The Tournament of Books kicked off today! This is an annual “competition” that The Morning News holds every year where 16 books face off leading up to the announcement of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. It’s been a great motivating list to read books that people both in and outside of the publishing industry have been sharing and discussing, and more often than not has exposed me to authors and other books that I have greedily devoured and shared. It’s also been a great reminder of why I am interning in the first place – I love books, love talking about books, and am a huge nerd. I’ve only managed to read 10 out of the 16 books but it has been great fodder for conversation here and at home.
What’s also great about the list is that it represents authors of varying age, experience, gender, ethnicity, and geography. Each book is starkly different from the next , each protagonist is cherished for a new reason, and every ending had me thinking about fiction in a new way. The Marriage Plot, the first book I read from the list, completely blew me away, left me wanting more and loving the three main characters so much that I ached and pained for all of their misery, strife, and challenges. Open City was a pleasure to read mostly for its ode to the hidden gems of New York City (seriously – I think it’s the first high brow fiction book I’ve read that shouts out Malecon Restaurant in the Heights). At the end, you’re not sure that you trust or even like Julius, the Nigerian psychiatrist navigating us through memory, time, and New York City, which turned out to be one of the eeriest feelings I had about a book’s ending in a really long time. And I can’t even begin to wrap my head around how awesome and groundbreaking State of Wonder is…seriously, GO READ THIS NOW.
I used to be really opposed to book lists. I never really liked knowing what I was going to pick up next. Discovering new books, or being recommended books (my favorite pastime in the world) was the best component of being a reader. But now, I salute TMN for guiding me through some of 2011’s best books and leading me to new ones that weren’t on the list (must read The Pale King at some point), for exposing me to new authors I would have never found on my own (Helen DeWitt is hilarious and Donald Ray Pollack makes Stephen King look like Disney). Reading all of these books has honestly motivated me more in my career, reiterating the already known fact that books are an important part of my personality. I can only hope to dirty my editor’s hands in a future TOB finalist.
– BeaustieBoy