In Australia have a television reality show called “The Voice”, where singers are selected for the competition by singing on stage for judges who have their backs to the singers. They can only judge the contestant by their voice. In other words, their age, gender, size, look, style etc aren’t judged.
This would be like selecting a book without looking at the cover. I wonder if there would be books we would read if we weren’t forming preconceived ideas by the artwork, blurb, author name etc?
Want to find out? Now you can! Recommend me a book does just that. You get the first page or two to read with no identification at all. Don’t like it, click the “Next book” button. Want to read more, click the “Reveal title and author” button.
It took me a couple of books before I found one where I really wanted to keep turning the page. I revealed the title and author (you get a thumbnail of the book), to find one of my Barbarians has the book. I would never have read it if I hadn’t found it on this page and it is in my house!
Have a go and tell me if you found something you wouldn’t have read otherwise. Think about the cover – would you have picked it up if you’d seen it in a bookshop or library?
January 11, 2023 at 12:33 am
How interesting! I will def8nitely bookmark this site and come back to it.
January 11, 2023 at 8:13 am
It’s kinda fun, Maggie. And it is interesting revealing the cover after you make an opinion on the story and writing.
January 11, 2023 at 4:08 am
Ooooo this sounds amazing!!! I have already bookmarked it!
January 11, 2023 at 8:17 am
It’s a lot of fun, T. You’ll have to let me know if you discover any good books.
January 11, 2023 at 4:43 am
We have The Voice here, too. (I don’t watch it, but I’ve heard of it.) That’s a great way to check out some books.
January 11, 2023 at 8:15 am
It is different, Liz. We have a lot of big book sales for charities here in Oz (no idea if it’s a thing in US). On the last day (they usually run for 3 days at a big exhibition building) in the afternoon, you can fill a bag for $5. That’s when we usually go – because it is limited hours and there are approximately 3 warehouses full of books, you really don’t have time to consider the cover. You read the blurb on the back and shove it in your bag. It’s kind of the same thing, because I’ve discovered some awesome books this way!
January 11, 2023 at 8:15 am
Oh, and I don’t watch the Voice either (but I know of the format from the ads)
January 13, 2023 at 1:22 am
I have gotten too tied into reading on my tablet, which makes it harder to find new directions to read into. Thanks for the tip.
January 25, 2023 at 8:40 pm
That is the downside to tablet reading – you don’t get to browse like you do a bookstore shelf.