#tobx

[themorningnews]

There has been no double since ’93-’94, which obviously means no double in the history of our Tournament, which makes McBride a contender for the first triple crown—NBA, Rooster, Pulitzer—in history.

John Warner, color commentator

(via The Morning News Tournament of Books Championship)

Today a new champion of books has been declared, as James McBride's The Good Lord Bird finally rose over all comers in the ToB to claim the Rooster. As color commentator John Warner points out, The Good Lord Bird has already won the National Book Award, which may hurt its chances of also taking home the Pulitzer. We may not be the NBA or the Pulitzer, but those who would deride our little tournament do so at their own peril because the Rooster has correctly predicted four of the previous 6 Pulitzer winners. Not too shabby!

Click on the link to read the full commentary, and the individual rulings from each of our 17 judges.

[rachelfershleiser]

Amid the extraordinary premise, it’s the fundamentally ordinary that is so beautiful: love for a brother, sharing secrets with a friend, seizing or shirking opportunities. Ultimately the book is a serenity prayer—a hymn to what we cannot change, what we can, and how we learn the difference.

Why I picked Life After Life for the Rooster

The Morning News Tournament of Books - Presented by Field Notes

Basically: I hated the first 100 pages, the last 100 pages, and the sci-fi conceit, and loved it anyway. So many interesting women facing so many complicated/universal life choices!

[silentseasnarrowstreets]

There is a kind of voracious reading that happens between the ages of seven and 17 that I thought was reserved only for, well, children. Sometimes I wonder if all my reading since has been a secret attempt to get close to that experience of sustained absorption. To have a book become your entire world so effortlessly is a precious ability that rarely occurs during the exhaustion and distraction of adulthood.

From Jane Hu's vote for the tobx champion

[themorningnews]

There is a kind of voracious reading that happens between the ages of seven and 17 that I thought was reserved only for, well, children. Sometimes I wonder if all my reading since has been a secret attempt to get close to that experience of sustained absorption. To have a book become your entire world so effortlessly is a precious ability that rarely occurs during the exhaustion and distraction of adulthood. SOB.

Jane Hu, judge

(via The Morning News Tournament of Books Championship)

Judge Jane Hu has some thoughtful words to share at the end of the ToB, but she's not alone. All 17 judges who've helped to make the Tournament what it is have contributed to this final match between Kate Atkinson's Life After Life and James McBride's The Good Lord Bird. All 17 vote to pick the winner of this year's Tournament of Books.

If you haven't read the final ruling yet, click on the link above.

[themorningnews]

I’m intrigued by Judge Martin’s comment that the order in which he read these books affected his opinion of them. No doubt that is true for all of us, but I wonder how often we even notice it. Unless you are specifically asked to compare two books to one another, would you even be conscious of the fact that the book you are reading has been “overshadowed” by the book you read just before it?

Kevin Guilfoile, color commentator

(via The Morning News Tournament of Books)

What would constitute a surprise verdict in almost any other venue is often to be expected here at the ToB. That Kate Atkinson's Life After Life was put out of the running in the opening round by Hanya Yanagihara's The People in the Trees only to return and handily defeat it in the Zombie Round is kinda how the Rooster do (cf. True Facts).

Color commentator Kevin Guilfoile raises an interesting question about judge Jeff Martin's decision, however, when he points out that Life After Life may have had a small advantage going in since he read it first. Maybe there's no accounting for taste after all? Or the calculus is just too damned difficult? (We're book people.)

Follow the link above to read the commentary, which contains instructions on a contest, sponsored by Field Notes, to guess the ToB grand champion tomorrow!

[themorningnews]

It’s hard to not let a little resentment of the East Coast establishment seep in from time to time. That MFA vs NYC essay collection is fine and dandy, but forgets that the reality isn’t MFA versus NYC, but MFA versus NYC versus Every Other Fucking Person on the Planet.

John Warner, color commentator

(via The Morning News Tournament of Books)

With Zombie Round undead entrant The Goldfinch comes a discussion of East Coast privileged elitism, naturally, and color commentator John Warner has a few strong words about that. Can we love The Goldfinch in spite of its characters' privilege? Does it add to or subtract from the story at hand, or does it matter at all? Read judge Jane Hu's ruling at the link above to see how The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt stood against James McBride's The Good Lord Bird in the first of two Zombie Rounds.

[themorningnews]

I think a lot of readers don’t realize it—or, more likely, they just don’t think about it very much—but almost all the heavy lifting by the publisher is done before a book is released. Publishers are wholesalers. The reader is not their primary customer; the bookseller is.

Kevin Guilfoile, color commentator

(via The Morning News Tournament of Books)

Our color commentators Kevin Guilfoile and John Warner bring a lot of inside baseball to the brackets (to mix sports metaphors) to help explain how a generally unregarded book like The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara can keep slaying competitors left and right. (Short answer: Trade publications aren't always right.)

Summarily, based on judge Lizzie Skurnick's decision, Philipp Meyer's The Son has been kicked out of the competition due to a lack of votes to keep it from returning in the Zombie Round.

[rachelfershleiser]

Nozleeeeeeee! #tobx