2019 Book of the Year: Terrific 32

Hello again!

I've been struggling to get back here and move forward with the BOTY posts. Some of it has been time, some of it has been mental health related, but most of it has just been the lack of willingness to do the digital bracket work. Pathetic.

And...in the time between the last post and this one, the world has completely changed and turned on its head. So...there will be no March Madness this year. The thing that inspired my organization of this challenge has been cancelled.  Craziness.

But...at least there's some bracket action happening, right? Last post, I gave an introduction to both the bracket and the challengers. Today I'll be whittling the options down to create my Terrific 32.

This is where we start...

In the first round, I had to make some already seriously difficult choices. Some really great books had to be removed just because they had the bad luck to be seated next to some hearty contenders. And so, I said goodbye to the excellent reads:

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

There are always hard choices in every round. So it is no surprise that I had to remove some more favorites in the elimination down to 32 seeds. This time around the most painful losses were:

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Wonder by RJ Palacio

The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia

Now we're at the point where I can make things a little easier on the eyes. We've eliminated enough books that I can move everything into the 32 seed bracket. So this is where we land now...

Next up...elimination down to the final four. Now that we're down to a more manageable number, we'll be starting to take a closer look at each match up. Also...I'll try not to have such a big gap between postings this time.

Happy reading everyone!