Dublin Student App Offers Mood-Based Book Recommendations

DUBLIN, CA — Algorithms love to recommend content based on a number of factors, mostly what you've looked at in the past. But not many take into account one of the most deciding factors in what you decide to consume: your mood.

Pransh Dalal, a junior at Emerald High School, created a new app called MoodReads, which bases book recommendations on how the user is feeling. When a user logs into the app, they are greeted with a check-in page, asking them to describe how they're feeling, and they can type in extended "diary-style" responses. The app then uses natural language processing AI to analyze those responses, and incorporates factors like preferred genres, recurring themes, favorite authors, writing styles, emotional arcs, and the ratings of readers with similar tastes to offer bespoke literary recommendations.

Dalal said that the app has helped introduce him to his favorite book of all time, George Orwell's famous "1984."

"I was curious, reflective, and looking for something that challenged the way I see the world. As I read, Orwell’s exploration of surveillance, propaganda, and the manipulation of truth felt unsettling but incredibly powerful. Discovering 1984 through MoodReads showed me how meaningful a well-timed recommendation can be," he told Patch.

"I used to read a lot in my spare time, but it's been harder to find the time recently. One of my New Year’s resolutions is actually to read more," he said. "Many of my peers still do read for fun, and they often recommend fun and engaging books to one another. I developed MoodReads aiming it primarily at teens and young adults, a group that still enjoys reading but sometimes needs help finding books that fit them."

The app, which has reportedly attained 500 users since he began developing it in late 2024, currently focuses only on books, but Dalal says he's open to expanding to other sorts of media.

"I think adding movies would be especially fun, because there’s a unique kind of emotion you experience while watching something on screen that’s different from reading, and it would be exciting to get personalized recommendations that capture that feeling," he said.

MoodReads is available to download here.

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