top of page
Neale Lucas

TOURNAMENT OF BOOKS 2020.

I simply cannot believe that we are just about to go into the 2020 Tournament of Books. It only seems like yesterday that the books were grappling it out for the Rooster. Here is the initial list that the judges will whittle down into the longlist.


All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James Black Light:Stories by Kimberly King Parsons Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill Death is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann Exhalation:Stories41160292 by Ted Chiang Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Akner A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo Golden State by Ben H. Winters Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang Honey in the Carcase by Josip Novakovich In at the Deep End by Kate Davies Inland by Tea Obreht King of Joy by Richard Chiem Last of Her Name by Mimi Lok Let's Tell This Story Properly by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli Lot by Bryan Washington Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen by Dexter Palmer The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock Normal People by Sally Rooney Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong Optic Nerve by Maria Gainza The Other Americans by Laila Lalami Oval by Elvia Wilk Overthrow by Caleb Crain The Parisian by Isabella Hammad Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn Pigs by Johanna Stoberock Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zeran Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine Same Same by Peter Mendelsund Saudade by Suneeta Peres da Costa Say Say Say by Lila Savage Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg Tears of the Trufflepig by author:Fernando A. Flores] The Testaments by Margaret Atwood Trump Sky Alpha by Mark Doten Trust Exercise by Susan Choi The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin What is Missing by Michael Frank When All is Said by Anne Griffin A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha


Of this list I have read 6 books, well 7 but I bailed on Ducks!!!




I must say, and I have no doubt whatsoever that I am in the minority here, I would love to see Black Leopard Red Wolf go through instead of somethng like Ducks! :-)


This is such a wonderful time of the year to be a reader, and if you have never followed the TOURNAMENT OF BOOKS before, well maybe you should start this year. It is a totally unique literary prize because of its format. The books face off against each other in what is more like a Tennis Tournament than a book prize. This format, if truth be told, is not really a fair system but the TOB has always been about fun and the arguments and discussions that ensue when a favourite book is eliminated is priceless.


The eventual winner takes out the coveted ROOSTER!!!




I cover the tournament on this blog and the brackets and winners from 2019 are still up. Just click on more on the home page and you will see the relevant pages. I hope some of you newcomers decided to follow it this year.


LET THE BEST BOOK WIN!


34 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page