Hey sport, here is something to do before watching today’s Rose Bowl: Fill out your bracket for the Prose Bowl.
In a matchup, would you pick lawyer-novelist John Grisham or Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough?
How about a choice between two Seattle-area literary giants — Ivan Doig, the Western storyteller who died last year, and Erik Larson, who writes history that reads like page-turning fiction? Or choose between horror master Stephen King and local mystery favorite J.A. Jance.
And then switch it up: What about Doig vs. King? Or Jance vs. McCullough?
Prose Bowl, a first for Sno-Isle Libraries, is an online competition that lets readers pick the favorite book for 2015. Beginning with a list of 32 contenders — books that in 2015 had the most Sno-Isle checkouts and holds — Prose Bowl participants click through a series of matchups.
You won’t see your completed bracket. It’s not college basketball’s March Madness, but the idea is similar. After voting ends Jan. 10, Sno-Isle plans to announce the year’s top book Jan. 11. And if it works as devised, there may be one voter with a winning bracket.
“We’re hoping somebody will have made a bracket that reflects the majority of the populace, and one winning title,” said Jackie Parker, Sno-Isle’s lead librarian for readers’ services.
The reader or readers with the most on-target bracket will be invited to share their favorite books in a featured list.
In Sno-Isle’s Biblio Files blog Dec. 15, Parker announced the 32 contenders and offered a summary of each. They’re listed in order of popularity, based on checkouts and holds.
In the top spot is “Personal,” Lee Child’s 19th thriller featuring the character Jack Reacher, a retired military cop.
The list includes favorite Northwest authors, Garth Stein, Doig, Jance and Larson among them. Harper Lee, the renowned author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is on the list with her publishing phenomenon “Go Set a Watchman.”
One book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” surprised Parker with its popularity. “Nobody saw it coming,” she said of the decluttering guide by Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo.
Looking at that list of 32, I was embarrassed by how few I had read — and I’m an every-night reader. I voted on the matchups anyway, based mostly on previous books by the listed authors that I have read.
Historical fiction writer Paula McClain is a Sno-Isle contender for “Circling the Sun,” about aviator Beryl Markham. I enjoyed “The Paris Wife,” her previous book based on Ernest Hemingway’s first marriage. I haven’t read Doig’s more recent books, but his Montana memoirs, “This House of Sky” especially, are unforgettable.
“I don’t expect anyone to have read them all,” Parker said.
The list was made using checkout and hold statistics from library software, and included titles published over the past 18 months.
Sno-Isle staff whittled about 300 titles to 32. “We wanted to make a balance between name-brand authors and things that stood out to us,” Parker said. Fiction and nonfiction, different genres and gender perspectives were all considered. “There’s something for everybody. It was a fun process,” she said.
I resolve to read a few of Sno-Isle’s contenders. And here are some books I liked in 2015: “Behind the Beautiful Forevers,” Katherine Boo’s incredible nonfiction narrative of life in a Mumbai slum; “Four Seasons in Rome,” Anthony Doerr’s fun account of a year spent in Italy with his wife and baby twins; and “In Falling Snow,” Mary-Rose MacColl’s novel about a hospital established by women in a French abbey during World War I.
On this day of good intentions, Sno-Isle challenges us to make reading resolutions. “Read 16 in ’16,” said Parker, adding that active users of Sno-Isle library cards check out an average of just four titles per year.
“We want to connect with our community,” Parker said. “The library is a good source for reading suggestions. We have a whole bunch of experts right here.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhstein@heraldnet.com.
Prose Bowl
Sno-Isle Libraries’ Prose Bowl is a sports-bracket style competition to determine readers’ favorite book of 2015. The top choice will be announced Jan. 11. Find the 32 contenders and fill out an online bracket (make picks in a series of matchups) by Jan. 10 at: http://sno-isle.org/
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