Tournament of Books 2020

Morning News Tournament of Books
Rooster Award for best fiction
15th edition
sponsored by Field Notes and Powell's
details | daily
Each weekday in March, starting March 6, 2019, two of the books below will be read and considered by one of our judges (also listed below). One book from the “match” will be chosen to advance, with the judge required to explain in detail how he or she came to their decision. Then the judge’s decision is evaluated first by our official commentators, then by you, the Rooster fan, wherein you politely and respectfully describe how your heart was broken and your mind inflamed by such erroneous arrogance. And the next day we do it all over again.

That time of year again...

YAY! the shortlist for this annual tournament has been announced.

I read a few last year and the rest are in my tbr pile. The next couple months will be devoted to reading from this list before the competition begins.

~*~
WINNER: Normal People by Sally Rooney
~*~
THE SHORTLIST:

All This Could Be Yours
by Jami Attenberg
-Contemporary
Goodreads | my rating: 5

Fleishman Is in Trouble
by Taffy Akner
-Contemporary
Goodreads | my rating: 5

Girl, Woman, Other
by Bernardine Evaristo
-Literary, Feminism, Short Stories
Goodreads | my review: DNF

Lost Children Archive
by Valeria Luiselli
-Literary
Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen
by Dexter Palmer
-Historical
Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

Normal People
by Sally Rooney
-Literary, Ireland
Goodreads | my rating: 5

Nothing to See Here
by Kevin Wilson
-Magical Realism
Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong
-Literary, Poetry, LGBTQ, Asian American, Vietnam
Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

Optic Nerve
by María Gainza
-Short stories, Art
Goodreads | my review: tba

Overthrow
by Caleb Crain
-ScFi, LGBTQ
Goodreads | my review: tba

Saudade
Suneeta Peres da Costa
-Historical, Africa, Portugal, India, Australia
Goodreads | my rating: 4

The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
-Dystopia, Feminism
Goodreads | my review: tba

Trust Exercise
by Susan Choi
-Literary, Coming of Age
Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

The Water Dancer
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
-Historical, Magical Realism, African American
Goodreads | my review: tba

Your House Will Pay
by Steph Cha
-Mystery, Historical
Goodreads | my review: tba

PLAY-IN ROUND:

Golden State
by Ben H. Winters
-SciFi, Mystery
Goodreads | my rating: 5

Oval
by Elvia Wilk
-SciFi, Dystopia
Goodreads | my rating: DNF

We Cast a Shadow
by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
-SciFi
Goodreads | my rating: 5

Conviction by Mina Denise

Conviction
by Mina Denise

Published: 2019
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Hardback: 376
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
Just tell the truth.

The day Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life explodes starts off like all the days before: packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone.

Reeling and desperate for distraction, Anna returns to the podcast. Other people's problems are much better than one's own--a sunken yacht, a murdered family, a hint of international conspiracy, but this case actually is Anna's problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life, a life she's taken great pains to leave behind, and she is convinced that she knows what really happened.

Then an unexpected visitor arrives on her front stoop; a meddling neighbor intervenes; and life as Anna knows it is well and truly over. The devils of her past are awakened--and in hot pursuit. Convinced she has no other options, she goes on the run, and in pursuit of the truth, with a washed-up musician at her side and the podcast as her guide.

My two-bits:

In for a wild ride with this one. Loved the true crime podcast element folded into this storyline.

~*~
* part of Reese's Book Club 2019 (here)

Reese's Book Club 2020

Reese's Book Club
@ReesesBookClub

2020

JANUARY:

Such A Fun Age
by Kiley Reid
Contemporary | Goodreads | my rating: 5
FEBRUARY:

The Scent Keeper
by Erica Bauermeister
Women's Fiction | Goodreads | my rating: 5
MARCH:

The Jetsetters
by Amanda Eyre Ward
Women's Fiction, Travel | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 4
APRIL:

Untamed
by Glennon Doyle
Memoir, Self-help | Goodreads | my rating: 5
MAY:

The Henna Artist
by Alka Joshi
Historical, India | Goodreads | my rating: 5
JUNE and JULY:

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Memoir, Race | Goodreads | my rating: 4

