The Morning News is back again — for the fifth year running — with its March Madness inspired Tournament of Books! 16 of the past year’s most talked about, if not acclaimed, novels are judged, bracket-style. Past winners have been The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and The Road — which both went on to win the Pulitzer. Want to play? Here’s the PDF bracket.
Here’s this year’s opening line-up:
- 2666 (1) vs. Steer Toward Rock (4), judged by Brockman (Powell’s one-named blogger)
- Netherland (2) vs. A Partisan’s Daughter (3), judged by Kate Schlegel
- The White Tiger (1) vs. Harry, Revised (4), judged by Jonah Lehrer
- Unaccustomed Earth (2) vs. City of Refuge (3), judged by Mary Roach
- Shadow Country (1) vs. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (4), judged by Anthony Doerr
- The Northern Clemency (3) vs. The Lazarus Project (2), judged by Monica Ali
- A Mercy (1) vs. The Dark League King (4), judged by Jonathan Eig
- Home (2) vs. My Revolutions (3), judged by Witold Riedel
I’m feeling a bit proud of myself since last year I read Netherland, Home, The Northern Clemency, Unaccustomed Earth, a bit of The White Tiger, and Bolano’s earlier work. I must be choosing to read critics’ darlings more so than in past years…
What about you? How many have you read?
