Tuesday, February 18, 2020

2019 Book of the Year Bracket


Well...I've put it off long enough, it's time to finally work towards discovering my favorite read of 2019. It's a bit of an endeavor this year, since I read a ridiculous 116 books last year, my highest amount ever. It was such a big stack that I had to use a whole new bracket. In past years, I've typically used a 32-seed bracket...I think a 64-seed bracket on a couple of occasions to get things started. Neither of those would do the job this year, so I'm busting out the monster...the 128-seed bracket.

This thing is a behemoth! 

Like past years, I used a random number sequencer to seed the bracket. There are slots for 128 books, so obviously some slots result in automatic wins for the first round since only 116 challengers exist. Those books just get lucky. Books are seeded into the bracket based on when they were read, with my first book of the year being seed number 1 and my last book being 116.

Here is the bracket once it was filled, followed by a list of the numbered competitors in order by section of bracket.


Upper Left 32

Upper 16

63. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
95. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

9. Midnight at the Tuscany Hotel by James Markert
106. The Invisibles by Rachel Dacus

89. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
37. The Tower of Blue by Eric Locsh

3. Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
68. Postcards for a Songbird by Rebekah Crane

126. (Empty)
47. Scythe by Neal Shusterman

49. Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum
71. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

7. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
84. My Crazy (Sick) Love by Drica Pinotti

77. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
36. Daisy Miller by Henry James


Lower 16

119. (Empty)
19. Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg

48. The Boy and Girl Who Broke the World by Amy Reed
42. Me, Myself, & Him by Chris Tebbets

125. (Empty)
109. Dying to Return by Kelly Zimmer

70. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
65. The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

112. The Giver by Lois Lowry
39. Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin

59. The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot
66. After Alice by Gregory Maguire

34. Checking Out by Nick Spalding
55. Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

103. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
20. Ever Alice by H.J. Ramsay


Lower Left 32

Upper 16

44. Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
118. (Empty)

56. The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
108. The Magic in Me by Kelly Zimmer

29. The Welsh Fasting Girl by Varley O'Connor
35. After the End by Clare Mackintosh

120. (Empty)
2. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

92. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
85. The Weaver by Heather Kindt

79. Immaculate Perception by Kik Phillips
76. The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler

26. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
127. (Empty)

94. Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
51. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman


Lower 16

86. Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
91. The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

101. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
21. Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

16. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
25. The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

104. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
33. Things That Fall From the Sky by Selja Ahava

24. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
53. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

72. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
97. Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon

57. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
31. The Lost Tribe of Coney Island by Claire Prentice

30. Not So Long Ago, Not So Far Away by Trisha Slay
78. The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher


Upper Right 32


Upper 16

28. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
113. Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

14. The Altruists by Andrew Ridker
62. 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons

67. The Multiplication of Elmer Whit by Karsen Kipp
74. The Ten Thousand Days of January by Alix E. Harrow

50. The Rejected Writers' Book Club by Susanne Kelman
107. The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

73. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
52. Chances Are... by Richard Russo

27. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
98. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

1. Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter
122. (Empty)

58. The Gillespie County Fair by Marc Hess
100. The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith


Lower 16

60. The Book of Dreams by Nina George
43. The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan

10. An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff
38. The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher

6. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
23. Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

12. Home for Erring and Outcast Girls by Julie Kibler
81. Conclusion by Peter Robertson

102. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
128. (Empty)

90. Scars Like Wings by Erin Stewart
83. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

40. Buy or Die by Theodor Ventskevich
13. My Sister's Lies by S.D. Robertson

64. Tidelands by Philippa Gregory
121. (Empty)


Lower Right 32

Upper 16

105. Swede Hollow by Ola Larsmo
22. The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane

117. (Empty)
95. Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris

54. Jerkwater by Jamie Zerndt
4. The Farm by Joanne Ramos

87. When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore
82. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

114. No Judgments by Meg Cabot
99. The BFG by Roald Dahl

80. Maternal Instinct by Rebecca Bowyer
124. (Empty)

111. Athena's Choice by Adam Boostrom
32. Tamarack County by William Kent Kreuger

15. The Life We Bury by Allan Eskens
61. The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins


Lower 16

18. The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
69. Animal Farm by George Orwell

123. (Empty)
88. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

45. The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin
115. Finding Henry Applebee by Celia Reynolds

93. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
41. The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

110. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
46. Very Nice by Marcy Demansky

17. Becoming by Michelle Obama
11. The Queen of Zombie Hearts by Gena Showalter

75. Trapeze by Leigh Ansell
8. The Secret of Dinswood by Ellen Alexander

5. Only Ever Her by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
116. Dorothy in the Land of Monsters by Garten Gavedon


To keep things from taking too long in order to find the winner, I'll be condensing the bracket rounds. In the next post, I'll whittle things down to both the 64 and 32-seed brackets. After that, it will be the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four. Finally, the last Book of the Year post will determine the Top Two and the ultimate winner of 2019's Book of the Year Bracket.

Which books are you rooting for?

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