“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) 1y
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. 1y
sarahbarnes Yesssss!!! Go Goose! ♥️♥️♥️ 1y
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BarbaraBB @BkClubCare Both were not my favorites on the shortlist either but I also thought MPP was boring 🤷🏻♀️ 1y
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! 1y
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. 1y
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.“ 1y
batsy @jlhammar I just read it and was struck by that, too. So accurate! 1y
squirrelbrain I love that quote too @jlhammar @batsy - so true! I‘m pleased with the result - I found them both a bit forgettable though. 1y
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. 1y
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. 1y
Chelsea.Poole I can agree with the judge‘s ruling here as well as what you‘ve quoted in your first comment! 1y
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. 1y
Cinfhen The official tournament is turning out to be full of surprises- im totally down with this decision 1y
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 1y
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. 1y
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. 1y
BarbaraBB @Megabooks Is Manhattan Beach as dull? Then I am glad I have kept postponing reading it! 1y
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. 1y
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. 1y
BkClubCare @batsy - yes, I do think Goose the “better” (more literaturely book!?) than MPP. Yes,yes “whatever that means”) 1y
BkClubCare @Jas16 - good to know. I think it suffered from comparisons to his previous. I ❤️‘d Tsar AND Constellation. #comparisonbias 1y
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) 1y
BarbaraBB @batsy I thought the first half of Goose was much better too. 1y
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