Reviewing Bionic Books: a subscription service with a twist
I must confess to being inordinately excited about checking the mail each day. It’s been that way since I was a kid, so I don’t think there’s any help available to me at this point. (To give you a sense of my mail fantasies: occasionally I still have actual dreams about going out to check the mailbox of my childhood home and finding it literally overflowing with armfuls of letters and packages).
Book mail takes my adoration of the postie to a whole new level, especially if it’s book mail of the surprise variety. I was thrilled to receive my first Bionic Books Subscription parcel just before Christmas for that very reason, but also because it’s a book subscription with a twist: subscribers don’t necessarily all receive the same book each month; rather, books are individually assigned based on an algorithm that calculates each member’s reading tastes and styles. Title selection then becomes a collaborative process between the individual and the computer-brain at Bionic Books.
To start the process, I was invited to fill out a questionnaire to determine my book tastes. If you’ve ever taken a BuzzFeed quiz about any aspect of books or reading, you’ll know the instant appeal. After selecting titles I’d enjoyed or encountered from a list of specific books, and checking off a few I’d be keen to read, it was time to sit back and wait for the postie.
My trust in the Bionic Books algorithm was fulfilled when the parcel arrived and out slipped Peter Temple’s The Broken Shore, a contemporary Aussie crime classic that had been on my radar for ages but which I’d never yet read – the perfect choice. There was an option to return for a refund or exchange if the book was one I knew I wouldn’t like or had already read, but obviously I didn’t need to take advantage of that.
I really appreciated this no-frills and no-waste approach, which sets Bionic Books apart from other parcel clubs that tend to be filled with lots of cute but materialistic doo-dads. This commitment to a focus simply on good literature with an environmental conscience extended through to the packing and mailing, too, with the accompanying introduction letter printed on recycled and recyclable paper, and the mailing satchel made from compostable materials. I shrink inside whenever I have to throw mailing materials in the regular trash, so this was another tick in the box for thoughtfulness and responsibility.
Then all that was left for me to do was dive into my new book! Peter Temple feels like a contemporary forefather to the Australian rural noir tradition and The Broken Shore was thick with atmosphere and the omnipresence of the landscape. Protagonist Joe Cashin is a Victorian police officer nursing physical and emotional injuries, essentially laying low in coastal bushland where things are supposed to be simpler. Of course, they never are, and the regular police run and Cashin’s instincts lead him deep into the complex sins, prejudices and griefs of local saints and sinners.
After a few weeks to allow for reading, I received a follow-up survey to share my thoughts on my first book pick. It was another fun reflective process. I could assign a number value to the quality of writing (5 stars), the appeal of the characters, and my satisfaction with the plot. There was even space for me to add further notes, which I used to confirm that the book was an ideal pick for me, though with a bit too much language for my preference, and readers should be aware there are racist slurs throughout (and shown to be racist). This feedback, in turn, will help hone what the algorithm knows of me and my reading tastes.
I can’t wait to experience the Bionic Books magic all over again, and I can’t wait to see what happens next for this Melbourne-based small business borne out of lockdown creativity.
