It was recently reported in our nation’s entertainment sections that Richard Linklater’ film Boyhood has already won 75 awards, and been nominated for many more.
You are reading: Tournament of books 2015
Rational people read that and think that childhood is a movie they should go see the next time they can hire a cheap babysitter (childhood is a long movie). the next thing they’re wondering is if we really need to give things so many damn prizes. There was probably a strong consensus on childhood around 10 awards. after 75, that lily is completely crushed from gold.
this truth comes as we announce the books and judges for the 11th annual morning book news tournament (you can find our long, long list of potential contenders here), and it serves as a helpful reminder that this particular anointing of a single work of fiction published in 2014 is totally unnecessary. It’s not quite the equivalent of a movie award, of course—the sheer number of novels published each year means there’s plenty of accolades yet to go around—but we always like to start by reminding everyone, ourselves included, that we do this because it’s fun. It’s nonsense.
In no way do we pretend that the following 16 books constitute the definitive list of the best fiction released last year. or that the title earned by the rooster is the supreme domestic bird of all. But we hope the list is representative of the outstanding literature we found in the last 12 months (admittedly, mostly in English, mostly in novel form, and mostly in America).
everyone will disagree with some part of it, including the people who created it. Tob’s list exists specifically for you to enjoy, explore, rebuke, or discard. also, we have never claimed that this elimination process is fair. he is capricious and silly. but the resulting conversation is one we value, and we hope some of you will too.
But before we get into it, two quick shout-outs: First, to this year’s tournament sponsor, Chicago’s very own Field Notes. They’re longtime supporters of the ToB, and we greatly appreciate their support. We also love their notebooks and use them every day to keep track of all sorts of things. As they say, “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.” Keep an eye on this space for a ToB 2015 exclusive product coming soon.
Also, a big thank you to one of the world’s best bookstores, powell’s in portland, ore., who has been our book sponsor for many years. We also want to extend a warm welcome to vector media group, this year’s sponsor of the tob commentary booth. Since 2011, the vector development team has been our editorial partner, keeping the tob and tmn running smooth and fast all year long.
There are a few twists to this year’s list. For the first time, we’re suspending one of Tob’s long-standing unwritten rules. From the beginning, we have maintained that novels written by tmn staff (contributing editors and writers) should not be eligible for the shortlist. however, after much heartache, deliberation, and sustained discussion, we decided to include anthony doerr’s novel, all the light we cannot see.
tony has been a contributing writer for tmn since 2005, and his 2008 travel book, four seasons in rome, began as a column here. when the tournament starts we’ll talk in more detail about how that decision was made, but the short version is this: all the light we can’t see is possibly 2014’s literary history. (plus, he was an extreme favorite in a tmn poll readers.) so the short list would seem incomplete without him, and if his presence has the appearance of impropriety then we’ll have to deal with that, the same way chris christie will have to deal with the appearance of side hug gifs from jerry jones.
Furthermore, only 15 of these novels were chosen by the embarrassingly small, parochial, and mostly homogeneous tournament of book staff. for book 16, we consulted a small, independent bookstore in the middle of the country, the bookstore in glen ellyn, illinois, and asked its staff to give us the unique title of 2014 that they put in the hands of customers more often and more passionately about including them on our list. To be honest, the novel they came to us with, All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld, wasn’t even on our radar. we’re excited to see how the judges will do.
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another twist: kevin guilfoile and john warner will return to their usual places in the commentary booth, but we’ll also add some new perspectives to the privileged position. more on that later.
the list of finalists for the 2015 morning news book tournament
Click on any of the book titles below to get a 30 percent discount on this year’s Powell’s Competitors.
- silence once begun by jesse ball
- a brave man seven stories tall by will chancellor
- all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr
- those who leave and those who stay by elena ferrante
- a wild state by roxane gay
- wittgenstein jr by lars iyer
- brief story of seven murders by marlon james
- redistribution by phil klay
- station eleven by emily st. john mandel
- the bone clocks by david mitchell
- everything i never told you by celeste ng
- dept. of speculation by jenny offill
- adam by ariel schrag
- paying guests by sarah waters
- annihilation by jeff vandermeer
- all birds, sung by evie wyld
We’ve seeded these novels in an ncaa tournament style bracket; download it here [pdf]. each marching day, a single judge, presumably (although not necessarily, if history serves) having read both books, will choose one of them to advance, and will give a detailed account of the reasons why he has therefore decided furthermore, we will ask our judges to reveal any and all connections they have to the authors and titles involved.
