The Other March Madness

The Morning News has announced its sweet sixteen, the competitors in the The 2010 Tournament of Books. Throughout March, a panel of esteemed judges will oversee a series of cage matches. Two books enter the ring, but only one advances, until finally a sole victor stands triumphant.

Obligatory local angle: Among this year's judges is David Gutowski, who runs the music and culture blog Largehearted Boy.

This year's contestants are:

• The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
  
• The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker
  
• Fever Chart by Bill Cotter
  
• Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis
  
• The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
  
• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
  
• Big Machine by Victor Lavalle
  
• Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
  
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  
• A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
  
• Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun
  
• That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
  
• Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
  
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
  
• Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
  
• Lowboy by John Wray

Bonus points if you recognize the St Paul author on that list.

The tournament begins March 9. Get reading.--David E