We still have a few weeks to go until the NCAA brackets are announced but I’m already getting excited. No matter that I haven’t watched one game this year. Or that I can’t remember who won last year. It’s all about the thrill of betting against your friends and (hopefully) throwing it in their faces when you win.
A lesser known tournament that I’m equally excited about is also getting under way – the 2008 Tournament of Books, sponsored by my favorite website, The Morning News. For those of you who like to read, this is a NCAA-style tournament that pits new, talked about works of fiction against each other in head-to-head battle. Although they haven’t released the bracket yet, the book list was announced today:
Run by Ann Patchett
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
Ovenman by Jeff Parker
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
You Don’t Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
New England White by Stephen L. Carter
Remainder by Tom McCarthy
The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida
Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
My friends tend to dislike fiction, so I’ve never been able to get a pool going. Who’s in?
NERD!!1
No wonder E calls you “booksy.”