Play Book Tag discussion

The next series of posts will indicate the winners of our 16 bracket voting round.

BRACKET A

Kingsolver, Barbara v.
See, Lisa

Morrison, Toni v.
Hannah, Kristin

BRACKET B

Towles, Amor v.
Strout, Elizabeth

Patchett, Ann v.
Hoffman, Alice**

**only round with outcome significantly impacted by "extra" earned votes in this bracket

BRACKET C

Boyne, John v.
Atwood, Margaret

Backman, Fredrik
Ishiguro, Kazuo**


**only round with outcome impacted by "extra" earned votes in this bracket, but it was extremely close without the extra votes, and the amount of extra votes cast was enormous making Ishiguro the runaway winner.

BRACKET D

Turow, Scott v.
King, Stephen

Austen, Jane v.
Bujold, Lois McMaster

Darn, it looks like you closed the voting early. I wish I could have saved Backman. Oh well, that just means that (deleted) - I have a LOT Of extra votes for the next round.

I'm really glad that Jane Austen won this round. I would have been seriously disappointed if she had'nt.

Nancy, I may be misunderstanding what you wrote, but you can no longer read Backman to earn votes.

Apologies for closing the voting a little early. The voting had slowed soooo much I thought we were all set. I will be more careful going forward.

Anita wrote: "Nancy, I may be misunderstanding what you wrote, but you can no longer read Backman to earn votes.

Apologies for closing the voting a little early. The voting had slowed soooo much I thought we w..."

Thanks Anita. I knew that, I just haven't slept for a few days. At least I was able to read in the ER, it was nice and quiet in the middle of the night.

I think I thought Backman would win the whole thing! To be honest I’m very surprised! I have just one left. It was Fatman and one other for the tattoo. It will be so interesting to see who the final winner will be.

I'm more surprised by Kristin Hannah beating out Toni Morrison. I have absolutely no idea who I voted for at the start of the year. I only have 3 left that I can read for points.

It's time to finally tackle the last of King's Gunslinger series....

None of the one I voted at the beginning of the year are left.

Amy wrote: "I think I thought Backman would win the whole thing! To be honest I’m very surprised! I have just one left. It was Fatman and one other for the tattoo. It will be so interesting to see who the fina..."

Me too, I feel like I let him down. I should have voted early in the week but I was undecided in a few spots (like Towles vs Strout). Then my mom had a crisis that sent us to the ER.* I didn't get to vote until late this morning and after I voted I saw the results were already posted. I don't know if my extra votes for Backman would have made a difference.

@Jen, I'm surprised by that too. I have a lot of respect for Morrison.

I haven't read much of Stephen King. Do you recommend the first book in the Gunslinger series?

*I had 6 hours in the waiting room all by myself, and I was able to get a lot of reading done. (They wouldn't let me go back and see her while she was in the hallway - in an altered mental state!) I should have tried to vote then, but I never use my phone to access GR (so many people complain about it) and the battery was low.

One reason I never wait to vote until last few hours or even last full day is you never know what could create a hurdle. My internet provider - Spectrum in NYC - had an area outage starting around 7 pm that lasted many hours as they fixed the problem. I had meetings today from early to about 1.30 pm EST. Those combined events would have prevented me from voting had I not already done so over the weekend. There have been times when GR is down.

NancyJ wrote: "Amy wrote: "I think I thought Backman would win the whole thing! To be honest I’m very surprised! I have just one left. It was Fatman and one other for the tattoo. It will be so interesting to see ..."

@Nancy, it is a super weird and meandering quest of a series. His writing got a bit tighter after the first one but it is quite short for King if you want to just try it out. It is a weird cross genre of western and sci-fi and not quite as much horror which I prefer though bad stuff does happen. I think you would be fine with just reading the first one if you didn't want to continue.

Thanks Jen, It didn't look appealing to me before, but I'm more interested in variety and new experiences than I used to be. I've been avoiding his JFK book due to the length, but now that we have fewer authors in the game (and I finished ATL52), it will be easier to make room for a longer book. Do you have any favorites of his?

NancyJ wrote: "Thanks Jen, It didn't look appealing to me before, but I'm more interested in variety and new experiences than I used to be. I've been avoiding his JFK book due to the length, but now that we have ..."

