The Book Draft

Each year members of the famed book club Pacific Literary Laboratories gather together in an undisclosed location (my house) to participate in the most important event of the year, the Book Draft.

It is the duty, no, pleasure of each member to be familiar with all guidelines and regulations of the Book Draft.

Book Draft 2025

Round 1

Alan - The Scarlet Plague - Jack London

Nate - A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

Matt - Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry

Glenn - Christian Philosophy as a Way of Life - Ross Inman

Tim - The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jared - Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov

Chris - Solaris - Stanislaw Lem

AJ - The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco

Round 2

Alan - She - H. Rider Haggard

Nate - The Last Man - Mary Shelley

Matt - The Accidental President - A. J. Baime

Glenn - Land of Hope - Wilfred McClay

Tim - The Art of Living - Epictetus

Jared - Storm of Steel - Ernst Junger

Chris - We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite - Musa al-Gharbi

AJ - The Great Train Robbery - Michael Crichton

Round 3

Alan - Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer

Nate - Napoleon on Napoleon

Matt - Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Glenn - Doctors of Death - Philippe Aziz

Tim - The Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper

Jared - Norco ‘80 - Peter Houlahan

Chris - Starling House - Alix Harrow

AJ - The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

The Draft

Round 1

Chris Eich - Pale Fire

A. J. - Lonesome Dove

Jared - Roadside Picnic

Glenn - Norco ‘80

Tim - The Name of the Rose

Matt - The Great Train Robbery

Nate - Land of Hope

Alan - Solaris

Round 2

Tim - Into the Wild

Matt - Storm of Steel

Alan - The Woman in White

Jared - She

Glenn - Accidental President

Chris - Napoleon on Napoleon

A. J. - Starling House

Nate - Doctors of Death

Book Draft 2024

ROUND 1

Alan Bowley - No Country for Old Men by Cormac Mccarthy
Nate Evans - Lake Wobegone Days by Garrison Keillor
Tim - All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
Matt - Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Glenn - On Thermonuclear War by Herman Kahn
Joseph - Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
Jared - The Walls of Israel by Jean Larteguy
AJ - The Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang

ROUND 2

Alan Bowley - Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen
Nate Evans - When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Tim - Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
Matt - Pines by Blake Crouch
Glenn - The Jeeves Collection by PG Wodehouse
Joseph - Good Tidings of Great Joy by Charles Spurgeon
Jared - Silent Passengers by Larry Woiwode
AJ - The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

ROUND 3

Alan - Butcher's Crossing by John Williams
Nate Evans - What's Wrong with the World by GK Chesterton
Tim Rogers - Coming Up for Air by George Orwell
Matt - Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Glenn - Redating the New Testament by John A. T. Robinson
Joseph - Witness by Whittaker Chambers
Jared - She Was a Queen by Maurice Collis
AJ - Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King

The Draft

Picks Round 1

Matt - Silent Passengers
Alan - When Breath Becomes Air
Tim - No Country for Old Men
Glenn - The Walls of Israel
A. J. - Butcher's Crossing
Jared - Coming Up for Air
Joseph - The Martian Chronicles
"Nate" - All the King's Men

Picks Round 2

A. J. - The Jeeves Collection
Glenn - Lake Wobegone days
Tim - The Picture of Dorian grey
Joseph - Pines
Alan - Brunelleschi's Dome
Matt - She Was a Queen
"Nate" - On Thermonuclear War
Jared - Witness

Book Draft 2023

Round One:

Nightmares and Geezenstacks selected by Jared
Children of Time selected by Matt
The Inferno selected by Nate
Exhalation selected by Alan
Notes from Underground selected by Glenn
The Princess and Curdie selected by Chris
Ordinary Monsters selected by Tim
Around the World in 80 Days selected by A.J.

Round Two:

9. Dracula's Guest and Other Stories selected by A.J.

10. Empire of the Summer Moon selected by Matt

11. That Hideous Strength selected by Alan

12. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, & Tomorrow selected by Tim

13. East of Eden selected by Jared

14. The Accusation selected by Chris

15. Foundation, Book 1 selected by Nate

16. Childhood's End selected by Glenn

Power Rankings

Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Nightmares and Geezenstacks by Frederic Brown
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Book Draft 2022

Round One:

A.J. - A Morbid Tas.te for Bones by Ellis Peters

Matt - City of Fallen Angels by Paul Buchanan

Eich - Kalevala by Elias Lonnrott

Joseph - Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

Jared - To an Unknown God by John Steinbeck

Tim - Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Nate Evans - The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien

Alan - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Bob - Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeve

Round Two:

Jared - Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Alan - The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories (intro by S. T. Joshi) by H. P. Lovecraft

Matt - Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Tim - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre

Eich - A Dog’s Heart by Mikhail Bulgakov

Bob - The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany

Joseph - The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

Nate Evans - Children of Men by P. D. James

AJ - The Spirit of the Rain Forest (3rd Edition) by Mark Andrew Ritchie

Power Ranking

1. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
2. To an Unknown God by John Steinbeck
2. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
2. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
3. Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves

