A team of literary judges decided each round of the competition, and all the judges voted on the final two books: Jonathan Franzen‘s Freedom and Egan’s novel. Egan earned nine votes; Franzen earned eight.

Andrew Womack concluded the contest with this vote: “How fortunate to find two books in the championship so comparable—both spanning decades (or beyond) and heavily centered on music. For me, this decision comes down to pacing, and Franzen is the Pink Floyd to Egan’s Sex Pistols; by the end of Freedom I couldn’t take another meandering guitar solo, while I was dazzled by how much Goon Squad packed into such a compact space.”

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Here’s more from the release: “McEwan’s protagonists struggle for their right to give personal expression to their ideas, and to live according to those ideas in an environment of political and social turmoil. His obvious affection for them, and the compelling manner in which he describes their struggle, make him one of the most important writers of our time. His books have been translated into many languages and have enjoyed world-wide success – particularly in Israel, where he is one of the most widely-read of foreign authors.”

Several past winners (including Peruvian writer, Mario Vargas Llosa) have also received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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Plenty of celebrities–from Kristen Bell to Elizabeth Banks–have tweeted about Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games trilogy. But, not all of them have their very own talk show. That’s what sets Tyra Banks apart from all the rest. You can read Banks’ Twitter book review in the image embedded above: “Soooooo good!!!”

Shelf Life poked fun at the review: “That is especially impressive, since six o’s and three exclamation points is the highest possible score in Tyra’s rating system. (By comparison, she thought Twilight was ‘Soooo good!!’ and she broke with critical consensus by only giving the new Franzen a tepid ‘Soo good!’)”

Oprah Winfrey chose Jonathan Franzen‘s Freedom as this year’s book club pick. Could Banks review books in a post-Oprah world?  Some feel that with or without Oprah, publishing will go on.

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