The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
But it’s got a great personality ... for a book!
My first problem had to do with looks. There was no way of telling what my potential dates might be hiding underneath their handsome outer wrappings.
Meanwhile, some of them sounded great ... on paper, anyway.
“I’m dazzling!” one modestly proclaimed.
“I will explore love, loss and ultimately, absolution,” another promised.
Oh sure, the old ultimate absolution line, I sighed to myself as I studied the “Blind Date With A Book” display at Wolf Creek Library. How many times had I fallen for that one?
Suddenly everybody’s a would-be matchmaker. Includ- ing the 6-month-old Atlanta Fulton Public Library branch that’s next door to Wolf Creek Amphitheater in southwest Atlanta. Unlike your well-meaning Meemaw or pushy ex-college roommate, though, the library thinks you really need to put yourself out there if you’re gonna find the right ... book.
“It’s a way to increase cir- culation,” Wolf Creek branch manager Teryn Gilliam said about the “Blind Date” program that began last week and runs through March 13. “We’re also hoping it might broaden
some people’s horizons in terms of choosing what to read.”
Here’s how it works: Wolf Creek’s staff has culled books from every section of the library except children’s and wrapped them in colorful paper. Patrons decide which book or books they want to go on a “blind” date with and go through the normal checkout process. Only then do they get to tear off the wrappings and see what kind of match they’ve made. There’s even a “Rate Your Date” card tucked inside each book that patrons can fill out and enter in a prize drawing (Gilliam’s thinking of displaying the user-generated comments somewhere in the library).
This blind date isn’t completely blind, though. In a bookish take on personal ads, an attached card hints at what’s inside each pretty package. Gilliam wrote all the descriptions and — in what has to qualify as a first for any sort of personal ad — swears they’re accurate.
If you prefer speeddating, AFPLS’s Palmetto branch offers its own take on “Blind Date With A Book” on Saturday. Patrons can go to the children’s, teen or adult department and choose a “mystery” bag with several books inside — and no clues as to its contents.
“Much like you shouldn’t judge people by how they look, maybe it’s better not to judge a book by its cover,” Palmetto branch manager Andaiye Reeves explained the underlying philosophy. “Maybe you’ll wind up discovering a genre or author you want to explore more.”
Back at Wolf Creek, it can be fun trying to figure out what book lurks behind the description that begins, “I’m a story of the exotic wife of an aristocrat.” Or the one that ends, “I will haunt you, but happily.”
It also can be revealing — and disspiriting — regarding your own, uh, tendencies. I immediate- ly gravitated to the bad boys: “I’m a tale of social snobbery and barefaced ambition,” one such book’s descriptive card read in part. Meanwhile, I couldn’t reject the nice or sensitive ones fast enough: “I’m a totally brilliant book about the heartbreaking gap between the way we were and the way we are.”
No surprise, I opted for “social snobbery,” which turned out to be “Marrying Up” by Wendy Holden. At the same time, I chose to broaden my horizons slightly by also going home with “an exhilarating, action-packed thriller that brings the splendor and emotion of the Olympics ...”
That one wound up being James Patterson’s “Private Games.” Unbelievably, I’ve never read anything by the world’s most prolific author, so you could already consider this blind date a success.
Unless he pulls out the old ultimate absolution line. No way I’m falling for that one again!