The Tournament of Books

The Tournament of Books is the bookish answer to March Madness created by the daily news site The Morning News. Each March, sixteen books that were published in the previous year are pitted against one another to be voted on by authors, bloggers, and critics. It is all kinds of wonderful to watch. The books meet up in brackets and move on through finals. The two books that make it through ultimately compete in a Tournament Championship - the winner enjoys the honor of the Rooster award (rightly named after the younger brother of David Sedaris). I enjoy the ToB every year, but this year the championship round was especially exciting for me personally as two of my favorite books from last year made it into the final round.

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson pulled me in so many directions. First there are the horrors of life in North Korea which are almost hard to believe. Then there is the truth of politics and fear mongering and the realization that no one is too far from this sort of life. And finally there is the will of the human spirit, the inevitability of death, and the question of just how much one can take. This novel is very well written and very, very intense. It was often hard to read but I could never put it down. I was completely invested in the lives of Jun Do and Sun Moon.

Then there is The Fault in Our Stars. There is no denying that I am a full on John Green convert after having read this novel. This is the third blog about him here in the last few months. The Fault in Our Stars in undoubtedly a great book. The writing is so great, the characters so clever and lovable. The romance is so absolutely believable because even the reader falls a little in love with Hazel and Augustus. Everyone worries that this is a “kids with cancer” book and in recommending it over the last year I have had to assure a few adult readers that it is so much more than that. TFiOS is a novel about life, what it is to be young and to fall in love, and what it means to be damaged. Not just a great YA novel but a great novel.

I can say with all honesty that I have no idea which of these novels I would have chosen as the winner of the Tournament of Books. What's so great about this tournament though is its transparency. Each bracket is accompanied by commentary by the judges so that followers know exactly why each book wins its bracket. Ultimately The Orphan Master's Son came out ahead of The Fault in Our Stars (14 to 3) and I found myself pleased by the results. What Johnson did in his novel was daring and tragic and ultimately beautiful. The scope and implications of what he wrote about life and fiction and the worlds we create for ourselves as well as those we are forced into has still got me thinking about my place months after turning the last page.

World Book Night: The First Batch

My reading comfort zone is pretty wide. Being a bookseller forces me to read all over the spectrum, but even with that these thirty titles are tugging at the edges of my regular reading areas. I wanted to get to the titles that were furthest from my usual fare within the first five so I conquered Nora Roberts and John Grisham – to mixed results.

There were two titles on the WBN list that I had never heard of. One of these was Glaciers by Alexis Smith. I was really intrigued by this pick. Smith is a bookseller at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon and Glaciers is a small press title. Unlike most, if not all, of the books on this year's list Glaciers has not been a bestseller. I had to know what hoisted this slim volume onto the list and I knew it had to be my first WBN read. Glaciers is a brief novel about a single day in Isabel's life as a twenty something librarian living in Portland. Through ruminations on time, place, and a complicated love interest the short span of the novel is able to reflect on the life of a young woman. Smith has written a delicate, lyrical work that is both deeply sad and charming. I didn't love this novel, but it definitely captured the spirit of young adulthood and I can see myself recommending it to a lot of people (anyone who watches HBO's Girls for example) which makes it a great pick for World Book Night.

Looking for Alaska was John Green's first novel and his big book before the release of The Fault in Our

Stars. As I've said before, it is also a book I have been frequently chastised for having not read. So, thanks WBN for forcing me to correct another reading error! This book is an emotional roller coaster; it made me feel like a teenager again. There is so much up and down, depression, mania, and all of the emotion is just so raw. Miles is suffering the ennui of all sixteen year old kids, and his obsession with last words spurs him on to seek the “Great Perhaps” of Francois Rabelais. He meets Alaska Young on his first day at his new boarding school (obviously not the first place I would seek Greatness, but what are your options at sixteen?). The series of boarding school hijinks that follows is elevated by Green's understanding of young people and his belief in their worldview (most heavily evidenced in Alaska's impressive analysis of Garcia Marquez). Green is definitely one of the best YA authors I have read, and I cannot foresee anyone having trouble passing this novel out on the 23^rd.

