My heart was broken when Skippy Dies lost out to A Visit From The Goon Squad. Not that I've actually read Goon Squad, but I loved Skippy. Based on title and cover alone, I expected Bloodroot to beat out The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. I was wrong about that one. I took a risky guess on Nox beating out Lord Of Misrule and that worked out for me.
So now we're onto the semi-finals and I wanted to make some predictions:
Freedom v. Room
This is a tough one. I'm favoring Freedom to win the whole thing, but Room is a really strong novel and well-loved. I'm concerned that the anti-Franzen sentiment out there will give Room an edge. I am, however, unabashedly a Franzen fan. (match detail)
Winner: Freedom (correct!)
The Finkler Question v. A Visit From the Goon Squad
Here's another hard one. Both of these books have won awards (Finkler: Man Booker; Goon Squad: National Book Critics Circle Award). I'm going to base the award they've won. I liked more of the Nation Bool Critics Circle past winners (see also, Man Booker previous winners), so I'm going to follow their judgement. Also, I just have this gut feeling that Goon Squad is gonna win this round. (match detail)
Winner: Goon Squad (correct!)
Nox v. Next
This one is easier than the previous two because I think the gimmick behind Nox isn't strong enough to take out Next. (match detail)
Winner: Next (correct!)
Model Home v. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Both of these have crappy covers, but Lemon Cake has the crappiest cover. So here's to judging a book by it's cover! (match detail)
Winner: Model Home (fail!)
Some additional notes:
- I know that Nox isn't really a gimmick, but it kinda is too. Also, the whole is it fiction or is it non-fiction confusion sort of sets it back in my opinion. Also is the question of whether the format itself is really a novel kind of bugs me.
- I've been told that I'd really like Aimee Bender (Lemon Cake) if I just gave her a shot. I will do this and report back. Although nothing will change that book's crappy cover.
- Reading through all of this I'm realizing how superficial it is... but whatever. It's fun.
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