Sunday, January 19, 2014

Morning News Tournament of Books

Favorite Books has blogged about the The Morning News's [] Tournament of Books--I was first alerted to this interesting exercise by my good friend and proprietor of Mar's Cafe in Des Moines, Iowa, Mark Movic (thank you Mark!).

Find TMN's announcement here:
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/announcing-the-morning-news-tournament-of-books-x

It is worth it (to me anyway) to list the Long list first because it includes Dissident Gardens and Night Film, both reviewed just now in this very blog. (The long list also includes a book I completely disliked but I won't mention its title or give it any undue publicity).

S by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
At Night We Walk in Circles by Daniel Alarcón
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
Traveling Sprinkler by Nicholson Baker
Stay Up With Me by Tom Barbash
Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer
The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
what purpose did i serve in your life by Marie Calloway
Return to Oakpine by Ron Carlson
Eleven Days by Lea Carpenter
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Y by Marjorie Celona
The Tuner of Silences by Mia Couto
Necessary Errors by Caleb Crain
Harvest by Jim Crace
Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat
Duplex by Kathryn Davis
Pacific by Tom Drury
The Circle by Dave Eggers
The Virgins by Pamela Erens
Percival Everett by Virgil Russell by Percival Everett
The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan
Middle C by William H. Gass
& Sons by David Gilbert
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Hild by Nicola Griffith
The Explanation for Everything by Lauren Grodstein
Tirza by Arnon Grunberg
Local Souls by Allan Gurganus
The Morels by Christopher Hacker
Enon by Paul Harding
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Mira Corpora by Jeff Jackson
The Residue Years by Mitchell S. Jackson
The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
The Dinner by Herman Koch
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
Long Division by Kiese Laymon
Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
The Facades by Eric Lundgren
Woke Up Lonely by Fiona Maazel
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
Hill William by Scott McClanahan
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
The Son by Philipp Meyer
Want Not by Jonathan Miles
The Returned by Jason Mott
Tampa by Alissa Nutting
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Red Moon by Benjamin Percy
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
Rontel by Sam Pink
Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon
Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
In Times of Fading Light by Eugen Ruge
All That Is by James Salter
Tenth of December by George Saunders
Motherlunge by Kirstin Scott
Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis
Mary Coin by Marissa Silver
The Silence and the Roar by Nihad Sirees
Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld
Brewster by Mark Slouka
The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Isle of Youth by Laura van den Berg
The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman
The Kings and Queens of Roam by Daniel Wallace
The President in Her Towers by Tom Whalen
The Last Policeman by Ben Winters
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
The Maid’s Version by Daniel Woodrell
Wash by Margaret Wrinkle
The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon
Lotería by Mario Alberto Zambrano
Stupid Children by Lenore Zion

Not a bad way to stay in touch with the year's best (except for that one I won't be mentioning)? Where to start? Here is the short list:

Finalists for the 2014 Tournament of Books

Pre-Tournament Playoff Round

 All the links take you to Powell's book store, but don't forget to check out Philly's bookstores, The Penn Book Center, Joseph Fox bookshop, Bindlestiff's (right in my neighborhood!), House of our Own on Spruce Street in University City, and Penn's own hardworking bookstore, The Penn Bookstore (you won't find books on their Web site, but they do have them!)

The tournament of books is something along the lines of the collegiate basketball playoffs. Judges take on pairs of books, with only one from each pair moving on to the next round. You can follow the judging and the reviews at The Morning News.

 Go Tournament of Books!

One last plug in this blog posting of plugs. Many of these books have been reviewed at Full-Stop: Reviews, Interviews, and Marginalia, so please check it out.

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