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Mystery, Thriller | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

AUGUST:

Everything Inside
by Edwidge Danticat
Short Stories | Goodreads | my rating: tba

You Should See Me in a Crown
by Leah Johnson
YA, LGBTQ | Goodreads | my rating: tba

SEPTEMBER:

The Last Story of Mina Lee
by Nancy Jooyun Kim
Contemporary, Mystery, Korean | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 4

Furia
by Yamile Saied Méndez
YA, Sports, South America | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

OCTOBER:

His Only Wife
by Peace Adzo Medie
Contemporary, Feminism, Western Africa, Ghana | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 4

Fable
by Adrienne Young
YA, Fantasy | Goodreads

NOVEMBER:

Group:
How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life
by Christie Tate
Memoir, Psychology | Goodreads

A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow
by Laura Taylor Namey
YA, Romance, Travel | Goodreads

DECEMBER:

The Chicken Sisters
by K.J. Dell'Antonia
Chick-lit | Goodreads | my rating: tba

The Light In Hidden Places
by Sharon Cameron
YA, Historical, Poland | Goodreads | my rating: tba
~*~
* header image source: reese

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

Talking to Strangers:
What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know
by Malcolm Gladwell

Published: 2019
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Psychology
Hardback: 388
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
In July 2015, a young African American woman named Sandra Bland drove from her hometown of Chicago to a little town an hour west of Houston, Texas.

Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers -- and why they often go wrong.

How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to each other that isn't true?

While tackling these questions, Malcolm Gladwell was not solely writing a book for the page. He was also producing for the ear. In the audiobook version of Talking to Strangers, you'll hear the voices of people he interviewed--scientists, criminologists, military psychologists. Court transcripts are brought to life with re-enactments. You actually hear the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland by the side of the road in Texas. As Gladwell revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, you hear directly from many of the players in these real-life tragedies. There's even a theme song - Janelle Monae's "Hell You Talmbout."

Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world.

My two-bits:

Like his other books, I love Malcolm's insight and analysis into the topics he chooses. This book includes hot current topics to illustrate his points which are pretty spot on.

Foreign Intrigue Book Club 2020

Foreign Intrigue Book Club
face-to-face (details)
Books, Inc. Laurel Village
Do you like to travel? Experience a country through the eyes of a local? Try the food of another country?

2020

DECEMBER/JANUARY:

The Blood Strand
(Faroes #1)
by Chris Ould
Mystery, Faroe Islands, Denmark | Goodreads | my rating: 4
FEBRUARY:

Evil Things
(Hella Mauzer #1)
by Katja Ivar
Mystery, Historical, Helsinki, Finland | Goodreads | my rating: 4
MARCH:

Department of Sensitive Crimes
by Alexander McCall Smith
Mystery, Humor, Sweden | Goodreads | my rating: 5
APRIL:

Kolymsky Heights
by Lionel Davidson
Mystery, Russian, Siberia | Goodreads | my rating: 4
MAY:

Athenian Blues
by Pol Koutsakis
Mystery, Greece | Goodreads | my rating: tba
JUNE:

Weeping Waters
by Karin Brynard
Mystery, South Africa | Goodreads | my rating: 5
JULY:

Don’t Send Flowers
by Martin Solares
Mystery, Crime, Mexico | Goodreads | my rating: 5
AUGUST:

Death Comes In Through The Kitchen
by Teresa Dovalpage
Mystery, Food, Havana | Goodreads | my rating: tba
SEPTEMBER:

The Levanter
by Eric Ambler
Mystery, Espionage, Syria | Goodreads | my rating: dnf
OCTOBER:

Beside the Syrian Sea
by James Wolff
Mystery, Thriller, Syria | Goodreads | my rating: dnf
NOVEMBER:

Among The Ruins by Ausma Zehanat Khan
Mystery, Canada, Iran| Goodreads | my rating: 4 zombie sighting:
After she'd made the offer she had a sudden vision of Zack painting the room black shuttering its windows and creating a collage of zombies in various stages of decay.
-chapter 26

DECEMBER/JANUARY:

Overkill
by Vanda Symon
Mystery, New Zealand | Goodreads | my rating: 4