As business partners, in many ways Naz and I are like chalk and cheese. That works well for us (most of the time!), as we have complimentary skills and vision. The one thing however that we have both had a lifelong passion for is books and reading. Our home has books in every single room, as well as in the loft and the garage. Naz works part time in our local library as well as facilitating book groups in the community, so when this year’s Cityread London was announced, we were excited to mark it in some special chocolatey way. As there are few things, in our opinion, that go together better in life than, chocolate and books.
Cityread London is an annual month-long festival of reading and literature. It’s been running for 8 years and this year’s festival was launched at the House of Lords on the 1st of May. Each year, one book is chosen to be the Cityread. The chosen book reflects a perspective on life in the capital. From their website:
Cityread London is a registered charity that promotes the key ideas of reading for pleasure, engaging new library users, enhancing the experience of existing readers, and encouraging people to explore and celebrate London’s culture, landscape and history through its stories.
Past titles have included Rivers of London by Ben Arronovich and Ten Days by Gillian Slovo. The chosen book is celebrated with readings and events in public libraries across the 24 boroughs of London as well as Luton and Slough. The choice for 2019 is; Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik.
Billed as the Muslim Bridget Jones, Sofia Khan is Not Obliged is the hilarious romantic comedy from the writer behind Nadiya Hussain’s bestselling The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters. Sofia Khan is single once more, after her sort-of-boyfriend proves just a little too close to his parents. And she’d be happy that way too, if her boss hadn’t asked her to write a book about the weird and wonderful world of Muslim dating. Of course, even though she definitely isn’t looking for love, to write the book she does need to do a little research . . .
After consulting with the author, we came up with something that we felt reflected the heroines love of lemon puff biscuits and her creator’s slightly more, if you will, sophisticated taste. We settled on a chocolate bar in two parts; one half white chocolate with pieces of Lemon Puffs scattered with raspberries and lemon zest; the other half milk chocolate laced with praline and dressed with caramelised wafers and toasted hazelnuts. This bar is our limited edition, available only in May, just like Cityreads, one city, one month, one book, one bar…
We hope you have the opportunity to enjoy it whilst stocks last.
Visit the Cityreads website:http://cityread.london, where you can download a free e-copy of the book. And check out the latest events at Croydon libraries at: https://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/libraries.