Master’s Son, The Yellow Birds, Bring Up The Bodies
Gone Girl, The Orphan Master’s Son, The Yellow Birds, Bring Up The Bodies
Zombie Round Winners (Finalists)
Bring Up The Bodies, Gone Girl
Bring Up The Bodies, Gone Girl
Champion
Gone Girl
Gone Girl
Winning Votes
12
12
Here are a list of the final books chosen and a list of the original long list.
The
2013 Tournament of Books Finalists
[Winner of the Pre-Tournament Playoff Round]
Pre-Tournament Playoff Round
The 2013 Tournament of Books Long List
Fobbit by David Abrams
At
Last by
Edward St. Aubyn
The
Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
Toby’s
Room by Pat
Barker
Maidenhead by Tamara Faith Berger
HHhH by Laurent Binet
Country
of the Bad Wolfes by James Carlos Blake
Tell
the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon - having just finished this book and it being fresh in my mind, I have to say I was unimpressed with it really but I'm not surprised it made it in.
With
Blood in Their Eyes by Thomas Cobb
What
They Do in the Dark Amanda Coe
Perla by Carolina de Robertis
This
Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz
A
Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers
The Round House by Louise Erdrich - want to read
Absolution by Patrick Flanery
Gone
Girl by
Gillian Flynn
Billy
Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
The
Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger
The
Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Threats by Amelia Gray
Arcadia by Lauren Groff
The
World Without You by Joshua Henkin
How
Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes - want to read
A
Working Theory of Love by Scott Hutchins
In
One Person by John Irving
The
Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
That’s
Not a Feeling by Dan Josefson
The
Dead Do Not Improve by Jay Caspian Kang
Good
Behaviour by Molly Keane
Gone
to the Forest by Katie Kitamura
Ivyland by Miles Klee - want to read
Gods
Without Men by Hari Kunzru
The
Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle
Bring
Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Hemlock
Grove by Brian
McGreevy
Railsea by China Miéville
Pure by Andrew Miller
The
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Magnificence by Lydia Millet
Dear Life by Alice Munro - want to read
The
Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
Boy21 by Matthew Quick
The
Cove by Ron
Rash
The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling - after all the either love or hate reviews on this book, I'm pleased this made it as I loved this book
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Where’d
You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Mr.Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan -this is one of my favourite books of last year, so I'm very disappointed that it didn't get in to the final 16 but am pleased it made on the long list at least!
NW by Zadie Smith
This
Bright River by Patrick Somerville
Laura
Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub
Drama by Raina Telgemeier
The
Dream of Doctor Bantam by Jeanne Thornton
By
Blood by Ellen
Ullman
Beautiful
Ruins by Jess
Walter
Building Stories by Chris Ware - this one fascinates me and I can't wait to read it
Jack
Holmes and His Friend by Edmund White
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - want to read
Care
of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles
Back
to Blood by Tom Wolfe
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