We're back for the first elimination round of the 2014 Book of the Year (BOTY) Bracket Challenge, hosted by Elle of Erratic Project Junkie! To find out what we're up to, check out my sign-up post or Elle's everything-BOTY headquarters.

(Quick note: Sorry to any readers not similarly swept up in reading challenges right now—BOTY and Bout of Books fell during the same week, so my posts are going to be fairly challenge-heavy. Feel free to tune in again next week if you're sick of my themed ramblings.)

While some other bloggers have 64-slot brackets to work with, my first elimination round reveals my Sweet Sixteen!

First of all: guys, this was hard. I want to write about all the tough decisions I made filling out the second round of the bracket, but I'd end up rambling, and you'd end up asleep. So let me tell you about a few (all images from Goodreads):



These two books were probably my top reads of the year (noting, however, that my serious thinking/book blogging only began in November). I'm pretty sure my random number sequence generator conspired against me on this one. I loved both books for similar reasons, ones you can read in my reviews of them. TGoST was ultimately the more poetic, heart-wrenching read for me, so it won this bout. Sorry, White Teeth—I promise I still love you!




Both of these are really powerful and disturbing books. Alice Walker's examination of racism and domestic violence crackles with feminist rage, while Chinua Achebe's is quieter, more subdued in its portrayal of the terror of a village watching its traditions crumble. My reasons for choosing Things Fall Apart over The Color Purple aren't purely based on the novels themselves—I have more vivid memories of reading TFA (where I was, what I was doing, the things I was thinking about), and another of Walker's novels already made my sweet sixteen. So there you have it.


It almost feels unfair to pit these two against each other—one is an extremely important overview of the state of American prisons, including the insidious racism that permeates police work and sentencing, and the other is a beautiful, sprawling classic about love, family, and meeting (and not meeting) expectations. Arguably, I learned a lot more from The New Jim Crow, but I just couldn't cast East of Eden aside. It was a gorgeous novel. I might regret this decision later, but, then again, I don't think Jim Crow would have been my #1 for the year anyway.

And here we are with the bracket (yep, still super ugly):

How did everyone else do this round? I want to hear all about your tough choices!