The Tournament of Books is now complete. In the final round The Sisters Brothers took on Open City. I tried reading the former and loved the latter. The Sisters Brothers won decisively. It was a great tournament. I'll have to give The Sister Brothers another chance.
In other book competition news, the Pulitzer Prize for literature was announced this week. The three finalists were (click the titles for my reviews):
- Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
- Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
- The Pale King by the late David Foster Wallace
Amazingly, the Pulitzer committee could not agree on a winner so no one won! Author Ann Patchett had a lot to say about the committee's shortcoming in a NYT's piece (click here). Having read two of the three nominees and being familiar with the legend of the last, I'm surprised and very disappointed. The committee is comprised of three judges and a consensus of two of three wins. Each judge must have been locked into one candidate and refused to budge. Meanwhile a year goes by without an award, without recognizing great literature and without giving literature a much needed publicity boost.
Finally, when it comes to recently read books, there are two that I'd add to any reading list:
Open City by Teju Cole (simply gorgeous)
Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau (thought provoking and worthwhile)
In the non-fiction world, brace yourself for the forthcoming fourth volume of Robert Caro's Lyndon Johnson series. If you have not read Caro before you have missed the greatest master of biography. The NYT Magazine did a terrific piece on him (click here).
Meanwhile, don't let the stacks of books overrun you and happy reading.
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