Meet Your Literary Matchmakers

Owner

Hi, I'm Michele. Page 1 Books was founded in 2017, by book lover, Brandy O'Briant, who formed the idea and started boxing subscription orders in her spare bedroom. The company flourished, survived Covid, and then I bought it because it's my fantasy business.

I'm that person who watches the Time Enough At Last episode of The Twilight Zone and identifies with Henry Bemis. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Henry, except that he lacked the foresight to stock up on reading glasses. I, too, would like to read David Copperfield at work, to the exclusion of all else. And now I can.

I was browsing descriptions of the first subscription book service started in 1926. The press predicted it would be "a bonanza to busy ladies and clubs that want 'to keep up.' A selecting committee comprised of big names in the world literary, selects each month the book of the month which is mailed to all club members. If the book received is not really desirable it can be returned for another, selected from a list of several month's best books prepared by the committee."

We've come a long way, baby! Today, we don't want to send you the books we think best. We want to know what you like and, then, hand-select something tailor made to suit you. We're not selling you what we have. We're searching for what you want. Welcome aboard. We're glad you turned to Page 1.

Cheryl DeFranceschi, General Manager and Genius Matchmaker (GMx2)

I've been pushing books into people's hands since I forced my younger brother to learn how to read when he was 4, because I thought this was the greatest gift that I could ever give him.

Reading has been the one constant joy in my life. Words and the way they are strung together are my drug of choice! Brautigan, McEwan, James McBride and so many more can just intoxicate me.

I have 15 years of bookselling experience, and a lifetime love for reading, so being a Literary Matchmaker is both a dream come true, and a moral imperative - I need to find books the right forever-home!

Here are a few fun facts about me -

My phone autocorrects the word "the" to "TBR"
Long before the days of Goodreads and Excel, I kept a handwritten log of what I read. It goes back to January of 1980.
My Tsundoko game is strong! I was once featured in an Atlas Obscura article about it - https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/reader-tsundoku-book-piles-revealed

4. The psychic Sylvia Browne once told me at a book event that "on the other side of the veil", there is time to read every single book that there is, so we have that going for us!

5. My favorite book is Darconville's Cat by Alexander Theroux

Briana Melero, Literary Fanatic

Once, at an airport, I overheard a person say that the one thing they forgot to pack was a book. To which I immediately thought: “That’s the one thing I would never forget.” By disposition, I am more likely to forget socks and a phone charger than reading material. I take a book with me to weddings. I have one with me now.

I read voraciously, deeply, and in all directions. I have at least one all-time desert-island favorite book in a dozen different genres. I named my dog for a character in the Graceling series. I made my whole family read Braiding Sweetgrass. Holidays are basically a book-exchange.

I am an Evanston native and current resident by-way-of Boston and San Francisco. Reading has sustained, comforted, and inspired me from infanthood to adultedness; in all seasons and moods; thru good times and pandemics. I look forward to helping you find your next favorite book!