Tournament of Books 2015 match commentary

• I wish I had more confidently broadcast my picks at the beginning of the tourney because I could have called this one. I really had a feeling. 
• (Unlike my March Madness bracket...) 
• That said, today's Zombie Round review is a travesty and if the reviewer clearly disliked both books that much, perhaps he should have recused himself. (Nicole Cliffe's weighing of STATION ELEVEN vs A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS was much more evenhanded, although since I haven't read the latter I'm not sure whether she was right.) 
• My favorite essays in the series were from J. Courtney Sullivan and Tayari Jones. I thought the judging panel was extremely strong this year, today notwithstanding, and these were two great examples. 
• I was sorry to see DEPT OF SPECULATION not go any further than the first round. Otherwise, I more or less agree with the first-round judgments made, although due to book availability I wasn't able to read through the whole tournament. 
• Does anyone else wish The Morning News would do a similar nonfiction bracket in the fall? Just putting it out there. They could call it the Nonfiction World Series. 
• Wait till everyone figures out Emily St John Mandel's backlist. There will be rejoicing throughout all the land (or, there should be). 

Tournament of Books 11: The shortlist arrives

Have at it:

Jesse Ball, SILENCE ONCE BEGUN
Will Chancellor, A BRAVE MAN SEVEN STOREYS TALL
Anthony Doerr, ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
Elena Ferrante, THOSE WHO LEAVE AND THOSE WHO STAY **3rd book in a series
Roxane Gay, AN UNTAMED STATE (I've read and reviewed this)
Lars Iyer, WITTGENSTEIN JR
Marlon James, A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS
Phil Klay, REDEPLOYMENT
Emily St. John Mandel, STATION ELEVEN (I've read this)
David Mitchell, THE BONE CLOCKS (I've read part of this)
Celeste Ng, EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU
Jenny Offill, DEPT OF SPECULATION
Ariel Schrag, ADAM
Sarah Waters, THE PAYING GUESTS
Jeff VanderMeer, ANNIHILATION **trilogy
Evie Wyld, ALL THE BIRDS, SINGING

I was 8/16 in my predictions, which is as expected. Also, there's no round-robin for a spot, which I did not get correctly.