March Madness Bracketology for Books! The Morning News' Fifth Annual Tournament of Books

It's March, and if you're anything like me, that means it's almost time to fill out your NCAA brackets with a hilarious lack of information. Aside from the seedings, my criteria include such factors as whether I know anybody who went to college there, or if the team mascot is cool, naughty or just plain bizarre (that would include Bucky Badger, the Stanford Tree, and George Mason's Oscar the Grouch). I often do better in the pool than the real sports fans in the family, which of course drives them absolutely crazy.

If I can do that much with my mascot methodology, I'm thinking I just might have a real chance with a bracketed tournament for books, the wacky brainchild of the folks at The Morning News, http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/the_rooster/the_2009_tournament_of_books.php.

Every March, they start with a roster of 16 books matched up in brackets. Hand-picked judges, including many noted authors, choose one book in head-to-head competition to advance to the next round.

The folks at The Bookstore thought it would be fun to join in. Any customers who would like to participate, click here to print out a bracket:

http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/2009/ToB-2009-Brackets.pdf, and bring your completed brackets to The Bookstore by 4pm on Sunday, March 8th. Subscribe to The Morning News for judge's picks, and then check in at The Bookstore or here on the blog at the end of March to see if you beat out The Bookstore staff!

Scoring as folows: 1 point for each correct first round entry, 2 points for each in the second round, and so on. The grand prize: a guided tour of the backroom Advance Reader's Copy shelves with your choice of three courtesy copies, along with an official Rooster T-shirt from The Morning News. For anyone who can outscore any of our Bookstore staff in total points, your name will appear in a special list of "Rooster Champions: Customers Who Are Definitely Smarter Than The Bookstore Staff" on our blog. And then of course you would put that on your resume.

Don't be deterred by the fact that you haven't read all the books in the brackets, because neither have we! However, if you're one of those goody two-shoes who always did their homework, come on in and purchase any of the Tournament of Books titles at a special 10% discount. Just remember the secret password: "Cockadoodledoo." (I apologize -- that's an entirely meaningless joke unless you followed the link to The Morning News.)

If you won't be able to read them all, you might want to pick some other arbitrary critieria, such as pretty book covers, funny titles or authors from places you'd like to visit. Hey, like my mascot-ology, it just might work! For a sneak peak at the odds on each book, along with a chance to place a bet that goes to a worthy book related charity, go to: http://www.coudal.com/tob2009.php.

We'd love to hear the reasons for your selections -- did you love one book and hate the other? Do you love to play in a Dart League at Home with a Partisan's Daughter? If so, your picks will be easy! Feel free to comment below on your strategy. The loopier the better. If you're basing your picks on book covers, here you go:

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Wild Card Entry? Happy March from The Bookstore!