2018: Overview of the results so far (Round 2)

[mae]

The 2018 Constant Reader Awards (CRAs) are continuing, with Round 2 polls opening each Tuesday and Thursday from March 13 until March 29. Each poll will be open for 7 days and close automatically. Then the OAG (Overall Average Grade, an average of all received grades) will be calculated and posted at the end of the poll and updated here as well. At the end, a sum of the Round 1 Final Average Score (FAS) and the OAG obtained in Round 2 will be used to determine each book's score going into the next round. The top 10 books (highlighted in green) will move on to the final Round 3, to begin on April 10.

As in the first round, the books in each group are not competing against one another, but are graded on their own merits. As far as the grading, please take a look at this (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?6740-Voting-in-Round-2-Please-Read) outdated but still mainly correct post from our inaugural CRAs. The gist is that you should only choose one option in each of the three grading areas, this is very important. Thank you!

Group 1: opened March 13

'Salem's Lot (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21439)
The Shining (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21440)
Night Shift (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21441)
The Stand (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21442)
The Long Walk (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21443)


Group 2: opened March 15

The Dead Zone (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21445)
Firestarter (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21446)
Different Seasons (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21447)
Christine (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21448)
Pet Sematary (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21449)


Group 3: opened March 20

The Talisman (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21456)
Skeleton Crew (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21457)
It (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21458)
The Eyes of the Dragon (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21459)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21460)


Group 4: opened March 22

Misery (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21463)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21464)
Needful Things (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21465)
Insomnia (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21466)
The Green Mile (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21467)


Group 5: opened March 27

Desperation (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21472)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21473)
Black House (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21474)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21475)
Duma Key (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21476)


Group 6: opened March 29

11/22/63 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21479)
Joyland (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21480)
Mr. Mercedes (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21481)
Revival (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21482)
Finders Keepers (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21483)



Overall Round 2 Standings
Top ten books are promoted to Round 3 (books highlighted in gray are eliminated)


The Green Mile - 7.689393939 (96.12%)
Different Seasons - 7.577122154 (94.71%)
It - 7.547619048 (94.35%)
11/22/63 - 7.473727422 (93.42%)
The Stand - 7.410600255 (92.63%)
Misery - 7.317135550 (91.46%)
The Shining - 7.240953597 (90.51%)
Pet Sematary - 7.032051282 (87.90%) ▲ 1
'Salem's Lot - 7.026666667 (87.83%) ▲ 4
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - 6.924430642 (86.56%) ▲ 5
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands - 6.899199566 (86.24%)
The Eyes of the Dragon - 6.887936508 (86.10%) ▼ 4
The Dead Zone - 6.816764132 (85.21%) ▲ 5
The Talisman - 6.796666667 (84.96%) ▲ 5
Night Shift - 6.791013584 (84.89%) ▼ 3
The Long Walk - 6.776198439 (84.70%) ▼ 6
Joyland - 6.775641025 (84.70%)
Christine - 6.775362319 (84.69%) ▼ 4
Skeleton Crew - 6.662878788 (83.29%) ▼ 3
Needful Things - 6.534035088 (81.68%) ▲ 5
Duma Key - 6.508116884 (81.35%) ▼ 1
Mr. Mercedes - 6.504545455 (81.31%)
Firestarter - 6.462481963 (80.78%)
Finders Keepers - 6.416666667 (80.21%)
Black House - 6.397644928 (79.97%) ▼ 4
Revival - 6.387779794 (79.85%) ▲ 1
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - 6.339393939 (79.24%) ▼ 1
Insomnia - 6.155279503 (76.94%) ▲ 1
Desperation - 6.151924038 (76.90%) ▲ 1
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla - 6.049603175 (75.62%) ▼ 2

[Sai Sheb]

Thanks Mae, cant wait...

[mae]

Me too, this is always exciting and I love doing it!

Also here's some trivia, how books break down by decade:

1970s: 6
1980s: 10
1990s: 6
2000s: 3
2010s: 5

And for the record, these are the standings going into Round 2:



The Green Mile - 4.750000000 (95.00%)
Different Seasons - 4.678571429 (93.57%)
It - 4.666666667 (93.33%)
11/22/63 - 4.568965517 (91.38%)
The Stand - 4.537037037 (90.74%)
Misery - 4.434782609 (88.70%)
The Shining - 4.413793103 (88.28%)
The Eyes of the Dragon - 4.380000000 (87.60%)
Pet Sematary - 4.365384615 (87.31%)
The Long Walk - 4.326923077 (86.54%)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands - 4.285714286 (85.71%)
Night Shift - 4.275862069 (85.52%)
'Salem's Lot - 4.266666667 (85.33%)
Christine - 4.239130435 (84.78%)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - 4.214285714 (84.29%)
Skeleton Crew - 4.204545455 (84.09%)
Joyland - 4.192307692 (83.85%)
The Dead Zone - 4.185185185 (83.70%)
The Talisman - 4.180000000 (83.60%)
Duma Key - 4.053571429 (81.07%)
Black House - 4.043478261 (80.87%)
Mr. Mercedes - 3.954545455 (79.09%)
Firestarter - 3.954545455 (79.09%)
Finders Keepers - 3.950000000 (79.00%)
Needful Things - 3.920000000 (78.40%)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - 3.900000000 (78.00%)
Revival - 3.896551724 (77.93%)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla - 3.875000000 (77.50%)
Insomnia - 3.869565217 (77.39%)
Desperation - 3.862068966 (77.24%)

[amd013]

How do you grade collections? Do you need to vote for all 3 categories? If I can't remember any of the characters names, should I give it a "C", since if the character development was good, then surely I would remember, or do I just not vote for that category?

