Tournament of Books

The mysterious Al at Blood and Thunder passed along this link for "The First Annual TMN Tournament of Books". It's the lit blogger rebuttal to all of the various marketing-infested book awards, as determined by everyday bloggers. That's "everyday" in the sense that they're not faceless publishing conglomerates--the judges are actually some of the lit blog heavies, including Maud Newton (maudnewton.com), Mark Sarvas (The Elegant Variation) and Jessa Crispin (Bookslut)--all of whom, I now see, have already posted about this tournament, thus rendering my scoop moot. The tournament bracket has been thoughtfully formatted in a sharp-looking .pdf file.

My money's on Roth. He's got the reputation and resumé, he's a liberal, and he had the uncanny timing to publish a book about systematic ethnic intolerance and oppression during the presidential election that will now be giving us four more years of same. Ward Just is my sentimental favorite, but I don't see him getting out of the first round. Wolfe deserves to be trounced, if for no other reasons that to pass off the horribly constructed sex scenes of his latest as being intentionally "ironic."