The NCAA College Basketball Tournament, a.k.a. March Madness, is a traditional sign of spring, and this weekend's Final Four games for both women's and men's teams are top flight. With March Madness comes the passionate art of bracketology, a popular and generally fruitless attempt to guess which teams will make it through the competitive cauldron and land at the spot where we now sit, just a day before the big weekend starts.
Bracketology also infiltrates the world of bookselling every year, and has been in full swing for a month now.
"Dribbling through the pages of literary madness here," Plenty Bookshop, Cookeville, Tenn., posted in early March, touting its Plenty of Book Madness challenge and inviting customers to "discover the winning stories that will steal your heart!... Not sure what this book tournament thing is about? It's a free bit of bookish fun! You are trying to guess which book of the 64 listed will be the ultimate crowd favorite. If you are the most correct in your guesses, you win!... We've selected our top sellers from this past year--half are fiction, and half are nonfiction. We'll play four rounds, with a championship at the end. And anyone is invited to vote each round!"
Comma, A Bookshop, Minneapolis, Minn., posted: "Here's where things stand in the Comma Book Lover's Bracket as we narrow down what Comma's favorite book of our first 18 months has been. You all have great taste!... Be sure to vote in our Instagram stories. What has surprised you the most on the bracket? Is one of these contenders a Cinderella story? Which are you cheering for?"
The Thinking Spot, Wayzata, Minn. asked: "Do you have a favorite Genre at The Thinking Spot? Now's your chance to vote for it and make it win! Cast your vote for your favorite section at The Thinking Spot. Each week the winning Genre/Section in each bracket will move to the next round.... This is it folks, Final Round--It's Nature vs Fiction! They've been neck and neck in the votes they've been getting so far. Make sure you vote to give your favorite section a boost! The final result will be announced on April 5th!... Start voting for your favorite and may the best section win!"
"We're jumping in on all the March Madness fun with our own book themed bracket!" All Good Books, Columbia, S.C., noted. "Popular book series will go head to head in this literary challenge. Swipe to learn the rules and find out how to make your very own bracket. Voting will occur every weekend on Instagram story polls! The winner will receive a $50 gift card to AGB."
Women's History March Madness was the bracketology theme at Dragontale Books, Menomonie, Wis., which posted: "We have four matchups now. Pick one from each matchup to advance to the final four. We only have a week so fill out the form soon. We have some in the store as well....Women's History March Madness is almost over. Championship is April 8. We are down to the final four and there is a quick turnaround so write in the title of your overall winner. Viola vs Virginia and Eleanor vs Valiant Women."
A bracket alert from BookPeople, Austin, Tex., warned: "It's the Final Countdown on our March Madness tournament! From the Horror Conference, we have Christopher Buehlman's Between Two Fires, a 'genre-bending Southern horror' described as 'graceful and horrific,' and from the History Conference, A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, 'a cogent crash course in ancient, classical and modern history.' Which one will immortalize their name as a champion? Make sure to pick up your copy to bring your team closer to victory!"
Some winners have already been announced:
Meet Cute Bookshop, San Diego, Calif., which featured a March Madness Trope Bracket, posted: "What are some of your favorite marriage of convenience and love potion reads? Remember to submit your bracket to events@meetcutebookshop.com by March 8th! Find a blank one at the l!nk !n our b!o.... And with that, the 2024 Trope Tournament comes to an end! Congratulations to our winner, a number one seed, fake dating!"
Emerging from the Final Four at the Bookman, Grand Haven, Mich., was Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, "your Champion of our Book Bracket! Thank you all so much for your participation and engaging with us over the course of the month--it's been a joy to celebrate 50 years of books with you #MarchMadness style."
My bracket winner this year is Hanif Abdurraqib's recently published There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, which I'm reading now. Gary Lovely of Prologue Bookshop, Cincinnati, Ohio, said: "Hanif Abdurraqib is at the top of his game with this one. Using basketball as a vehicle for reflection on east Columbus's history and personal memory, There's Always This Year is a triumph of contemplative, emotionally rich writing that will have you wiping tears and sitting on the edge of your seat."
And David Hollabaugh, co-owner of Bookery in Cincinnati, noted that "in the heart of March Madness, and with NBA playoffs around the corner, it's a perfect time to read this book. But it's also a story to read (and re-read) any time of year. I left the copy in these photos at this court for someone to find.... My hope is whoever finds this book connects with it the way I did."