Summer
Gift Sets from Zenith Bookstore
We just had to share these wonderful gift sets from Zenith Bookstore (zenithbookstore.com) in Duluth, Minnesota!
If you live in or near Duluth, we hope you’ll go check out this awesome independent bookstore.
Literary Holidays | August 2024
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!
Literary Holidays | July 2024
Celebrate this month’s literary holidays with Open Book Chocolates!
French American Heritage Month
“Somewhere along the line I knew there'd be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me.“ —On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac was born in Massachusetts to parents of French-Canadian ancestry and was raised in a French-speaking home.
Purchase On the Road by Jack Kerouac while supporting independent bookstores.
Franz Kafka’s Birthday | July 3rd, 1883
“How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense.“ —The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Purchase The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka while supporting independent bookstores.
Alice in Wonderland Day | July 4th
“The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed.”
Open Book Chocolates is celebrating Alice in Wonderland Day with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and our corresponding chocolate bar.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Birthday | July 4th, 1804
“Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.“ —The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Purchase The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne while supporting independent bookstores.
To Kill a Mockingbird Publication Day | July 11th, 1960
“‘The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.’“ —To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Purchase To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee while supporting independent bookstores.
William Makepeace Thackeray’s Birthday | July 18th, 1811
“The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.“ —Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Purchase Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray while supporting independent bookstores.
Ernest Hemingway’s Birthday | July 21st, 1899
“Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.“ —The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Purchase The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway while supporting independent bookstores.
Alexandre Dumas’s Birthday | July 24th, 1802
“‘The sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and hope.’“ —The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Open Book Chocolates is celebrating Alexandre Dumas’s Birthday with The Count of Monte Cristo and our matching chocolate bar.
Emily Brontë’s Birthday | July 30th, 1818
“‘I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.’“ —Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Purchase Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë while supporting independent bookstores.
Paperback Book Day | July 30th
“Paperback Book Day is observed as the anniversary of the date that the first Penguin paperbacks were published in England back in 1935.”
Open Book Chocolates is celebrating Paperback Book Day with one of our favorite novels, Armadale by Wilkie Collins!
Check out Open Book Chocolates’s profile on Bookshop.org!
Literary Holidays | June 2024
Celebrate this month’s literary holidays with Open Book Chocolates!
Rainbow Book Month
“Rainbow Book Month is a nationwide celebration of the authors and writings that reflect the lives and experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, genderqueer, queer, intersex, agender, and asexual community.”
Open Book Chocolates is celebrating Rainbow Book Month with The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and our corresponding chocolate bar.
Audiobook Appreciation Month
“The goal of Audiobook Appreciation Month is to increase awareness of and engagement in this format.“
“Listening to audiobooks is not only a legitimate way of reading but also makes it more accessible and a lot of fun.”
Open Book Chocolates is celebrating Audiobook Appreciation Month by LISTENING to our favorite classic novels, like Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, while savoring our matching chocolate bar.
Anne Frank’s Birthday | June 12th, 1929
“It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” —Anne Frank
Purchase The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank while supporting independent bookstores.
National Typewriter Day | June 23rd
“In 1868, Christopher Latham Sholes got a patent for his typewriter invention. This event set the stage for how we communicate in writing.”
Learn about typewriters while supporting independent bookstores.
George Orwell’s Birthday | June 25th, 1903
“He discovered that while he sat helplessly musing he had also been writing, as though by automatic action. And it was no longer the same cramped, awkward handwriting as before. His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in large neat capitals — DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER...“ —1984 by George Orwell