Today’s edition covers:
My 10 favorite book lists for October
What are we adding to the Book DNA app now?
Public launch coming around November 30th 😃
What am I reading?
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My 10 Favorite Book Lists For October…
Also, don’t forget our bookshelves, like Economics (and 3,000+ other genres and topics), with the best books of all time, trending, new, filter by Book DNA, and lists by fans/experts.
Our Best Books of 2026 is live! So far, ~150 authors and readers have shared their 3 favorite books, and you can browse the results.
What are we adding to the Book DNA app now?
Reminder: We’re building a smarter, more personal way to manage your reading life, with recommendations based on your Book DNA. Think Goodreads, but rebuilt for readers who want a private space to track what they read, keep notes, and get truly personalized book recommendations, like Pandora or Spotify for books.
Improved book database (50% done)
We’ve picked Nielsen as our partner, and now we just need to integrate their book database. We are aiming to finish this by November 30th for our public launch.
Long-term, this will let us create book pages on BookDNA.com and cover all the books an author has, not just those recommended on the website. It will also improve our book coverage and book cover images.
Goodreads and StoryGraph imports (85% done)
This is going well but is blocked by the improved book database work. Now that we have a partner there, we will ship this before our public launch. Right now, I’m testing large 1,000+ book imports.
Simple mobile webpage to start (85% done)
This will be ready very soon 😀
Right now, we only have the desktop/tablet app. We know users want to log their books without opening their laptop or walking over to their computer. So, we will add a simple mobile web page that allows you to:
Log what you read
Add what you are reading or listening to now
Add a book to your TBR
And add notes about a book
Search for a book
This is a short-term solution until we can build a full mobile app with all the functionality.
Add individual book pages within the app (not started yet)
We will add individual book pages so you can click a book's title or cover image to view more details.
When is the public launch?
We are aiming for November 30th! We want to finish the integration of the improve book database and add the Goodreads / StoryGraph import feature first.
What am I reading?
I finished…
Soulstealer by Miles Cameron: I loved this book, and Miles/Christian is one of my favorite authors. It is set in a really unique fantasy world; think colonial Canadian wilderness vibes (and book two is set in that world, but in a city with London vibes). The magic system is super unique and slowly unfolds as the story progresses, with a big dose of necromancy. I can’t wait for book #2.
I am reading...
Storm of Arrows by Paul Banister: I just started this historical fiction set in the 14th Century in England. I’m looking forward to it as I’ve heard good things.
What have I been up to outside of Book DNA?
I’m in Athens! We are here for my son’s Fall holiday. I’ve never been to Athens, and I’m trying to soak up as much history as possible. Yesterday we drove to a beach by Marathon. It is cool to see places from some of my favorite historical fiction books (amidst so much amazing history).
Have a great week,
Thanks, Ben
P.S. The Acropolis! Fantastic tour on a sunny day.
