It's he books and judges for the 2019 ToB!

How about a Rooster in your stocking? Announcing the shortlist, judges, and zombie poll for the 2019 Tournament of Books.

The Morning News

The Rooster

Announcing the 2019 Tournament of Books

Here it is: the shortlist, judges, commentators, and Zombie poll for the 2019 edition of the Tournament of Books, presented by Field Notes.

by The Tournament of Books Staff
A new role model for millennial anarchists: Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber.
↩︎ New York Magazine 4h
Photographs that explore what it means to be a queer ranchero.
↩︎ i-D 5h
"I’ve committed myself to help white people stop the nonsense.” White people need to stop being so fragile discussing race.
↩︎ SBS 5h
An in-depth look at suicide from a writer who has attempted it many times.
↩︎ Highline 5h
More about this
The Editors' Longreads Picks

I even heard rumors that after Prince died, it was Dave McOmie who was hired to drill a vault at the late musician’s estate in Minnesota. When news broke that previously unknown and unreleased recordings had been found inside, fans allegedly had McOmie to thank for it. When I asked McOmie about this, he laughed. “No comment.”

Geoff Manaugh profiles the best safecracker in Los Angeles.
↩︎ The Atlantic
5h
Fashion companies brag about their garments being made in the USA, specifically Los Angeles, but many workers only get $5 an hour.
↩︎ L.A. Taco 12h

“What’s going on, Jezebel? It’s James Kennedy from Vanderpump Rules your favorite, the white Kanye West,” he says in this iconic video. He continues: “Wanted to say you should join the DSA, comrades!”

An attempt to pay conservative D-list celebrities very little money to say liberal things on camera.
↩︎ Jezebel
13h
South Dakota's Rapid City is judged to have the most unpredictable weather in America.
↩︎ FiveThirtyEight 13h
Sign up to receive TMN's headlines in a morning email (with fresh links!), Tuesday through Saturday.
↩︎ TMN Newsletters 13h
A new study of NBA players finds that a player's shooting accuracy declines if they stay up late tweeting.
↩︎ Pacific Standard 13h

We'll watch anything starring Richard E. Grant, including a demented holiday story.

13h
The case for Agatha Christie: she might not have been much of a writer, but she "was very, very good at murder."
↩︎ The London Review of Books 13h
More about this
The Editors' Longreads Picks

For the rest of the semester my professor pulled me aside and praised me for how great my writing was. My parents were so proud. It was like I had it all, I could party and be at the top of the class. 

Three plagiarists explain why they stole other people’s words.
↩︎ The Cut
13h
A kiosk at Taylor Swift concerts attempts to identify her stalkers through a secret facial recognition system.
↩︎ Quartz 13h
Fentanyl is "barely more trouble to dispatch" than any of the other goods that America imports from China every day.
↩︎ Bloomberg 13h
Twenty men arrested on an array of charges related to them brandishing loaded guns in a March 2018 rap video.
↩︎ Genius 13h

If the archimandrite hits the woolsack with the mace, there will be a hustings, and all the periodontists will race to the end the chamber to see who is the Lord Spiritual. If there are more than 158, the chaplain dons the black robe and eats the Prime Minister.

British politics explained.
↩︎ Tom Chievers / Twitter
13h
The United States has suffered 94 school shooting incidents in 2018, a near 60% increase on the previous high set in 2006.
↩︎ The Guardian 14h
If the Senate passes the criminal justice reform bill—supported by Trump and Cory Booker—it's an actual bipartisan achievement.
↩︎ The New York Times 14h