Click here to see the completed tourney.
Every year I repost my explanations as to why it is such a valuable and unique RA resource. This is not your average book award and not only because it is a battle between the books as judged by other writers using a bracket system. With ToB we also get the most diverse list of “best books” you will see anywhere, both diverse in authorship and genre. [Look at the 2019 winner if you don't believe me. It is an all time Becky favorite too].
And because it happens in March each year, but the books are from 2020, there are a lot of titles that are already off the holds shelf. So it's a current "best list" option of a wide range of best books, many of which are on the shelf.
With ToB you not only learn about great books and why they are wonderful, but you also learn about the judges themselves, also a very diverse group of people throughout the publishing industry. Each “battle” has a full write up which gets to the heart of the two books’ appeal and structure. These essays give us valuable information on who would like the book and why. Readalikes are also often mentioned.
Oh and the comments. The readers who follow along religiously and have entire discussions about each pairing of books for pages and pages are THE BEST. Following just the comments is like reading a novel itself. There is even a running commentary on the battle itself by the tournament organizers.
And don’t forget the back list. 16 previous years of backlist tourneys to be exact. Each with their own full bank of the above mentioned information and more! Every single page of ToB has the links to every past year [bottom right].
Oh and the comments. The readers who follow along religiously and have entire discussions about each pairing of books for pages and pages are THE BEST. Following just the comments is like reading a novel itself. There is even a running commentary on the battle itself by the tournament organizers.
And don’t forget the back list. 16 previous years of backlist tourneys to be exact. Each with their own full bank of the above mentioned information and more! Every single page of ToB has the links to every past year [bottom right].
This has become my go-to resource for "literary fiction." Why? Because the ToB takes the idea of "literary" titles, titles worthy of being deemed as worth your time [which I hate but it is a thing], and gives it a wide berth. I especially love using the backlist titles for book discussions.
Click here for every ToB post on RA for All over the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment