Friday, February 06, 2009

2009 tournament of books


The Morning News announced the contenders in their fifth annual Tournament of Books.

The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
2666, Roberto Bolano
A Partisan’s Daughter, Louis de Bernieres
The Northern Clemency, Philip Hensher
The Lazarus Project, Aleksandar Hemon
My Revolutions, Hari Kunzru
Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart
Shadow Country, Peter Matthiessen
The Dart League King, Keith Lee Morris
A Mercy, Toni Morrison
Steer Towards Rock, Fae Myenne Ng
Netherland, Joseph O’Neill
City of Refuge, Tom Piazza
Home, Marilynne Robinson
Harry, Revised, Mark Sarvas

The list was announced a few weeks ago for the benefit of those, such as me, who would like to read some or all of the books prior to the contest, which starts in March. I've already read Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth and many of these books are on the TBR list I made from the '08 New York Times Notables, the Booker Prize, and the National Book Award nominees. The unabridged audio version of Netherland just came in at the library, thus sparing me the worry of where to begin.

You can read more about the Tournament of Books and see past contenders/winners here.

4 comments:

Caryl said...

Cool! Any ideas on what book will win this year? It's a great lineup.

jennifer said...

I have no idea!! It's such an eclectic list. Mostly I'm excited to read some authors I've never before read, such as E. Lockhart.

Girl Detective said...

2666 seems to be the heavyweight, both in size and reputation, I think, having made most of the best-of lists.

I've got City of Refuge and Harry, Revised, from my local library, and I'll start them once I'm done with Edgar Sawtelle, which I am enjoying and was surprised to see didn't make the list.

jennifer said...

GD, I'm with you on 2666, though you really never can tell with the Tournament judges, which reminds me that I should re-read all the 2008 rounds with Savage Detectives. Have you read Bolano? I'll be interested to hear about the Piazza. I'm starting with E. Lockhart's YA novel.