On March 2nd, the University of Wisconsin–River Falls book club, All Booked, hosted its only event of the semester, “Blind Date with a Book.”
Scattered across tables, each book was wrapped in brown paper with its Goodreads rating and a short synopsis taped to the outside. This prevented students from judging a book by its cover and encouraged them to choose based on content alone. After reading through different summaries, students selected a book and only then unwrapped it to reveal their pick.
According to club president Rylan Danielson, the goal of the event was to make reading more accessible on campus. “We wanted to give back to the campus because coming by books shouldn’t be a hard thing to do. It’s a skill people are lacking nowadays—reading—it’s a necessity to have,” Danielson said.
The event drew an unexpectedly large crowd. When visiting, the room was so full that moving from table to table was a challenge. “We spent two hours wrapping books, we bought about one hundred and ran out in the first five minutes,” Danielson said. “So now we know better for next time.”
The overwhelming turnout highlighted both the popularity of the event and the continued interest in reading among students. All Booked meets every other Monday at 6 p.m. in the UC Falls Room 004, and students can stay up to date on meetings through their Instagram account, @allbooked_uwrf.