I'm doing things a little differently this year. My husband suggested some light seeding so that we're not running into the problem that one of my favourite books is getting knocked out in the first or second round because I read it near the time I read another favourite book. So the set-up is a bit different, but a lot of it is still random, and I think it's going to work. I failed to read the perfect 128 books this year, so there are a fair number of byes in the first round.
Round One:
Bye #1: My Real Children by Jo Walton
Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeer vs. Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis
The first contest of the year, and due to the weird way I'm setting it up, these are actually books I read fairly recently, so they are relatively fresh in my mind. (When I was setting up my brackets, I found one book from early in the year that I have little to no memory of.) Here, though, we have the final book in Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy, all of which I've really enjoyed. This third one split the narrative voice and the time period, and I was satisfied with what answers we got, and enjoyed the trip to get there. Fifteen Dogs was a book that I felt more like I was supposed to love it than that I actually did. I think it is probably objectively a good book, but it hit no real emotional chord.
Winner: Acceptance
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan vs. Countdown City by Ben Winter
Most of these first round choices are going to be much easier than previous years - the cost for that is that later rounds are going to be excruciating for me. I liked Brain on Fire well enough while I was reading it, it didn't stick with me. and this middle book in Ben Winter's Last Policeman trilogy definitely did. His look at a world on the verge of ending was thoughtful and intriguing.
Winner: Countdown City
Jaran by Kate Elliott vs. To A God Unknown by John Steinbeck
I really did not like Jaran very much. It was a serviceable romance wrapped up in colonialist tropes that she tried to get away with because the tribal people were white. I'm never convinced by that, and I wasn't by a whole lot else in this book either. On the other hand, while To A God Unknown wasn't Steinbeck's best, his mediocre is still well worth a read. The connection to the land, conflicting religious and spiritual impulses, it all added up to something.
Winner: To A God Unknown
The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe vs. H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
I tried to give Gene Wolfe the benefit of the doubt with this series but by the second book it was apparent that none of the flaws were going to go away, and what had been tolerable for one book was absolutely irritating in a second. (Plus some terrible writing about sex and women's boobs.) So trust me, Claw of the Conciliator isn't going to win. However, I didn't love H is for Hawk. I think I'm getting a little tired of memoirs where one loses both parent and themselvf, going to huge extremes to cope, like taking up hawking and trying to become a hawk. I am even more tired of them after this year in which I lost my Mom and am broken in ways I cannot even begin to express and yet have still managed to remain a relatively sane human being. I am not saying people can't have extreme reactions to grief. I am saying that I am frustrated that that's the only cultural narrative we seem to get, and it overlooks long-term sadness that comes and goes and isn't for anyone's entertainment.
However, Helen MacDonald never grabbed her boobs and said she wasn't really made for running, tee hee hee, so she still wins.
Winner: H is for Hawk
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh vs. The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
I like Paolo Bacigalupi's writing, and I want to like his books, really I do. But this one had such a streak of ugly nihilism running right down the centre that I can respect it as a piece of work while feeling repulsed by it. And in the other corner, we have Allie Brosh's lovely cartoons that have made me cry, I've been laughing so hard. Many of the best I'd already read online, but in a world of grimdark bullshit, I'll take my smiles where I can, maybe even especially when they're shot through by streaks of depression and mental illness.
Winner: Hyperbole and a Half
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