Well, today's final decision was a nailbiter & many of the brief judgments were again thoughtful considerations of Vanishing Half & Interior Chinatown (with the exception of judge Sean Hooks 🙄). My 3 favorites were knocked out pretty early on & I would have liked to see another book get the Rooster since Yu won NBA, but IC was ranked as my #5 pick. The entire process, from reading the list to voting & discussing has been a blast! #tob21🐓
vivastory This comment from RidgewayGirl “I take back my defense of Sean Hooks's judging skills. I'd thought him sincere, if overly weighted down with the need to adopt a bro-ish tone. This turns out to have been overly generous on my part. I'm not a good judge of judges, it turns out. I take it all back.“ 😂 4y
MicheleinPhilly I haven‘t read it yet. Is it as bad as that judge last year or the year before that was basically like, “These books are stupid. I‘m out.” 4y
vivastory @MicheleinPhilly I didn't read that judge, but basically. He'd judged 2 different books early on (DKK & Memorial) & was an ass then too 4y
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Liz_M @vivastory: I “know“ @RidgewayGirl from LibraryThing, but she also occasionally posts on Litsy. 😊 4y
vivastory @Liz_M I thought the name sounded familiar! 😂 4y
Flaneurette About the only good thing about that judgment by Hooks was that it inspired a lot of good discussion by the commentariat, but there was * so much * good stuff this year. He was an ungenerous, gate keeping snob that didn‘t judge the books on their own merits/ intention but some rarified ideal. Sad the tob is over 😞 4y
vivastory @Flaneurette Exactly! The way he *criticized* the books was not helpful at all. Two of the books that he “judged“ I didn't particularly care for: Deacon King Kong & Vanishing Half. But there are specific reasons why neither one worked for me. Plus, both of them had their strengths. Instead he just kept writing snide comments (ie how none of the tob list will be remembered in 100 years.) Give me a break! 4y
BarbaraBB Yeah @RidgewayGirl nailed it! 4y
RidgewayGirl Judge Hooks certainly knows how to grab the spotlight! And to whoever created this homage to John Cho, Thank you. 4y
vivastory @RidgewayGirl He really does! They're from a campaign a few years ago #starringjohncho Seemed appropriate for the book 4y
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