“So I tried again later, attempting to set myself up for success—only to again find myself uninterested in continuing, letting my eyes go fuzzy over the words.” Many of us will agree with the #ToB23 judge‘s opinion on Mercury Pictures Presents. She chose The Book of Goose as her winner, as did we in the #LitsyToB23. A convincing majority voted for Goose. Tracy however will be disappointed, she voted for Mercury as her favorite book. Happy weekend!
BkClubCare, Megabooks, Hooked_on_books, Cinfhen, Jas16, cariashley, Well-ReadNeck, Ruthie, Larkken, Suet624, Deblovestoread, merelybookish, batsy, Readerann, Sophronisba, Chelsea.Poole, rmaclean4, kwmg40, squirrelbrain, RidgewayGirl, RebelReader, jlhammar, Addison_Reads, sarahbarnes, ImperfectCJ, hya, ashw21BarbaraBB I personally agreed very much with this quote by the judge: “While reading I thought of the many friends I had lost, friends I thought would be forever, and the cruelty of life that forces us to grow up. It is no small feat to capture the love and devastation of childhood friendships turned sour.”💕 (edited) 14mo
BkClubCare I had a tough time with The Book of Goose and I think it just might be me with the style AND subject - not sure. But I was so bored with MPP! I so loved the author‘s prior books that I wanted to love this. I am not unhappy with this decision either way. 14mo
sarahbarnes Yesssss!!! Go Goose! ♥️♥️♥️ 14mo
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BarbaraBB @BkClubCare Both were not my favorites on the shortlist either but I also thought MPP was boring 🤷🏻♀️ 14mo
merelybookish 💯 the right decision! I appreciated that the judge really like Book of Goose and didn't choose it as a lesser of two evils! 14mo
batsy Happy with this result! I haven't read MPP and though I had some reservations with Goose I think it's a worthy winner. A distinctive book with some excellent writing, especially in the first half. 14mo
jlhammar Woo-hoo! Thrilled to see Goose advance. I loved this match commentary by Kevin Guilfoile “Sometimes trying to find a reason you didn‘t like a novel is like trying to find a reason you didn‘t fall in love with somebody.“ 14mo
batsy @jlhammar I just read it and was struck by that, too. So accurate! 14mo
squirrelbrain I love that quote too @jlhammar @batsy - so true! I‘m pleased with the result - I found them both a bit forgettable though. 14mo
Ruthiella I was disappointed with MPP. It was beautiful writing but too much, all over the place for me. I lost steam reading it. I definitely preferred the narrower focus of TBoG as well as its examination of a certain kind of friendship in childhood/adolescence. 14mo
Readerann I didn‘t read Goose (yet), but I have a more favorable opinion of MPP than most of you. Because I found the characters so interesting, I was willing to put up with some disjointedness and overwriting. 14mo
Chelsea.Poole I can agree with the judge‘s ruling here as well as what you‘ve quoted in your first comment! 14mo
Hooked_on_books I fully expected us to go with Goose and good to see we‘re in concert with the official TOB! It‘s not my favorite of the tourney, but I felt MPP really didn‘t deliver. 14mo
Cinfhen The official tournament is turning out to be full of surprises- im totally down with this decision 14mo
Megabooks I think I voted for Mercury but only because I hated Goose. I‘ll once again draw a parallel between Mercury and Manhattan Beach. Flawlessly researched but DULL! And agree with you @BkClubCare !![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png)
Manhattan Beach: A Novel 14mo
Manhattan Beach: A NovelWell-ReadNeck I fell in love with the characters on MPP. Goose did absolutely nothing for me. But I also couldn‘t get through My Brilliant Friend, which is well liked, but I could not finish. 14mo
BarbaraBB @Well-ReadNeck Goose is comparable to My Brilliant Friend indeed. Typically European. I loved the Ferrantes series, and thought Goose was not as good. 14mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks Is Manhattan Beach as dull? Then I am glad I have kept postponing reading it! 14mo
BkClubCare @BarbaraBB @MegaBooks - LOL! I adored Manhattan Beach! Isn‘t this just craziness? Shrug- it really is interesting why some books tick the “OH YEaH” and others don‘t. I would have advanced Goose because it felt “better” even as it wasn‘t for me. 14mo
Jas16 I am the outlier who is not thrilled with this decision. I thought Goose was fine but really loved all of the stories and characters in MPP. 14mo
BkClubCare @batsy - yes, I do think Goose the “better” (more literaturely book!?) than MPP. Yes,yes “whatever that means”) 14mo
BkClubCare @Jas16 - good to know. I think it suffered from comparisons to his previous. I ❤️‘d Tsar AND Constellation. #comparisonbias 14mo
BarbaraBB @Jas16 You‘re with @Well-ReadNeck so in good company! And among us a few more preferred it over Goose! And like @BkClubCare states, I think expectations might have been sky high because of his earlier books. (edited) 14mo
BarbaraBB @batsy I thought the first half of Goose was much better too. 14mo
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