Tournament of Books

This is more my speed than filling out the NCAA forms that circulate my office every February. (Or is it March?) I've read three of the four #1 seeds (all but the Tom Wolfe, which I will probably leave unread at my death). The judging process is a bit wacked and arbitrary, but this is for fun and probably not any more wonky than the judging of the Booker or Pulitzer.

Unless the judges need to impress with their marginality, I predict a playoff between Cloud Atlas and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, both of which I loved. Plot Against America is an excellent book, but more in idea than execution. It is far from Roth's best (I wouldn't even put it in his top 5) and cops out at the end, as if he wanted it to see publication in advance of the election. For all the good it did.