A book you’ll love, chosen by a real reader
Within the hour. Not an algorithm and not a bestseller list: people who have read the same books you have.
Two things every reader experiences
You finish a book and have no idea what to read next
Your to-read list is two hundred titles long and tonight not one of them appeals. The bestseller lists show you what sells, four stars is a stranger’s opinion, and the recommendations are more of what you have already read. So you keep scrolling without finding a perfect next read.
You want more people to read alongside
Talking about a book you have just finished is half the pleasure of it. The readers who love exactly what you love are out there, and some of them live in your own town. You just have to meet them.
Meet Time to Read.
Three ways to find your next favourite book
Ask a person, turn a page, or wait for the envelope.
Scroll, and the pages turn.
Ask real readers
What are you in the mood for?
In your own words, as vague or as exact as you like.
Readers look at your shelves
Readers whose shelves overlap with yours will answer.
A book and a reason, usually within the hour
Each answer is one book with a reason. You pick the one you want and it goes on your shelf.
Turn today’s ten
Ten books, every day
A new deck is built overnight, from what you have read and what you told us you like.
Each one comes with its reason
A line under every book says why it is in front of you.
Turn the page to shelve it
Turn the page to shelve a book, swipe right to pass, up if you have read it.
One book a month, chosen for you
The same day, every month
A clock counts down to the morning it arrives, and the shelf fills with twelve books a year.
It arrives sealed
Sealed, with your name on it, and waiting to be opened.
Why this book
No shortlist to work through, no five-star average to second-guess. One book, chosen for you by the Time to Read team.
The app that blocks your other apps
Choose how long
Fifteen, forty-five or sixty minutes, on the book you are reading.
The apps you set aside go quiet
The screen shows the time left and nothing else. Stop early if you want, but you have to mean it.
Finished. Every page of it.
The last page gets its moment: a stamp on the cover, the days it took, and a rating while it is fresh.
You pick the apps in Apple’s own sheet, and we never learn which ones.
Your next reading friend lives closer than you think
Find one near you
Joining is one tap. Where a club meets is for its members to see.
One book at a time
The host picks the book and the evening you meet.
Where everyone is
Each reader’s progress shows as a bar, so you know who is ahead and who to wait for.
A chat that hides what you have not read yet
Anything posted further into the book than you are stays hidden until you tap it.
No club in your town? Start one. A name, your city and what you like to read, and it is on the map for the readers near you.
Everything you read, kept in one place
Your books, as a shelf
Flip through them like spines. Add one by scanning its barcode, or photograph a full shelf and the app reads the spines.
A year of reading, adding up
Your reading goal, your streak and the seals you have earned. None can be bought.
In three simple steps to your next favourite book
Tell us what you read
The genres you actually finish, the ones we should never send you, and the languages you read in.
Bring your shelves across
Paste a link to your public Goodreads shelf and your books arrive, ratings and all.
Find your next favourite book
Ask real readers, turn today’s ten, or open the monthly pick.
If you cannot find your next favourite book here, you will not find it anywhere.
Two readers who kept giving each other books
It started with two people in love who kept surprising each other with books.
Then we decided to offer it to the world, as a physical book subscription. What people liked most was that a book had been chosen for them. So we kept only that part, and built it into an app.
Good questions
When can I actually use it?
Almost. We open one city at a time, the Netherlands first and then Belgium, and a first group of readers gets in before the app reaches the App Store. They come off the early-access list, so signing up is how you get in early rather than waiting for launch day.
Who will select books for me?
Real readers and the Time to Read team. Your questions go to other people using the app whose finished books overlap with yours, and they answer in their own words. The monthly pick is signed by the Time to Read team.
Dutch or English?
Both. Set your languages and the deck, the picks, and the answers all respect them. Books show whether a Dutch translation exists.
What if there is no club in my town?
Start one, and invite your friends into it. It takes a name, your city and how often you want to meet. Your club appears on the map for readers near you, and your invite link brings the people you already talk about books with.
Can I use it without friends?
Yes. Everything works alone. Clubs and invites are there if you want them, and nothing nags you to invite anybody.
What happens to my data?
Your shelves are yours. Ask for everything we hold and we send it. Delete your account from one screen: thirty days to change your mind, then it is gone for good. We never sell reading history.
