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Battle of the Books, featuring Jim Mustich
November 14, 2019 @ 7:00 pm
The Idea
An event for book lovers, the 1,000 Books Battle of the Books is a program offering a platform for five passionate readers each to make a case, in front of a live audience, for a book they think should be on everyone’s TBR list. At the end of the Battle, audience members vote for the book they most want to read or reread, a winner and runner-up are declared, and copies of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die and all five books on the program are offered for sale.
The Format
5 x 5. In other words, a short program in which five people each have five minutes to talk about a book they love in front of a live audience. The venue can be anything from a medium-sized room to an auditorium, depending on the size of the audience. With the 5 x 5 format, the actual program part of the event should run no longer than about forty minutes; if written ballots are collected and tabulated, the program might run to one hour.
The Event
It’s like a poetry slam. Jim Mustich, author of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, acts as emcee. After an introduction by Jim, the presenters each have five minutes to convince the audience that the book they are championing is definitely worth reading (or rereading) and should be on the list of Books to Read Before You Die. They can talk, sing, read excerpts from their books, do somersaults—pretty much anything short of taking their clothes off. But they have to stop at the end of five minutes. After hearing all five presentations, audience members get to vote for the book they most want to read. Jim entertains the audience while votes are tabulated. Following the competition, audience members can buy copies of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die and the 2020 1,000 Books Page-A-Day Calendar as well as copies of all five of the books on the program.
The winner of the Battle gets bragging rights and a signed copy of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die. The runner-up is guaranteed a chance to return to compete in the venue’s next Battle of the Books.