I was hoping to be named a judge for this year’s Tournament of Books over at The Morning News. Alas. I’ll have to enjoy the fun through the window, as I do every year. The shortlist of books has been announced, along with this year’s judges, a stellar crew.

For those of you who don’t know, the ToB chooses 16 of the previous year’s best novels, sets up a bracket like the NCAA basketball tournament, and stops only when one book is left standing. This is the sixth installment of the tourney, which kicks off in March. Last year’s winner was A Mercy by Toni Morrison. Winners before that were The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, The Accidental by Ali Smith, and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

For this year, I’m going to make the safe prediction that Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel will take home the Rooster (the tournament’s prize).