Take a chance on literary love and let us set you up on a Blind Date with a Book!
Our staff picked out books we adore, wrapped them up to hide their identity, and gave short descriptions to entice you. You can’t unwrap a book until you’ve taken the plunge and purchased it, but you CAN rest assured that all of these books have been thoroughly vetted—and come with our heartfelt recommendations.
AND -- this year check out a full line-up of Blind Date with a Book selections from our Young Adult department!
Want more blind date recommendations? Check out our 2019 Blind Dates, 2018 Blind Dates, and 2017 Blind Dates.
- Gothic horror/romance at its finest
- A classic novel that’s the basis for a classic film
- Mystery, murder, and twisty relationships
- Old-timey coded bisexuality
- A mansion full of secrets -- and creepy servants!
- The people, places, and relationships that haunt us years later
- Jane Eyre, but fun
- Riveting narrative nonfiction
- Fascinating cast of historical figures
- WWI glamour, disaster, and suspense
- Hunter and Hunted, and those kept in the dark
- The true details and meaning of a disaster you think you know
- A crazy fun rollercoaster of a novel
- Badass female punk rock chef/psychic protagonist you want to be your friend
- Heists! California wildfires! Secret organizations! Action, action, action!
- Murder mystery with 24 hours to clear your name
- Full of imagination, wit, and random sh*t flying through the air
- Two missing girls, ten years, two mysteries
- Memento-style narrative/formatting with an unreliable narrator
- Slightly murdery, much peeling of psychological layers
- Fast-paced and frightening
- Stay out of the forest
- start reading at the beginning of a weekend ‘cause f*ck plans/going to work
- Cinematic, almost dream-like atmosphere
- Heatbreak, obsession, and panic
- Emotionally devastating in the best way possible
- Poems that will stay on your mind after a first read and have you texting lines to your friends
- Good fit for those who enjoyed (or cried during) Call Me By Your Name
- Neo-Medieval Knights in Space
- Delicious, neon, 80’s-feeling art
- Space(!) Gays(!) beating the patriarchy at its own game
- GIANT ROBOTS AND MECH SUITS
- For anyone who has ever dreamed of exploring and changing their world
- 80s teen movies inspiration in Regency England
- Weird Science meets the Breakfast Club meets My Fair Lady.
- Nerd hero(es)!
- Fake relationship.
- steamy sexy times
- Start of a new series
- A collection of vignettes; a modern Decameron
- An ode to (awesome) women masquerading as a romance novel
- Humorous, sensual, touching
- One of Japan’s most beloved authors – for fans of Murakami and Yoko Ogawa
- Pair with a glass of wine
- “Personal is political”
- Poignant, beautiful, revelatory prose
- The city as a character, the city as a trap
- Joan Didion to Twin Peaks, Britney Spears to Serial
- Criticism, humor, memoir, essays, and true crime
- Quentin Tarantino as a queer woman writing historical fiction
- Opium smuggling, murder, blackmail, bribery
- Gender-bending 19th century western thriller
- Explicit, gritty, violent, raw
- Tough, clever, bisexual, Latinx protagonist
- Unforgettable characters and insatiable appetites
- Epic fantasy world at war
- A soldier, a scholar, a poet, and a socialite try to cure the world
- Lush, mesmerizing text with a genre-bending edge
- Four vibrant intertwined women's voices
- A beautiful heartbreak of a book
- He is saving the planet, don’t get in his way
- From warm familial childhood stories to worldwide adventures
- Botany as thriller, saving the world’s rarest plants
- The science of plant propagation and thriving (and plant love)
- Jane Goodall says “the perfect spokesperson for the plants of the world”
- He will give you so much stubborn hope
- In the vein of Kafka and Calvino!
- A mind-bending collection, originally published in 1965
- Italian surrealism and futurism!
- A perfect dose of horror and humor
- Twenty weird, wild, and wonderful stories
- Regency era England f/f bodice ripper
- WOMEN IN STE(A)M!!!!
- Two people from opposite worlds
- Science meets Art!
- Healthy relationships and steamy sexy times
- For fans of Gentleman Jack
- Sideshows with a heart of gold
- A man with secrets to hide and larger-than-life personality
- Doomed premature babies were displayed at sideshows – and so saved
- The beginning of neonatal medicine
- Painstakingly researched hidden history/biography, written with lyricism and irony
- Royal intrigue in an interplanetary empire
- Strong female relationships
- Passes both the Bechdel and Mako Mori tests
- Fast-paced story in an expansive sci fi world
- Beginning of a series
- Award-winning novel by an author nominated for multiple Man Bookers
- Zippy, clever dialogue and word play
- The Renaissance art scene and 1960s mod Britain
- Mother-daughter realness
- Two tales of love, loss, friendship, injustice, identity, gender, and so much more, twisted together
- The lasting power of art
- Fun and fascinating romp through natural history
- Cheeky, smart, and side-bustingly funny
- A modern bestiary explaining how animals have been misunderstood
- Mary Roach meets Bill Bryson
- Written by the founder of the Sloth Appreciation Society
- 1990's Feminist Punk Rock
- Family turmoil, music industry rejection, and unwavering determination
- Laugh-out-loud funny
- the moments that shape a person
- Self-discovery through music
- A Millennial fable in San Francisco’s tech industries and foodie world
- The search for connection
- Having a career vs. having a passion vs. having a life
- Unique, sometimes zany characters you recognize and want to recognize
- New technology clashes with the old world and mythic history
- Delicious, quirky fun
- Long and rich history of political radicalism
- Mexican and Chicano working class
- Migrants & the early 20th century labor movement
- Active makers of history with unbounded revolutionary agency
- History, politics, organization, and social struggle
- Vital historical reading for our modern world