The 2026 Morning News Tournament of Books Begins Today: Bookish Fun and One of My Favorite Resources

I am on record (many times) writing and talking about how The Morning News Tournament of Books is the best best list for readers, plus it is a super fun way to present it. Also they look back at the year we just finished, so this "best" of 2025 list is not decided until March of 2026. I love that the dust has settled on the year before these books are paired off in judged brackets.

And it all begins TODAY!

But wait, I think I am getting a little ahead of myself here. Let's back up a bit.

What is the Tournament of Books? From the About page:

But it’s not really a contest. We’re not even sure it’s a “tournament.” What the ToB has been and will be, as long as we’re putting it on, is a month-long conversation about novels and reading and writing and art that takes place on weekdays in March.

Here’s how it works. Throughout the year, we gather, read, and assess the works of fiction we think would make worthy Tournament competitors. In December we present our findings in the form of a "long list." We then cull it to a final shortlist of 16 or so books. (Some years we expand the list beyond the core 16 to include an extra set of two or more books that compete in a pre-Tournament play-in match.)

When the Tournament of Books begins in March, each weekday two works of fiction go head to head, with one of our judges deciding which book moves forward in the brackets, according to whatever criteria matters to them. Along the way, the judges reveal their biases and interests, any connections they have to the participating authors, and, most importantly, an elaborate explanation of how they decided between the two books.

Following that day’s decision, we have color commentary in the form of a dialogue between two experts. From the beginning, our ToB Chairmen, authors Kevin Guilfoile and John Warner, have cracked wise, but we’ve also invited into the booth our favorite literary podcasters, independent booksellers from across the country, and novelists like Elliott Holt and Laura van den Berg. Think of it as a bigger-picture view of the proceedings from people who not only have read a ton of fiction, but who are also familiar with the way that the publishing industry makes the sausage, to bastardize a phrase. Then we leave it up to you, the readers, to add your own passionate thoughts and rebukes to the mix in the comments.

As I mentioned above, The 2026 ToB begins today. It is the 22nd year of this bookish fun! Click here  to see the full list of titles that are competing this year. OR Click here for a spread sheet of the full list with summaries of the books.

And please keep scrolling because there is a play in round and this amazing downloadable bracket which you can fill out for yourself. Don't let the college basketball fans be the only ones to have the bracketology fun.

Or make a display of this year's titles but add in titles from past years which are available with one click here-- again scroll down they are all there.

If you want to take an even deeper dive, you can read "A Brief History of the Tournament of Books." 

Everything ToB is organized and easy to find, use for yourself, or to get your readers interacting with books during this "March Madness" season. You go to the About page for the archive, where clicking on that year's winner brings you to the entire ToB for that same year. See 2026's event page here.

And there is always a landing page for the current year. It is an amazing resource of "best titles," but also you have PLENTY of books to make a display that can last you the entire month of March. Remember, there are 22 years of titles that have competed and they are all available with one click (and a scroll down).

When you go to the 2026 landing page, use the drop down menu in the top left by clicking on 2026 to choose how you interact with the ToB as it progresses. There are page options for:

• Today's Match
• The Books
• The Bracket-- filled in as it goes on 
• And info on the Judges

This year, I have a clear book I want to win, and it will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog or who has ever met me, it is The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. And its inclusion in this tourney is another reason I love the ToB as a resource.

The ToB is not your average book award or best list 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. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter's inclusion as a #2 seed, meaning it is a favorite to win it all, is but one example of this.

And because it happens in March each year, but the books are from the year before, the 2026 ToB uses 2025 books meaning that many of  the titles are already off holds. This is a list of the current reigning "best books" but because of the timing, they are actually available to be read without a wait.

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. You can learn about the judges whose information is after the books themselves on this page. Just the list of judges alone makes for its own resource to suggest books to readers.

Once the tourney begins 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. This is the easiest link to use to pull up each day's match-up and enjoy it for fun while also learning something new and unique about these popular books. Once it gets going you can follow the matches through the link to the in-progress bracket.

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. Plus those are the comments of regular readers. There is even a running commentary on the battle itself by the tournament organizers.

ToB has also 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. 

Speaking of the backlist AGAIN, I love the "Wall of Champions," which you can click here and scroll down to see. That page alone is an awesome "sure bet" resource.

I hope you find a way use the ToB as a resource to get your patrons excited about reading. You can use all of the past years to create a diverse (in every way) display to attract a wide swath of readers.