Blind Date With a Book BlindDateBookPod

Looking to cozy down with a book this winter? In this episode, we discuss the definition of a "winter read" (and if there is one), and share our picks for books to read this season.

Books Mentioned


The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Babel by R.F. Kuang
St. Sebastian's Abyss by Mark Haber
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
The Method by Isaac Butler
The Women in the Library by Sullari Gentill
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Books of Anthony Horowitz (The Word is Murder and The Magpie Murders)
The Revolution of Marina M by Janet Fitch

On this special bonus episode of Blind Date With a Book, we sit down with Meghan Phillips to discuss our favorite boarding school novels. Meghan is the author of the upcoming flash fiction chapbook Abstinence Only. Titles mentioned include:


The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
The Lightness by Emily Temple
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt
Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Bonus picks


At Briarwood School for Girls by Michael Knight
Plain Bad Heroines by emily m danforth
True Biz by Sara Novic
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

On this episode, we're setting up Sterling Melcher. Sterling is an multidisciplinary artist who lives in Philly. His work investigates the connections between performance, absurd philosophy, hard sciences, and the political landscape. He also manages a restaurant, so his weekends and nights are usually busy. Sterling’s favorite season is fall, for its mood lighting and perfect wardrobe options, and his dream vacation would be backpacking in Scandinavia, then skipping over to St. Petersburg before flying back to the US. He’s a self proclaimed movie snob, especially in that he believes movies should be experienced in a theater with others, and his perfect double feature is watching the slasher film Mandy, starring Nicholas Cage, leading into the 2019 film version of Cats.

The picks

Open Me by Lisa Locasio

The Seventh Mansion by Maryse Meijer

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton

Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

Today, we're setting up Nicole Brinkley, Bookseller and Manager at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY (and host of the Misshelved podcast). Nicole read and recently loved Year of the Witching and A Spindle Splintered, and she’s Oblong’s resident specialist for kids and SciFi Fantasy books. She loves autumn, and is impressed by other people’s generosity with their friends. She could give an on-the-spot TED talk about why frontline booksellers should make more money (we agree), or how Slenderman has big arms for big hugs. She’s looking to expand her reading list outside of her usual genres, and we’re more than happy to help.

The picks

Shop from the Lit.Bar

Neon Gods by Katee Robert

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales

Well Matched by Jen DeLuca

The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Cordova

White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

This episode, we're setting up Chelsey Hill, chorus manager and New York City-based illustrator. Chelsey’s work is often inspired by eccentric New Yorkers, as well as legendary musicians and performers. Her work has been featured as part of the LinkNYC Urban Haiku program, the Women Conductor’s Series, and clients include the Met Opera Chorus, Broadway Roulette and more. She recently read and loved Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and she’s a total fan of sweater weather and awesome coats. She adores iced coffee, doesn’t believe in horoscopes, and wouldn’t consider herself a romantic. Her dream vacation would be to Scotland, and she loved Somebody Somewhere on HBO’s nice nod to Midwestern life.

The picks

Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett

Pop Song by Larissa Pham

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Where to find us:

Find our show online at blinddatewithabookpod.com and @bookmeetcute on Twitter and Instagram. Please follow and tell us all the books you've fallen in love with recently.

Rachel chats with Emi Nietfeld, author of the debut memoir, ACCEPTANCE. ACCEPTANCE comes out on August 2, 2022, and follows Emi during her young adulthood, through the foster care system, mental health facilities, residence at an arts high school, temporary homelessness, and more on her way to college and beyond. Emi talks about the process of writing a memoir, plus recommendations for books she's loved recently.

Find Emi on Twitter, Instagram, or subscribe to her newsletter.

The Books We Talked About:

Acceptance by Emi Nietfeld

Blueprint your Bestseller by Stuart Horwitz

Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford 

NSFW by Isabel Kaplan 

Post Traumatic by Chantal B Johnson 

Counterfeit by Kirsten Chen 

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (audiobook) 

Sirens and Muses by Antonia Angress