Announcing the 2021 March Madness Book Bracket

 "Real" March Madness may be actually happening this year, but we all know which tournament I'll be following. Here's how this is going to work:

The tournament will begin on March 4. Two matches will take place each day until the final on April 4, the day before the NCAA final. 

All matches will take place on the Talking Lit with Aunt Mary facebook page. Two books will be presented, and you may cast your vote using the reaction buttons: "like" reaction for one choice, "love" reaction for the other. Voting will be open for 24 hours after the post goes up, and then a winner will be declared. I personally will vote only to break ties, but do not claim neutrality. 

The books for the tournament bracket are chosen based on: 1) how well they fit into snarkily-named "divisions," and 2) the need for most of them to be books with some name recognition. (Also, yes, there is an obvious bias towards books that I have personally read. Deal with it.) In no way do I consider this some kind of definitive list of Good Literature. There are books in the tournament that I love and some that I love to hate. There are books I love that do not appear but perhaps did last year, and books I love that have never been in the tournament at all. So if you're wondering why your fav isn't in here, don't take it personally. Trust me, my love for George Eliot (to name but one example) transcends my snarky bracket tournament. 

I am upholding the tradition of retiring previous years' winners to keep it interesting. For those of you keeping track, the following books have been crowned champion in the past and thus will probably not appear in future tournaments:
2017: Pride and Prejudice
2018: Frankenstein
2019: 1984
2020: Les Misérables (Damn, the title really fit the year, didn't it?)

So, without further ado, I present to you the 2021 March Madness Book Bracket. See the google doc for printing or enlarging. Grab a cup of coffee and start filling out your bracket. Let the fun begin.