Try one of his short story collections. Different Seasons is just great and so is Night Shift. I read that when it was originally published and plan to fit it in this round since he's still in the competition. Even though it's long, I think you might enjoy 11/22/63. It read much faster than I expected.

Amy wrote: "I think I thought Backman would win the whole thing! To be honest I’m very surprised! I have just one left. It was Fatman and one other for the tattoo. It will be so interesting to see who the fina..."

I think it was all the extra votes in that matchup from what Anita said in her recap post.

Olivermagnus wrote: "Amy wrote: "I think I thought Backman would win the whole thing! To be honest I’m very surprised! I have just one left. It was Fatman and one other for the tattoo. It will be so interesting to see ..."

There were an enormous number of extra votes for Ishiguro from multiple people . . .I think it would have been unlikely (but not impossible) for a single person to cast enough votes to change the outcome. Especially without knowing the situation in advance.

NancyJ wrote: "Thanks Jen, It didn't look appealing to me before, but I'm more interested in variety and new experiences than I used to be. I've been avoiding his JFK book due to the length, but now that we have ..."

I haven't read that many by King, more of his sci-fi/ fantasy than the horror. However, I love The Stand if you are up for a long one. It is one of the few books that that I have chosen to re-read though it has been a while since I last read it.

I definitely had some disappointment after this round (personally, not as an administrator!). Really dislike both Kingsolver and Hoffman so definitely surprised they both made it this far.

Towles vs. Strout was a heartbreaker because I love both of those authors, but Strout is one of my all time favorites so a little sad there - - but Towles is deserving.

Prefer Boyne to Atwood, but I can live with that result.

The only outcome that truly made me happy was Stephen King who I think an outstanding popular writer.

And Nancy, even though it is very long, love love love The Stand, but I would probably recommend On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft the most because it fits our tag right now, and it is a book that I wholeheartedly recommend to every reader. It's excellent.

Jen K wrote: "..However, I love The Stand if you are up for a long one. It is one of the few books that that I have chosen to re-read though it has been a while since I last read it"

Lol, we must have been typing at the same time! AGREE!!!!

I've also re-read it. I think twice.

Anita wrote: "Jen K wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Thanks Jen, It didn't look appealing to me before, but I'm more interested in variety and new experiences than I used to be. I've been avoiding his JFK book due to the ..."

Ha ha! It is so good!

I know there’s a lot of focus on Backman going out, but for me that’s because he was up against Ishiguro who is in a different class. I really like both (or at least I did when I voted - not so sure after struggling through Beartown which I finished a few hours before votes closed, lol!) but the match-up made it no competition for me.

It’s getting *so* much harder with these new match-ups though. I’m mostly really torn now. I can see I’ll be howling at the voting form in a couple of months - ‘But I want them both!!’

These votes are getting harder and harder!

I'd like to say personally I've really enjoyed reading both my own favorite authors and more than a few that were completely new to me.

Many of my 5-star reads this year came from this challenge.

Same, Sue! I’ve picked up some real and unexpected gems. I’ve also read so much, even though I’ve had a new job and various other things going on! And there’s the fun of thinking about the voting. It’s a great challenge

Amy wrote: "I think I thought Backman would win the whole thing! To be honest I’m very surprised! I have just one left. It was Fatman and one other for the tattoo. It will be so interesting to see who the fina..."

@Amy - this took me forever to decode!

have just one left. It was Fatman and one other for the tattoo.

🤣🤣🤣😅🤣😂😂😂

I still haven’t worked it out! Darling Amy - put me out of my misery 😂❤️

Booo for losing John Boyne! :-(

Amy wrote: "I think I thought Backman would win the whole thing! To be honest I’m very surprised! I have just one left. It was Fatman and one other for the tattoo. It will be so interesting to see who the fina..."

As much as I like Backman I didn't expect him to win the whole thing. I didn't make any guesses but am participating only in participation points and vote tracking. So for me, there was only one true disappointment this round because I have no one left to use for participation points in that bracket.

Since I've already used both Ishiguro and Backman, the results of that pair didn't affect me personally. That said, in each round I have been disappointed in results even if it doesn't affect my participation.

However, I don't know who will win I know which writers that are left that I think are better writers for various reasons (not solely based on what I like best, either).

I'm pleasantly surprised that Jane Austen won. The only author left that I've never read anything by is Ishiguro so I guess it's time for me to read something by him.