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Looking for literary love in London?

Book review website the Omnivore has created a dating feature that matches participants based on answers to questions like 'What are you currently reading?' and 'What author do you have a crush on?'

One participant in the Omnivore's literary dating website said he was currently reading 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens in an effort to 'make up for my misspent youth in front of screens.'
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Do you live in London and are you looking for love among other reading aficionados?

If so, book review website the Omnivore has you covered. With its new section titled The Omnivore Pin-Up, the Omnivore now allows London-based readers to post dating profiles on their site. In addition to standard questions like age, those who submit are asked what authors they admire and what they’re currently reading. Lucky readers will then be selected by the site's editors to have their profiles featured. 

One woman on the site, Jessica of West London, chose a picture of herself with the classic children’s book “The Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle for her profile picture, while another, Rob from South London, mentions on his dating profile that he’s reading “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens. “I’m going through a ‘read things you definitely should have read’ phase to make up for my misspent youth in front of screens,” he adds.

Interested parties can contact those featured in the dating profiles through the Omnivore.

Anna Baddeley, who works for the Omnivore, told the Los Angeles Times that the site's editors take time with the profiles being posted on the page.

“To us, professional criticism and matchmaking are two sides of the same coin,” she said in a statement. “We curate our Pin-ups as carefully as we compile book reviews.”

Fleur Macdonald, editor of the Omnivore, said in a statement that using a love of books to match couples was a no-brainer.

“What’s on your bookshelf is so much more revealing than acronyms such as GSOH,” Macdonald said (referencing the “good sense of humor” abbreviation that’s often used in personal ads).

The Omnivore is also the sponsor of the Hatchet Job award, which is given yearly to the best-written negative book review.

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