The Tournament of Books 2015 | Raging Biblio-holism

The Tournament of Books 2015: Predictions

March 7, 2015 by Drew

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… it’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s Tournament of Books time! It’s snuck up on me a little bit this year – but maybe that’s just because, astonishingly, I finished my reading in early February this year. I went 14 for 16 this year, opting not to tackle Sarah Waters’ tome-like The Paying Guests nor Elena Ferrante’s Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. I figure I’ll probably catch the Ferrante […]

Categories: Features • Tags: Features, Field Notes, Field Notes Brand, Field Nuts, Predictions, So Many Damn Books, The Morning News, The Tournament of Books, The Tournament of Books 2015

An Untamed State

February 23, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Mireielle Duval Jameson is the daughter of a wealthy Haitian businessman – and when she’s kidnapped in broad daylight in front of her husband and son, everyone expects he’ll pay the ransom quickly. Instead, she is held and brutalized for 13 days and the woman who finally finds freedom, when it comes, might not be the same woman who was taken. The Review: I nearly stopped reading this book after about 60 pages. And although I did […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: An Untamed State, BEA14, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Feminism, Fiction, Gender, Haiti, Kidnapping, Literature, Politics, Rape, Reviews, Roxane Gay, Sex, Sexual Assault, The Tournament of Books 2015

Silence Once Begun

February 20, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: After his marriage dissolves due to his wife’s silence, a journalist named Jesse Ball begins looking into a strange case in Japan known as “the Narito Disappearances” – a case that had no leads, no trace, until a mysteriously signed confession appears. But the man who confessed remains silent and Ball tries to uncover what really happened to Oda Sotatsu, the man who confessed to a crime he did not commit. The Review: I’d like to frame the beginning […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Crime, Fiction, Japan, Jesse Ball, Journalism, Literature, Metafiction, Reviews, Silence Once Begun, The Tournament of Books 2015

A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall

February 11, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Owen Burr is meant to play water polo in the Athens Olympics but after an accident in his last collegiate game leaves him blind in one eye, he takes off to Berlin where he falls in with a dangerous artist crowd. Meanwhile, his father sets off in his footsteps to try and find him – inciting a minor international incident or two in the process. Their stories take them from California to Athens to Berlin to Iceland, a minor […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall, Academia, Art, Athens, Berlin, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Iceland, Liminalism, Literature, Mythology, Olympics, Philosophy, Reviews, The Tournament of Books 2015, Will Chancellor

All the Birds, Singing

February 6, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Jake Whyte lives by herself, raising sheep, in a small farm community on an island off the coast of England. She’s fled from a bleak past in Australia, revealed over the course of the novel – and possibly hunted now by some strange creature killing her sheep. When a mysterious man comes to stay with her, she must address both her history and her present. The Review: What a curious novel. It reads in almost a single sitting, thanks […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: All the Birds, All the Birds Singing, Australia, Book Reviews, Books, Evie Wyld, Farming, Fiction, Literature, Reviews, Singing, The Tournament of Books 2015

A Brief History of Seven Killings

February 2, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: In 1976, gunmen attempted to assassinate Bob Marley on the eve of the great Smile Jamaica Concert. The novel begins the day before the assassination attempt and then leaps forward over nearly 20 ensuing years between Jamaica, Miami, and New York City – painting a rich portrait of crime, drugs, violence, journalism, CIA spooks, and music. The Review: A Brief History is one of those stories that isn’t about anything so much as it is about the world we’ve […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: A Brief History of Seven Killings, Bob Marley, CIA, Cocaine, Crack, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Fiction, Gang Warfare, Gangs, History, Jamaica, Journalism, Kingston, Literature, Marlon James, Miami, Music, New York City, Politics, Rasta, Rastafarian, Reggae, The New Yorker, The Tournament of Books 2015

Everything I Never Told You

January 26, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Lydia is dead, but her family doesn’t know it just yet. When they do find out, though, the Lees begin to uncover all sorts of other secrets that they’ve all kept from one another – and realise the difficulty of keeping your own life healthy while supporting the lives of others. The Review: So I listened to this as an audiobook, for So Many Damn Books reasons, and I say this up front because I think it affected my […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: audiobook, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You, Family, Fiction, Literature, Reviews, So Many Damn Books, The Tournament of Books 2015

Adam

January 22, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: When straight awkward male teenager Adam goes to stay with his older sister in New York City for the summer, he’s ready for his life to change. She’s in the midst of the gay rights movement and drags Adam along – and suddenly he discovers that lots of hot ladies are interested in him… because they think he’s transgendered. So he plays along. The Review: I’m kind of astonished by this novel. I’m astonished that Alison Bechdel gave […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Adam, Ariel Schrag, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Gay, Gender, GLBTQ, Lesbian, Literature, New York City, Orientation, Reviews, Romance, Sexuality, The Tournament of Books 2015, Trans

Wittgenstein Jr.

January 20, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Cambridge University. A class of boys taking philosophy under the strange tutelage of a man they dub Wittgenstein. Over the course of the term, they will question so many things about philosophy and life. The Review: I am a fan of philosophy. A book-length novel that essentially just discourses on life, reason, philosophy… it’s not for everyone, not for all times, but sometimes (for me), it’s exactly what you need. Enter Wittgenstein Jr.. Now, I didn’t study any Wittgenstein in my few […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Cambridge, Cambridge University, Fiction, Lars Iyer, Literature, Philosophy, Reviews, The Tournament of Books 2015, University, Wittgenstein, Wittgenstein Jr.

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: The Tournament of Books 2015