BookDNAJoin the beta
Genres are a shelving system. Not a feeling.

Discover books by how they make you feel.

Genres only tell part of the story. BookDNA matches books using emotional experiences, pacing, themes, and reader personality.

Step 1 of 2 —  descriptive sentences work best..

The BookDNA Framework

Six things that actually decide whether you'll love a book.

Every book gets read against the same six traits, and every pick tells you why it landed where it did.  

01

Emotional Intensity

GentleDevastating
02

Hope vs Tragedy

TragicHopeful
03

Character Focus

LightDeep
04

Plot Focus

QuietDriven
05

Reading Pace

Slow burnBreakneck
06

World Complexity

FamiliarIntricate

How BookDNA works

Step 01

Say what you're in the mood for.

In your own words — the mood, the ending you want, how much you're willing to be put through. No keywords, no dropdowns, no filters.

Step 02

We read between the lines.

Your answer gets weighed against the six traits behind every book: intensity, hope, character, plot, pace and world.

Step 03

Five books, and the reason for each.

Every pick comes with its DNA profile, a match score, and one honest sentence about how it's likely to land for you.

Reader DNA Quiz

What kind of reader are you?

Ten questions, two minutes. No email, no account — just a straight answer about what you actually want out of a book.

0/10

  1. 01Which ending do you prefer?

  2. 02What matters more to you?

  3. 03Do you enjoy a slow burn?

  4. 04A book drops you into an invented world with its own history. You feel…

  5. 05You're 100 pages in and nothing has happened, but the writing is gorgeous.

  6. 06Which line would make you buy the book?

  7. 07How do you feel about crying at a book?

  8. 08Your ideal chapter length is…

  9. 09You finish a book you loved. What do you do first?

  10. 10Pick the reading spot.

See it in action

For: “Something bittersweet that's beautifully written.”

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro

96%

Reader match

Quiet Devastation

Kathy, Ruth and Tommy grow up at Hailsham, an English boarding school with strange rules about health, art and the outside world. As adults, Kathy looks back and pieces together what the school was really preparing them for, and what her tangled friendship with Ruth and Tommy cost all three of them.

Why we think you'll like it

You asked for something that lingers — this one does it quietly. It never raises its voice, and that's exactly why it'll stay with you for weeks.

Emotional Intensity5/5
Hope vs Tragedy1/5
Character Focus4/5
Plot Focus2/5
Reading Pace1/5
World Complexity2/5

Piranesi

Susanna Clarke

Piranesi

by Susanna Clarke

91%

Reader match

Wondrous Solitude

Piranesi lives alone in an endless house of marble halls, drowned staircases and tides that sweep through the lower floors. He keeps meticulous journals and meets one other living person, The Other, until stray clues suggest someone else has been in the house — and that his own memories don't add up.

Why we think you'll like it

Given how you described wanting wonder without noise, this is the one. It's a mystery you solve slowly, and it treats you gently the whole way through.

Emotional Intensity3/5
Hope vs Tragedy4/5
Character Focus4/5
Plot Focus3/5
Reading Pace2/5
World Complexity5/5

The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day

by Kazuo Ishiguro

89%

Reader match

Restrained Regret

Stevens, an aging English butler, takes a short motoring holiday across the West Country in 1956 to visit a former housekeeper, Miss Kenton. As he drives, he revisits decades of service at Darlington Hall — his employer's political misjudgments, and the feelings for Miss Kenton he never allowed himself to name.

Why we think you'll like it

You said you wanted heartbreak that stays under the surface. Almost nothing happens here, and it'll still get you — right on the last few pages.

Emotional Intensity4/5
Hope vs Tragedy1/5
Character Focus5/5
Plot Focus1/5
Reading Pace1/5
World Complexity2/5

Why we're building this

We believe books should be discovered through emotion, not genre.

Every recommendation is built around the experience a reader wants to have rather than the section of a bookstore. Nobody walks in thinking "I'm after some literary fiction today" — you want something that gets you.

BookDNA started with a small group of readers, a lot of arguments about endings, and the suspicion that the way we shelve books has almost nothing to do with the way we remember them.

“Readers don't remember genres. They remember how a book made them feel — and who they were while reading it.”

The BookDNA team

Where we're going

This is the first chapter.

What you're using today is an early demo. It's here so we can find out whether readers actually want this — and so far, the answer keeps being yes. Where it goes next is a proper home for your reading life: somewhere to find books, keep track of them, and pass them on to people you like.

Personal Reading Journey

Over time, your BookDNA profile becomes a living map of what you love — not just the books you've finished, but the emotional patterns, pacing preferences, and themes you keep returning to. The more you read, the more personal every recommendation becomes.

Reading Year in Review

At the end of each year, receive a recap of your reading life: the emotional themes that shaped your year, the character types you couldn't resist, the pacing styles you preferred, and the unexpected corners of literature you wandered into.

Friends & Shared Discovery

Connect with people you actually trust. Compare reading personalities, see what friends recently loved, and discover books recommended by readers whose tastes overlap with yours. Built for meaningful discovery, not endless scrolling.

Notes & Marginalia

Keep the lines that stopped you, the arguments you had with a character, the bit you read twice. Private by default, and quietly feeding back into what we recommend next.

Find the Book

Once you've found something worth reading, we help you start immediately. Purchase from trusted retailers, check availability at nearby libraries, or explore an interactive map — whatever gets the book into your hands fastest.

Reading Insights

Gentle, thoughtful observations about your reading life. 'Your tastes have shifted toward slower, character-driven stories lately.' Insights that feel like a friend noticing something about you, not a dashboard reporting on you.

We're not trying to reorganize the shelves. We're trying to know you well enough that your next favourite book turns up without you having to hunt for it.

A quiet promise to every reader: the right story will find you.

Join the BookDNA Beta

We're letting a small group in first. Leave your email and we'll nudge you when it's your turn. That's the only thing we'll ever send you.