Merry Arguments
Welcome to the Battle of the Books.
On Tuesday evening, July 21, we held a virtual Battle of the Books in collaboration with the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library. This was the third virtual Battle we’ve done, and I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the way online channels—we’ve used both Zoom and Crowdcast—prove congenial to creating a sense of literary camaraderie despite the lack of face-to-face engagement. For the Plainview-Old Bethpage Battle, our five contestants, drawn from the library’s Long Island community, included the library director; a professor emerita from the State University of New York; a poet; an editor and chamber of commerce administrator; and a bestselling novelist. The range of books they championed was broad (I netted two additions to my own TBR list). And while it’s a little unnerving to speak to a large and dispersed audience remotely (in this case, we had more than 150 viewers who tuned in not only from Plainview and environs, but from Pittsburgh, Boston, and as far away as Phoenix), the virtual connectivity the affair fostered strikes me as a nice metaphor for the way the company of books can nourish both solitude and conversation.
You’ll find more details on the Plainview event—including the books discussed, the winning volume as determined by audience poll, and a link to view the presentation in its entirety—below. But before I get to that, let me say a little about how our Battles of the Books came about.
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When 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die was published in October 2018, Margot and I traveled around the country to bookstores and libraries to talk about the making of the book and its contents. Having spent fourteen years writing it, I quickly realized I was going to spend the next fourteen hearing from readers what I’d gotten wrong; this delighted me, because it met an objective I’d laid out in the book’s introduction:
For years a thousand books felt like far too many to get my head around, but now it seems too few by several multiples. So let me say what already should be obvious: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is neither comprehensive nor authoritative, even if a good number of the titles assembled here would be on most lists of essential reading. It is meant to be an invitation to a conversation—even a merry argument—about the books and authors that are missing as well as the books and authors included, because the question of what to read next is the best prelude to even more important ones, like who to be, and how to live.
The merry arguments I hoped the book would start happened after my book talks in nearly every venue we visited, and were the best part of those afternoons and evenings. At one point on the tour, Margot had the inspired idea to make them their own event, coming up with the idea for the Battle of the Books as well as its ideal format: five contestants each choose a book that’s not included in my 1,000, then each is given four minutes to convince an audience that it should be on everyone’s must-read list. The participants are local luminaries—so far, we’ve had teachers and writers, bakers and booksellers, legislators and librarians—who are eager to share their favorite reading with friends, families, and neighbors. The competitive aspect of the program contributes to the fun, and the audience voting is always spirited—and often surprising—in its result.
The Battles have worked marvelously as live events, and they’ve lost none of their good cheer as we’ve taken them online. So, while it’s unlikely we’ll hosting live events again anytime soon, we’d love to talk books with you, and we have the virtual tools to do so. To inquire about hosting a Battle of the Books in your community (or beyond), please reach out to us at hello@1000books.com.
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As I mentioned up top, the virtual Battle of the Books we held in conjunction with the Plainview-Old Bethpage Library was a lot of lively, literate fun, with an especially enticing range of books. The first presenter was Gretchen Browne, the library’s director, who made her case for Rosamunde Pilcher’s historical novel, Winter Solstice, praising its depth, sincerity, and storytelling magic. Next up was Dr. Anna Katsavos, Professor Emerita at SUNY Nassau, who championed Apeirogon, the latest novel by Colum McCann, a “powerful story of loss, love and peace.” Poet Mindy Mangot then praised Cynthia Rylant’s Something Permanent, in which Rylant’s poems offer a poignant and powerful counterpoint to Walker Evans’s photographs of the Depression era, taken sixty years earlier. “This book is about resilience, overcoming despair, survival, having faith in humanity. It’s perfect for all age groups, and it’s so relevant in these challenging times that we face today, offering comfort and hope.”
“Some critics,” said freelance editor and chamber of commerce administrator Barbara Mars about the book she offered for the audience’s consideration, “have pigeonholed Jodi Picoult’s novels as ‘chick lit’ or ‘formulaic.’ Small Great Things defies those labels. If you’re doubtful, please consider the lesson the book aims to teach: Take pause. Step back. Widen your lens.” Finally, bestselling novelist Alison Richman revealed why she think’s Tara Conklin’s The Last Romantics belongs on our list of Books to Read Before You Die: “It has everything I love in a book. It’s not just a gripping narrative with characters that capture your heart. It’s not just beautiful sentences that make you pause and want to underline them. What most importantly defines a great novel is that you think of it long after you finish the last page—that the characters inhabit you.”
The winner? Small Great Things, which edged out Apeirogon in the audience voting. You can watch a replay of watch of the whole event, with viewer comments in the chat, here: Plainview-Old Bethpage Library Virtual Battle of the Books.
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If you’re interested in viewing our earlier virtual outings, these links will lead you to them: