"Blind Date With a Book!"

I went into town last weekend with our little friend C and we stopped at the local bookstore. Rather a small store, and I'm not always thrilled with the selection there... too many westerns and romances for my taste, but the owner is very nice and extremely helpful.

While I was looking for a particular book that I'd read about on Pinterest (and they had it there at the shop!), C found a shelf near the front of the store with a sign over it which said "Blind Date With a Book!"  All of the books on that display were wrapped in white paper so you couldn't see the covers. On the white wrapper were clues about the book... fiction, memoir, mystery, etc.... and then parts of the blurbs describing the story were written down as well, without giving away the contents of the book.

The 'instructions' on the sign were as follows:
*Choose your 'date' by reading the clues on the wrapping paper. Take your date home and unwrap it in privacy. Introduce your date to your favorite reading spots.
*If you've found the book-love of your life, add it to your own library shelves, or you may want to share it with your friends.
*If you're not satisfied with your date, then re-wrap it and return it,,.. and choose another. No questions asked!

C and I laughed at the sign... I copied it down because I knew I'd want to adapt it to our Waldorf Wednesdays and other parties... and then both C and I picked out two books. The bookstore was selling the Blind Date books for $3 each, but there are libraries all over the country doing the same thing... those books can be 'borrowed' on library cards (and returned, of course) or purchased for just a dollar or two if they're on the library's Books-For-Sale shelves.

I made up my own sign for "Blind Date With a Book," using the instructions from the bookstore sign. Then I went through my selling page on Half.com and pulled out books that I thought would be of interest to the tea ladies, and of course deleted them from my inventory.  At this afternoon's Waldorf Wednesday, I will introduce everyone to their Blind Date options... which are all wrapped up and waiting on the table in the breakfast room, all with little cards on them giving clues as to what sort of book is under the wrapping paper.

As I go to the bookstores and thrift stores in the area, I will look for other books to add to the "Blind Date With a Book" table, and also ask the ladies if they have any books they'd like to contribute to the 'dating' possibilities.  I know all of this will be a nice surprise for the ladies, and I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun from week to week.