[mae]

Collections aren't graded on characters, there will be the categories of Quality of the Writing, Memorability of the Stories, and Entertainment Value.

[amd013]

Ok, so what exactly are the criteria of "quality of writing"? is this just the same as last round? Or is this based on style of writing? If the latter, since it is the same author, there will be very little difference from book to book. Even if the plot is bad, most if not all books will have the same quality of writing score. I can think of only a few books that I would grade differently in this regard, and most, if not all of them are not in round 2.

[mae]

The grading areas have evolved over the years and the last time we settled on these criteria. In the first round you are simply giving the book a rating out of five, as you would with a five-star rating for something. Just a general all-encompassing rating. In the second round we want to delve a little deeper, and there have been various areas we graded on, but as far as Quality of the Writing itself, this was one of the most requested changes actually from previous iterations, from what I remember. I don't recall the actual arguments for and against, but generally I feel this is meant for you to grade just that, how well a book was written. Sure, it's the same author, so it's not the style but the actual writing we are judging. Of course, you are free to interpret that as you see fit, and if you wish to give all or most books the same grade in that area, that's your right. And the third and final round will be a simple "which is the better book" face-off kind of thing.

[amd013]

Well, it was a clean sweep. Gave straight A's across the board for Group 2. I think every book in this group is in my top 10.

[jsmcmullen92]

Funny enough I have only read 1 book in the entire group 2

[Jean]

Ok, so what exactly are the criteria of "quality of writing"? is this just the same as last round? Or is this based on style of writing? If the latter, since it is the same author, there will be very little difference from book to book. Even if the plot is bad, most if not all books will have the same quality of writing score. I can think of only a few books that I would grade differently in this regard, and most, if not all of them are not in round 2.I think maybe it is not as much style in terms of word choice and sentence composition, but general approach to storytelling. It has definitely changed in the course of the years, and (in my opinion) not for the best. The density of information (broadly speaking: including emotional, dramatic, humorous content, social observations, dynamics between characters, etc) is very different in different books. Pages and pages of totally nothing like in Lisey's Story was something unheard of in the period of The Dead Zone (naming it because have just voted all AAAs in its poll thread))))

[Jon]

Yes. His political views often get in the way. Not everyone thinks like a liberal American...and that's ok.

[mae]

Completely slipped my mind updating the closed Group 2 polls, apologies! All set now :unsure:

[mae]

With Group 3 closing we have our first eliminations of Round 2, and the following five have been eliminated: Night Shift, The Long Walk, Christine, Skeleton Crew, Firestarter. Typically, a score of about 7.2 or around 90% will be needed to make Round 3.

Also, at the moment The Stand, uh, stands in an unfamiliar third place. This is pretty shocking.

[mae]

And a note of trivia here with Group 5: in 2014 books in this group were in Groups 4, 5, and 6. This time we really skimped on the 1990s and the 2000s.

[mae]

And so our sixth and final group of Round 2 just went up! Thank you all again for staying with us and participating in this event! We are getting very close to the end now :excited:

The Eyes of the Dragon, The Dead Zone, The Talisman, Needful Things, and Insomnia (boo!) have been eliminated.

[mae]

Also, we could potentially have a historic Round 3 with no Dark Tower novel in play. Every Round 3 thus far invariably has had both Drawing and Waste Lands, and we also had The Dark Tower sneak in in 2009.

:panic:

[amd013]

Sad to see Dead Zone and Talisman eliminated, but still happy with 8 or 9 in the current top 10. I think everything in the top ten would be at least in my top 20, so its not like a stinker is going to sneak in.

[Heather19]

The Long Walk gets eliminated :panic: And it went in to this round in the top third.

[mae]

This almost certainly will be the lowest The Long Walk has ever finished. The lowest it ever got was 14th in 2010. And it made Round 3 twice.

[Randall Flagg]

Very disappointing, but each contest is a reflection of the opinions at that time.

Also very interesting that no recent novel is in the top 10 (or 20 for that matter).

[mae]

Also very interesting that no recent novel is in the top 10 (or 20 for that matter).

Not yet, but the last two brackets with all the more recent books are closing today and Thursday. Looks like at least 11/22/63 should very much make it into the Top 10.

[mae]

So Group 5 just closed, and all of it has been eliminated. The Top 10 stays the same until Thursday when our final Group 6 closes. But with this The Green Mile, Different Seasons, It, The Stand, and Misery have clinched a spot in Round 3.

[mae]

And here we are! Round 2 is done and our final Round 3 will begin next Tuesday the 10th!

In an unprecedented turn of events, our undefeated four-time champion The Stand finds itself in utterly unfamiliar territory being in fifth place. It has a lot of room to make up, but if any book can do it, The Stand can. We are also left with just one Dark Tower book in the final round for the first time. We've always had at least two.

This will be interesting. Stay tuned! :excited:

[mae]

Stats with pretty colors added to the standings.

[Tommy]

An excellent top ten!