About Bespoke Books

Most reading recommendations arrive as a list you found online, or a friend saying I LOVED this. But "I loved this" tells you about that reader — not about you.

Bespoke Books by Sandy is a personal book concierge service that starts the other way around: with your reading life, and what you're hoping for from your next stack of books.

Founder of Prairie Path Books in Wheaton, Illinois, a lifelong reader, and in constant conversation with other readers who agree and disagree with her — Sandy knows a lot of books, and she has spent years noticing who loves what, and why. The rest is listening to you. 

Let's put the "R" back in your TBR.

How it works

Thirty minutes with Sandy, one on one, on Zoom or the phone — a real give-and-take, not a questionnaire. It's her favorite part of owning a bookstore, recreated: you say what you loved, what was meh, what you put down (or threw down); Sandy makes suggestions. But the magic of Bespoke Books is in your reactions. Like in her store, the gold is the back and forth after her first round of book recommendations: your maybes, nopes, your tell-me-mores. Those small sparks of interest and "errhmmm, maybe?" hesitations are what a great bookseller sees and hears, and they're what sharpen your list into something truly personal. 

 Once the consult is over Sandy goes to work. Within a few days your bundle arrives — a full-color booklet made for you alone: a letter about what she heard, then title after title, each with its cover, what the book is actually about, and why she picked it for you. Fiction and nonfiction, long books and short ones, with a page at the back for your own notes.

It's different from her store in that you don't leave with a stack of books; you leave with a bundle of custom reads. It's yours to keep — borrow, buy, or download from it, whenever. Whatever feels right. Order right here on Bookshop. And if you'd rather not track them down yourself, just ask: Sandy will order them for you (via Bookshop of course).

Consults scale to the reader. A short one — a re-entry point after a long stretch without time to read, a quick refresh, a pivot off whatever's making reading feel stale — is thirty minutes and eight to ten reads, from $75. A full reading-life consult runs fifteen to twenty-five titles at $150.

Either one makes a wonderful gift, and folks often pair it with a Bookshop gift certificate. Genius.

Curated Conversations

Bespoke Books also plans gatherings for you to host — Curated Conversations are for anyone responsible for a room full of people. A turn-key program guide, sometimes built around a book and sometimes not, with summaries and conversation starters planned so the talk actually goes somewhere. Your guests or your members will leave saying "I had the most interesting conversation today." Real community, made easier by someone who knows how gatherings work.

Packages are built for the group, so pricing is quoted per event — tell me about your gathering.

Sound interesting? Email Sandy at sandy@bespokebooksbysandy.com.