I came upon this last night when browsing and thought that I would pass it on. The Morning News announced its Sixth Annual Tournament of Books, The Rooster which will begin in March.
Each spring we take 16 celebrated novels from the previous year and seed them into a competitive bracket like the kind used in the N.C.A.A. 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.
Yes, we’ve had judges who flipped coins. So has the National Book Award—but the National Book Award won’t tell you that. Along the way, we ask our judges to lay bare their publishing affiliations and literary prejudices—to clear the cigar smoke left behind by the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize committees—and we also give you, the readers, a chance to help determine the winner. Our semi-finals round is called the Zombie Round because, based on your vote (see below for how to participate), two books that are eliminated early get a second shot at life, returning from the dead to take on the presumed finalists.
Finally, we declare one work of fiction to be the Champion Book of the Year, and we award/threaten its author with a live, angry rooster, the official Tournament of Books mascot, named after our favorite character in contemporary literature, David Sedaris’s brother.
If all of that sounds confusing and strange, check out this N.P.R. interview we did last year, which puts it a bit more lucidly.
Now, before we get to the judges and shortlist, let’s also review what this shortlist of books is not. It is not a list of the 16 best books of the year.
How could it be? We haven’t read every book that was published in 2009. Not even close. In fact, none of us has even read all 16 of these books, at least not yet. Some of these titles, none of us have even cracked. Put us all in a room together and ask what a couple of these stories are about and you’d probably get an awkward silence and a bit of giggling in reply.
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. And many, many, many terrific books almost made the sweet 16, and we were sad we couldn’t include them all.
But note that the arbitrary nature of this contest does not make it more random than other book awards. For all their diligence and secrecy, book awards rely on the particular tastes of a very few individuals combined with the art of compromise. Not only can book awards not tell you what the best book of the year is, frequently the winner of a book award is not anyone’s actual favorite, but rather not anyone’s least favorite.
This is a grand idea, for those of us that have suffered through countless March Insanities here is a place to come for a little peace and solace.
For a list of the judges and books go directly to The 2010 Tournament of Books page.
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