Every March, The Morning News does their own version of the NCAA’s March Madness tournament — but with books!
Here is an excerpt about their “mission:”
Each spring we take 16 celebrated novels from the previous year and seed them into a competitive bracket like the kind used in the NCAA 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…
All of these books have been acclaimed, although not universally. Some were picked for their obscurity, some because they won a prestigious award. Some made the list because they are beloved by millions, others because they’re popular overseas. One is a collection of short stories and one is a graphic novel. A couple were added because individuals we respect advocated passionately on their behalf.
This year they have released their “long list” for the first time, as well as the official contenders.
Check it out and let me know what you think! What’s missing? I’ve starred (**) those that I’ve already read (only two so far!) and put the short list in bold:
The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood
The Anthologist, Nicholson Baker
Rage, Sergio Bizzio
The Women, T.C. Boyle **
Await Your Reply, Dan Chaon
Trouble, Kate Christensen
Little Bee, Chris Cleave
Fever Chart, Bill Cotter
Four Freedoms, John Crowley
Everything Matters!, Ron Currie Jr.
Spooner, Pete Dexter
Homer & Langley, E.L. Doctorow
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, Apostolos Doxiadis
The Believers, Zoe Heller
Last Night in Twisted River, John Irving
The Book of Night Women, Marlon James
Under the Dome, Stephen King
The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
Big Machine, Victor Lavalle
Chronic City, Jonathan Lethem
The Golden Mean, Annabel Lyon
Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann
Ransom, David Malouf
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
The City & The City, China Mieville
Manituana, Wu Ming
A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore
Miles from Nowhere, Nami Mun
Once a Runner, John Parker
Lark and Termite, Jayne Anne Phillips
Generosity, Richard Powers
Inherent Vice, Thomas Pynchon
Wetlands, Charlotte Roche
My Abandonment, Peter Rock
That Old Cape Magic, Richard Russo
Burnt Shadows, Kamila Shamsie
The Help, Kathryn Stockett **
Far North, Marcel Theroux
The Alternative Hero, Tim Thornton
Brooklyn, Colm Toibin
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Wells Tower
This Is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper
My Bird, Fariba Vafi
The Book of Fathers, Miklos Vamos
The Informers, Juan Gabriel Vasquez
A Short History of Women, Kate Walbert
Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls
The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters
Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead
Lowboy, John Wray
Now, here’s the list of judges:
Sam Anderson — book critic at New York magazine.
Rosecrans Baldwin — founding editor of TMN.
Alex Balk — co-founder of The Awl.
Nic Brown’s — short story writer.
Alexander Chee — author of Edinburgh.
Jane Ciabattari – president of the National Book Critics Circle, a founding blogger on Critical Mass, and author of the short-story collection Stealing the Fire. Her work has appeared in Bookforum, npr.org, the Guardian online, the Daily Beast, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, among others. Recent short stories are online at KGB Bar Lit, Verbsap, Literary Mama, Lost Magazine, and Fictionaut (and on her web site).
Meave Gallagher — contributing editor at TMN.
David Gutowski — runs the popular music and culture blog Largehearted Boy.
Jessica Francis Kane — a contributing writer for TMN.
Carolyn Kellogg — a critic and blogger for the Los Angeles Times.
Jason Kottke — blogs at kottke.org.
C. Max Magee — created and edits The Millions.
TMN managing editor Kate Ortega — an editor at the online edition of the Wall Street Journal.
Julie Powell – author of Julie & Julia and Cleaving.
Andrew W.K. — musician, motivational speaker, and party maker.
Andrew Womack – a founding editor of TMN.
Molly Young — blogger and a contributor to n+1.
Let the games begin!!
How fun! I have only read two as well (The Anthologist and The Help) but there are several on the long list that I have had on my TBR wish list for quite a while.
I look forward to seeing how this all plays out in March
The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood
Await Your Reply, Dan Chaon
Little Bee, Chris Cleave
Homer & Langley, E.L. Doctorow
Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore
The Help, Kathryn Stockett **
Brooklyn, Colm Toibin
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Wells Tower
Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls
I’ve read all (or part) of the above titles and my top five are:
The Help
Little Bee
Let the Great World Spin
A Gate at the Stairs
The Year of the Flood
I couldn’t get into Homer and Langley or Brooklyn or Wolf Hall and I’ve only just started Half-Broke Horses and Everything Ravaged.
Kelly
Thank you, Kelly!! I’m half-way through Half Broke Horses and Little Bee just arrived… I hope I enjoy both!
This is such a cool idea! I love the NCAA tournament every March and it’s so clever that they are doing it with books! Thanks for sharing! I haven’t read many of the books, but I’ll still be curious to see the outcome. Maybe it can determine what I will read next!