The tournament will continue until there are two works left, at which point a couple of previously eliminated novels will be resurrected in our zombie round, where they’ll try to take down our presumed finalists. (at the end of this post you will find the opportunity to vote on which titles should rise from the grave). the winners of those contests will advance to the final match, where a verdict will be rendered by the vote of all the judges listed below.
and, as is our tradition, the winning author will be threatened with the presentation of a live rooster. local ordinances regarding livestock keeping may apply.
judges of the book tournament morning news 2015
elliot ackerman, author of the novel green on blue, served five tours of duty in iraq and afghanistan. His essays and fiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and Ecotone, among others. A former White House member, he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He currently lives in Istanbul with his wife and his two children, and writes about the Syrian civil war.
christina bevilacqua is the director of programs and public engagement at the providence athenaeum, a 19th-century library, where she chairs a weekly salon on topics such as history, visual arts, theater, politics, fashion, collecting, literature, music, architecture, science, education and urban policy. she also runs a monthly proust reading group.
Nicole Cliff is co-founder of Toast, a popular site for very strange women and men, and has contributed to The Hairpin, The Punch, McSweeney’s, and The Morning News. She lives in Utah with her husband and her children while she cultivates an air of mystery.
laura cogan is the editor of the literary magazine zyzzyva. The San Francisco-based magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2015.
elisabeth donnelly is flavorwire’s nonfiction editor. her journalism, essays, and reviews of her have been published in the new york times magazine, the boston globe, the los angeles times, the awl, and the paris review daily, among others. Along with Stu Sherman, she is the author, under the pseudonym Alex Flynn, of The Deformed.
manuel gonzales is the author of the collection the miniature wife and other stories and the next novel, the regional office is under attack! teaches creative writing at the university of kentucky.
matthea harvey is the author of five books of poetry; the most recent, if the tabloids are true, what are you? and Lamb, an Illustrated Erasure with Amy Jean Porter—and two children’s books, Cecil the Pet Glacier and The Little General and the Giant Snowflake. she teaches poetry at sarah lawrence college.
tayari jones is the author of three novels, the most recent, silver sparrow. She works on the MFA faculty at Rutgers-Newark University.
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alice sola kim is a writer and office manager. Her fiction has recently been or will soon be published in Tin House, Monsterous Affects: Anthology of Beastly Tales, McSweeney’s Literary Quarterly, and Magazine of Fantasy & science fiction.
Jessica Lamb-Shapiro is the author of Promised Land: My Journey Through America’s Self-Help Culture. She has written for the New York Times, Time, McSweeney’s, and The Believer magazine, and has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Macdowell Colony.
Victor Lavalle is the author of four books, the most recent being El Diablo de Plata. He lives in New York City with his family and teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Columbia University.
stephen marche is a novelist and columnist for esquire magazine.
the composer stephin merritt records under the names of the band the magnetic fields, the sixths, the gothic archies and the future heroes of the bible. Merritt has made 10 Magnetic Fields albums, including his popular 1999 album 69 Love Songs. he is currently composing for theater, television, film and dance, as well as record projects.
tob 2015 reader judge amanda mclendon lives in houston, texas, where she works full time for a library and part time for a small baptist church. she can read her random missives about religion, coffee and doctor who on twitter at @akmcclen.
j. Courtney Sullivan is the author of the New York Times best-selling novels, Beginning, Maine, and Compromises. Maine was named Time Magazine’s Best Book of the Year, and a Washington Post Featured Book in 2011. The Engagements was one of People Magazine’s Top Ten Books of 2013 and one of the Irish Times Best Books of the Year. it will be translated into 17 languages and will soon be a big movie produced by reese witherspoon.
victor “kool a.d.” vazquez is a post-american post-american neo-mestizo post-pop artist from the bay area who works primarily with language, light, sound, people and the internet. his debut novel o.k. comes from sorry house.
meg wolitzer‘s novels include The Interesting Ones, The Ten Year Nap, The Position, and The Wife. Her novel, Belzhar, was published in the fall. Wolitzer’s short fiction has been featured in Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Award, and is a frequent book reviewer for NPR’s All Things Considering.
There you have it: our books and judges for the 2015 tournament of books. finally, here’s your chance to vote for your favorite contender in the zombie poll. after all, your vote may decide which novel returns from the afterlife for a chance to win it all.
(one vote per person. Voting ends Monday, January 12 at midnight ET).
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that’s it! thank you, and see you back in March for the tournament. happy reading.
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