The Olive Reader

Like gambling? Like reading? Like criticism with consequences? If you answered yes to any two of those questions, then I’ve got something to sell you. The Morning News has once again organized the enormously popular Tournament of Books, which pits the year’s best and most notable books against one another in round-robin action. To raise the stakes, the 2008 edition will allow spectators to place bets on who the winner will be. “At the conclusion of the TMN 2008 Tournament of Books we’ll choose ten people at random who have backed the winning novel and send them each a huge prize package. Details on that to come, but don’t worry it’ll be worth it.” More importantly, every bet will go to First Book, “a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books.” Very rarely are my penchants for competition, vice, and charity satisfied all at once. Thanks, TMN.