Okay, here's the thing, I enjoyed reading Nora Robert's Montana Sky. Believe me, no on was more surprised than myself. The novel begins with the line “Being dead didn't make Jack Mercy less of a son of a bitch,” and really it only gets better from there. This is the story of three estranged sisters and the ranch they must work together to maintain. And there's murder. And sex. And it's all pretty fun. There was a lot in this novel that felt odd to me (it is basically all plot for one) but reading it made me understand a lot about genre fiction. The bulk of which can be explained thusly, it's comforting to read. It's nice to know what's going to happen and just follow the author as she weaves the narrative together. Montana Sky is not a novel that you work at or need to digest – it's just entertaining to read. And that's great.

I can say with confidence that Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street is the most beautiful book onThe Book Thief on last year's list, that begs to be felt. What I can tell you about Cisneros' novel (or series of short stories) is that it will make you ache. For the loss, for the fight, and for the shame and the pride of the characters. Cisneros' tells a story that is real and true.

the WBN list. The language is so poetic and full of life. It is a novel that is composed of a fluid poetry that I look forward to reading again and again. This is another novel, like

This last novel and I did not get along. John Grisham's Playing for Pizza is just not a novel for me. It completely lacks a plot and the main character is as unsympathetic as they come. No really, I have felt more towards murders described in novels than I ever felt for Rick Dockery. The novel is a mere recitation of football games and Italian meals (the novel is about an American football player who moves to Italy). I never felt lost while reading Friday Night Lights last year because the author did not set out to write a story for just football fans; Grisham obviously felt differently – I did not know what half of the football terminology meant. Clearly this is my own opinion and football fans and Grisham fans may love this novel, but I could not help but wish WBN had chosen a legal thriller as I would have much preferred that introduction to Grisham's work.

Victoria Reviews: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

I don't normally spend my time reading lifelike stories, so John Green books are something new to me. Most of the time, I prefer to read about magic and aliens rather than regular kids in high school, and I actively avoid novels that portray ordinary life. However, I've been hearing glowing recommendations for John Green for quite a while now, so when Michelle asked me to read one of his books, I quickly accepted. That night, I curled up with a copy of Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

I was a bit surprised by the book and the way it was written. The story follows the points of view of two different boys, both named Will Grayson, and the events that lead up to their meeting point as well as the repercussions that follow. Each chapter alternates between their narration. The first Will Grayson seems to be a decently normal, shy kid, and the oddest thing about him is his best friend. Will Grayson #1 is best friends with a flamboyantly homosexual boy named Tiny, ironically nicknamed for his very large size. Will Grayson #2 seems depressed and angry, and he's harboring a deep secret that he hasn't yet shared with the world. The writing of his point of view differs from Will Grayson #1 because it doesn't use any capital letters and often leaves out punctuation as well (something which annoyed the Grammarian in me at first but which was surprisingly easy to get used to).

The oddest thing about this book, to me, was that the main story wasn't even about either of the Will Graysons. The actual plot revolved around Will #1's best friend, Tiny Cooper. The Will Graysons were just the vehicles for Tiny's story to be told. They were almost minor characters, in their own way, and their own personal journeys only seemed important because of how they affected Tiny. It was an interesting way to read a story.

John Green and his contributor, David Levithan, did an excellent job on characterization. The characters are normal, flawed people just like anyone you'd meet on the street. They have doubts, fears, and awkward moments, and they make mistakes just like the rest of us. At the same time, their ordinariness does not make the story uninteresting. Contrariwise, the story is interesting in part because they are ordinary. The characters embody the traits of the kind of people that everyone knows. Everybody knows someone who is always at the center of attention. Everyone knows a shy kid. Everyone knows the guy who treats everyone else with contempt. We all have that friend who we love even though they frequently embarrass us in public. The story is an easy one to like because there's something for everyone to identify with. It's also a rather emotional read because the realness of the characters makes them easy to care about.

I think Will Grayson, Will Grayson was a good start for me on John Green. I'll definitely be picking up his other books in the near future. I recommend you do the same.