Books Meet March Madness

March is almost upon us, and that means spring is just around the corner. For many that means the NCAA is gearing up for its big annual single-elimination basketball tournament. Not into basketball, you say? Not to worry.

The online news magazine The Morning News has cleverly put together a friendly competition that has, for 10 years now, been marking the coming of spring for book lovers everywhere. The contest follows the style of NCAA March Madness, but with books in place of basketball teams.

And now straight from TMN: “In March, these novels will be seeded and paired off in an NCAA Tournament-like bracket. For each pairing, one of our esteemed judges will read both novels and advance one, with a transparent explanation of how they made their decision. ...Eventually, only two books will remain, to be judged by our entire panel, and one will be crowned the Rooster of 2014.”

Yes, that’s right, the Rooster. Why the Rooster, you ask? It comes from the short story David Sedaris wrote about his brother entitled “You Can’t Kill the Rooster.” If you have not read that story, it is an absolute must. You can find it in his collection Me Talk Pretty One Day.

The competition kicks off next week. You can download your copy of this year’s brackets, read more about the Tournament of Books, and chime in with your thoughts on The Morning News. Check back with us for updates throughout March. For now, check out the lists of past winners and current finalists. Go, books!