The Book of Love

Find Your Soulmate Between the Covers

Books can offer a lot of advice about love. Overpowering and all-encompassing, it can sometimes end in tragedy, as was the fate of the most famous young Shakespearean lovers (after one of whom yours truly was named); it can grow and change with age and experience, as Shel Silverstein’s Giving Tree sacrificed every leaf and apple and branch and twig to the little boy it loved so completely; it can be the happiest of endings, as it was for Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. But New York City is no fairy-tale setting, and even the most seasoned bibliophile will attest that story-book love is tough to find in real life. But while the stories they tell can provide fodder for so many notebook doodles and daydreams, can books themselves be objects of romance? Greenpoint’s own Word Bookstore thinks yes, maybe they can.

A few weeks ago, Stephanie Anderson, the manager of Word Bookstore on Franklin Avenue created a match-making bulletin board, installed on the back of a bookshelf, to see if the books people love could possibly bring them together. The board invites visitors to write down their favorite books and authors—think “likes and dislikes, turn-ons and turn-offs” of a literary nature—along with their contact information, in hopes of finding a “literary soulmate.”

“It actually started when a friend of mine walked into the store and saw two books together behind the counter, one by Neil Gaiman and Steve Toltz,” Anderson said. “And she said, ‘tell me those are for the same guy, and please tell me he’s single!’ So, I got to thinking we could match people by literary taste.”

Though books are inherently private entities—one generally reads alone—there is, and will always be, a desire to talk about that which one is passionate, and for many Word-goers, that passion is books. And with burgeoning popularity of internet dating cites, Anderson thought the match-making board might serve as a way for people to meet, to interact, and to bond over a mutual love and interest in reading.

“Book people are really talkative actually,” Anderson said. “It’s funny because reading is something people do by themselves but they love talking about it, they could talk about it for hours. Even with all the social media—which we at Word also love—people fundamentally love to group together, and books are a perfect thing to group around.”

Though the bulletin board is their first foray into literary match-making, Word is no stranger to bringing bibliophiles together. The little bookstore sponsors weekly events, parties and readings—almost always featuring author interviews, signings and ample crowd participation—and has their very own literary basketball league with eight teams and nearly 100 participants.

Basketball may inspire pick-up games, they are hoping the bulletin board will result in equally successful pick-ups…of a different nature.

“Books are romantic and I don’t know why!” Anderson said. “I guess there’s something attractive about being passionate about something, be it fantasy baseball or books. And you can learn so much about someone by the books they read—not the books they’ve read, but the books they really love.”

A brand new project, Anderson has yet to see any matches be made, but is optimistic about the prospect of literary love blossoming via bulletin board.

“In an ideal world, a couple would meet on the bulletin board and get married in the basement,” Anderson said. “I mean, they could propose in the children’s section!”