Remember book clubs? The idea was you sign up and receive a steady stream of books you didn't have to choose yourself. All you had to do was open the package and read. The pitch was that you would discover new books because more serious readers than you — or those with more time — selected them. Those sort of fell out of favor because they turned out to be mostly scammish.
But the 2021 version of that idea is awesome! It's called the Blind Book Date, and it's happening at Etsy. You order only the number of books you want. Sometimes you choose the genre, or you can leave it all up to the curator.
Some of the books are used, so this can also be a super-affordable way to discover new reads. And you will discover new authors and books without all the agony of having to research them yourself or beg your bookish friends for recommendations.
The book is a mystery, but the genre is not.
$5
from
You could give this as a gift, but why not just get it for yourself? For $5, you get one book, chosen by a book curator. Better still, it's wrapped with a bullet-point book description on the cover so you get the thrill of a package in the mail and the surprise of unwrapping and reading with none of the work of choosing what to read next.
Just tell the Ecstatic Press store what genre you want to read and how many books you want.
Don't be blinded by the cover.
You've heard the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." That's great in theory. But it's not so easy in practice.
That is, unless you trust someone else to choose the book for you! You can stipulate the genre (historical, middle grade, mystery/thriller, etc.) if you want to. Or just go for the total surprise. The book will show up in plain brown wrapper with a short description so you can unwrap and read.
A blind book date with a group of books
Why stop at one book? This mystery book bundle has three books, selected from the genre you chose. Your package will also have a bookmark and a surprise. And the options for genres at this particular Etsy store are vast: adventure, mystery, erotica, memoir, romance, and much more.
This is more like a blind weekend orgy with a pile of books, but I feel like that's probably the mood for 2021.
The 'trust the mystery' blind book date
Don't want to decide anything? Down for a complete surprise when it comes to the book selection? This is your option. The books are all new (no used books), but you don't even choose the genre. Trust the blind date to hook you up with some reading you will fall in love with! Just do it!
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