Books and Chocolate

When I heard that a local library was holding an event based around books and chocolate, two of my favourite things, of course I had to go!

The event was actually based around raising awareness of what the libraries do for visually impaired people. With listening to the readings, and tasting the chocolates, it was a good way of making us think about our senses.

The evening consisted of five readings, each matched with a chocolate. When I heard there would only be five chocolates, I didn't think this would be enough for me, but, in fact, it made me savour each chocolate slowly and I enjoyed them all the more for this.

The readings were from:

The Long Song by Andrea Levy

Desire for Chocolate by Care Santos

Dreaming of Elizabeth, a short story by Camilla Lackberg

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

On Seeing the 100% perfect girl one April morning, a short story by Haruki Murakami

The chocolates were all by Watsons, a local maker of handmade chocolates. They were:

Caramel Marquise

Raspberry & Black Pepper Truffle (my favourite!)

Tropicana

Orient

Strawberry & Balsamic Truffle

Hearing a couple of short stories really made me want to read some. I haven't been much into reading short stories as an adult, feeling that I needed a whole novel to satisfy me, and for characters to be fully developed. But I realised from listening to the two short stories, and thinking back to the Asimov short stories that I loved as a teenager, that if they are well written they can be just as satisfying as novels. It made me remember that short stories can be clever and beautiful. The Haruki Murakami one really appealed to me with its themes of loneliness and the might-have-been loves in our lives. I'd been meaning to read some of his work anyway, so I will be starting with a collection of his short stories this summer.

The whole event made me realise that a love of books doesn't always have to be a solitary activity, and it's given me ideas of some books I'd like to read. And it goes to show that it's always worth keeping an eye on what events are happening in your local area.