Book Draft 2021

Round One

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs selected by Tim
Murder in the Cathedral T.S. Eliot selected by Glenn
Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher selected by Alan
Return of the Spirit by Tawfiq al-Hakim selected by A.J.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White selected by Jared
The Rational Bible by Dennis Prager selected by Chris
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine selected by Matt
Hyperion by Dan Simmons selected by Nate

Round Two
9. Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace selected by Glenn
10. 1984 by George Orwell selected by Alan
11. Cup of Gold by John Steinbeck selected by Tim
12. King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard selected by Nate
13. The Chosen by Choim Potok selected by Jared
14. Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott selected by A.J.
15. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner selected by Chris
16. The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson selected by Matt

Power Ranking

Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher (10)
Murder In the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot (8)
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (6)

Unselected

The Bible According to Mark Twain: Irreverent Writings on Eden, Heaven, and the Flood by Mark Twain
Mosses from an Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Epic of Eden by Sandra L. Richter
I am an Impure Thinker by Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Redeeming the Dial: Radio, Religion, and Popular Culture in America by Tona J. Hangen
Casino Royal by Ian Fleming

Book Draft 2020

Round One

1. Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis selected by Glenn

2. Shogun by James Clavell selected by Chris

3. Eisenhower and Berlin 1945 by Stephen Ambrose selected by Jared

4. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie selected by Tim

5. The Religion of a Doctor by Sir Thomas Browne selected by Alan

6. We Never Make Mistakes by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn selected by A. J.

7. How to Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone selected by Matt

Round Two

8. Papillon by Henri Charriere selected by Jared

9. Der Duehrer by Konrad Heiden selected by Glenn

10. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn selected by Tim

11. I am Legend by Richard Matheson selected by Matt

12. The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert Louis Wilken selected by A. J.

13. The Club of Queer Trades by G. K. Chesterton selected by Chris

14. Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame selected by Alan

Unselected

The Quantum Magician by Derek Kunsken

The General History of Captain John Smith

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Bostonians by Henry James

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean

Power Ranking

Religio Medici

2. Shogun

3. We never make Mistakes

3. This is how you win a Time War

Book Draft 2019

Round One

Father Brown Reader by G.K. Chesterton selected by Glenn
History of New York by Washington Irving selected by Kelley the Younger
String, Straight Edge, and Shadow by Julia E. Diggins selected by John
History of Rasselas by Samuel Johnson selected by Jared
Eric Brighteyes by H. Rider Haggard by A.J.
Leave it to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse selected by Matt
Innocence Abroad by Mark Twain selected by Kelly the Elder
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote selected by Alan

Round Two

Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe selected by Alan
Soldier Report by by William Westmoreland selected by Jared
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion by Chrétien de Troyes selected by Kelley the Younger
Practicing Affirmation by Sam Crabtree selected by Glenn
Reflections from Plato’s Cave by Donald T. Williams selected by Kelley the Elder
Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy selected by John
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss selected by A.J.
Beowulf selected by Matt

Unselected Candidates
The Disuniting of America by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Story of a Soul by John Clarks

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Atlas Of A Lost World by Craig Childs

How to Read a Book by Mortimer J Adler and Charles Van Doren

Dracula Prince of Many Faces by Radu R Florescu

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

Power Rankings

String, Straight Edge, and Shadow by Julia E. Diggins

2. Father Brown Reader by G.K. Chesterton

3. Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

Book Draft 2018

Round One

The Accusation by Bandi - selected by A.J.
Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck - selected by Jared
Letters from an American Farmer by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur - selected by Glenn
Till We have Faces by C.S. Lewis - selected by Alan

Round Two

5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - selected by A.J.

6. The Man who Laughs by Victor Hugo - selected by Alan

7. The Man Who was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton - selected by Glenn

8. The Bad Popes by E. R. Chamberlin - selected by Jared

Unselected

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

Against All Hope by Armando Valladares

The Last Disciples by Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer

The Kindergarden of Eden by Evan Sayet

Power Rankings

The Accusations by Brandi
1. Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck

2. The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton

3. Out of the Silent Planet By C.S. Lewis

Book Draft 2017

Round one

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Selected by Matt

2. Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorn selected by Glenn

3. Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin selected by Paul

4. Phantastes By George MacDonald selected by A.J.

5. Nicoli Gogol selected by Alan

6. Winter of our Discontent selected by Jared

Round two

7. The Blade Itself selected by Matt

8. Fear and Trembling selected by Glenn

9. Praise of Folly selected by Jared

10. Things fall Apart selected by A.J.

11. Divine Comedy selected by Paul

12. Economics in One easy Lesson selected by Alan

Round three

13. Proof of God selected by Alan

14. Confederacy of Dunces selected by Paul

15. On Killing selected by Matt

16. Here I stand selected by A.J.

17. Anthem selected by Jared

18. Edith Schaffer L’Abri selected by Glenn