Open Book Chocolates

Handmade, Bean-to-Bar, Fair Trade Chocolate Bars | Literary-Inspired Flavors

Frankenstein

Just Launched: Frankenstein & Jolabokaflod (Icelandic Yule Book Flood) on Kickstarter

G. E. Gallas

Our two newest flavors — Frankenstein & Jolabokaflod Icelandic Yule Book Flood!

  • Frankenstein: Raspberries and Icelandic Lava Salt in Dark Chocolate with Milk.

  • Jolabokaflod | Icelandic Yule Book Flood: Candied Orange, Cinnamon, and Clove in Dark Chocolate.

Please Note: Our online store will be closed for the duration of the Kickstarter campaign. You can access all our chocolate bar flavors as backer rewards via Kickstarter. Once the Kickstarter campaign is finished, we will reopen our online store.

Happy Birthday, Mary Shelley!

G. E. Gallas

Today, August 30th, marks the 227th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s birth. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin) — born August 30th, 1797 — is best known as the author of the Gothic, early science fiction novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (published in 1818). And, as it so happens, we at Open Book Chocolates have been busy preparing to debut our newest chocolate bar flavor inspired by Mary Shelley’s haunting novel! We are crowdfunding our Frankenstein chocolate bar (Raspberries and Icelandic Lava Salt in Dark Chocolate with Milk) along with our Jolabokaflod, or Icelandic Yule Book Flood, chocolate bar (Candied Orange, Cinnamon, and Clove in Dark Chocolate). The Kickstarter campaign launches next week on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024. So please visit our Kickstarter launch page and click on “Notify me on launch” to follow along. And please help us spread the word via social media as well as word of mouth. Thank you so much!

Literary Holidays | August 2024

G. E. Gallas

Celebrate this month’s literary holidays with Open Book Chocolates!

Romance Awareness Month

Open Book Chocolates is celebrating Romance Awareness Month with some of our favorite romantic novels, like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.

Women in Translation Month

“WITMonth - aka Women in Translation Month - is an annual celebration of women writers from around the world, writing in languages other than English.”

Open Book Chocolates is celebrating Women in Translation Month with some of our favorite Japanese women writers translated into English.

Herman Melville’s Birthday | August 1st, 1819

“‘Look you, Doubloon, your zodiac here is the life of man in one round chapter; and now I'll read it off, straight out of the book.’” —Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

Purchase Moby-Dick by Herman Melville while supporting independent bookstores.

James Baldwin’s Birthday | August 2nd, 1924

“His mind was like the sea itself: troubled, and too deep for the bravest man's descent, throwing up now and again, for the naked eye to wonder at, treasure and debris long forgotten on the bottom—bones and jewels, fantastic shells, jelly that had once been flesh, pearls that had once been eyes. And he was at the mercy of this sea, hanging there with darkness all around him.“ —Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

Purchase Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin while supporting independent bookstores.

National Book Lovers Day | August 9th

“Crack open your favorite book, visit a bookshop or library to find your next great read, and enjoy the relaxation and joy of being a reader and book lover.”

Every month, I select my current reads and favorite books, and put together a book list on Bookshop.org. Check out my list for August!

H. P. Lovecraft’s Birthday | August 20th, 1890

“It seemed to be a sort of monster, or symbol representing a monster, of a form which only a diseased fancy could conceive. If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings; but it was the general outline of the whole which made it most shockingly frightful.” —The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft

Open Book Chocolates is celebrating H. P. Lovecraft’s birthday with The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories and our The Call of Cthulhu chocolate bar.

Ray Bradbury’s Birthday | August 22nd, 1920

“After all, when we had all the books we needed, we still insisted on finding the highest cliff to jump off. But we do need knowledge. And perhaps in a thousand years we might pick smaller cliffs to jump off.” —Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Purchase Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury while supporting independent bookstores.

Leo Tolstoy’s Birthday | August 28th, 1928

“In historical events great men — so-called — are but labels serving to give a name to the event, and like labels they have the least possible connection with the event itself. Every action of theirs, that seems to them an act of their own free will, is in an historical sense not free at all, but in bondage to the whole course of previous history, and predestined from all eternity.“ —War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Purchase War and Peace and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy while supporting independent bookstores.

Mary Shelley’s Birthday | August 30th, 1797

Frankenstein Day | August 30th

“The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.“ —Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Purchase Frankenstein by Mary Shelley while supporting independent bookstores.

Check out Open Book Chocolates’s profile on Bookshop.org!