The London Library's Founders' Circle patrons visited Teatulia for an event this week. Teatulia is a tea shop and bar in Covent Garden owned by Library member Ahsan Akbar. Ahsan invited us, along with Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin, to hear about his founding of the Dhaka Lit Fest as well as to taste some of his famous tea and tea cocktails.

Teatulia also features a "living bookshelf", a series of shelves which feature literary selections by some of the world's leading creative thinkers, perfect for browsing with your tea. The London Library has been chosen to curate a shelf and our books are now on display in the venue.

We asked the Library’s Founders’ Circle patrons to recommend their favourite books and we narrowed the list down. Our final 10 books were:

We That Are Young - Preti Taneja
How to Live - Sarah Bakewell
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Possession - AS Byatt
Travesties - Tom Stoppard
The Four Quartets - TS Eliot
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Dracula - Bram Stoker
Middlemarch - George Eliot
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Our bonus book is On Reading, Writing and Living With Books - a collection of essays by Library members published as part of the Found on the Shelves series.

We encourage Library members and non-members to stop by for a browse and a drink, Library members will also receive 20% off purchases upon showing their membership card.

Find out more about The London Library Founders’ Circle and the special events they enjoy or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for information.