Inside Slow Sundays: Book Edition, Where Books Brought Strangers Together

By the time guests began arriving at Nature’s Nook Garden, Lagos had cooled down considerably. Instead of dampening the mood, the weather gave Slow Sundays: Book Edition the atmosphere the evening needed: cool, cosy and unhurried.

The first experience from OTRwithBSocials was built around a simple idea. Guests would bring two physical books: one to read and another to give away. The catch? Nobody would know the title of the book they were taking home. They would have to choose based on a note from a stranger. As guests arrived, they were tagged with a number and handed an order of events, alongside a card with a prompt that started with: For someone who… This prompt was for the second book. Guests were asked to complete the sentence, writing a note for whoever would eventually take their book home. The books would later be collected, wrapped in OTRwithB wrapping paper and placed on a shelf, with only the notes visible. Until then, there was reading to do.

Across the garden, beanbag-style sofas were positioned beneath shaded areas, alongside regular tables and chairs for people who preferred a more traditional reading setup. Guests settled in with their books for 45-minute reading stretches, with optional breaks to mingle and share what they were reading. There was no pressure to participate; you could join the conversation or return to your book.

Meanwhile, cocktails and mocktails made their way around the garden, including custom OTRwithB flavours and event-specific cocktails like the Page Turner. There were also little bites from Snackboard, including local snacks many guests grew up with: peanuts, kuli-kuli and baba dudu. The best part of the evening, by most accounts, was the book exchange. While guests were seated, the team collected the second books, wrapped them, and attached their notes. When it was time to swap, the books were arranged on a shelf, and everyone was invited to choose. No titles, no covers, just notes.

Some guests took their time, reading through the cards before deciding. Others immediately found a note that spoke to them. In a few cases, there was actual competition for certain books. People hovered around the shelf, trying to see which books others were picking. Some kept an eye out for their own book, waiting to see who would choose it.

Then came the conversations. Guests tried to find the person who had picked their book and, in turn, the person whose book they had chosen. What could have been a quiet exchange became one of the easiest ways to get strangers talking. No one waited until they got home; all unwrapped their books almost immediately.

There were reactions, comparisons and a few particularly good surprises. One guest received a book she had read and loved in secondary school but had never owned a copy of. Another picked a book by an author who was also in the room. One book by Ted Dekker attracted enough interest that a guest had to wrestle it away from other readers. The person who brought it had written that the book changed their understanding of love and helped them through a difficult time.

The room itself reflected the kind of people Slow Sundays had brought together: book enthusiasts, writers, authors and people who had simply come along because their partners loved reading. By the end of the evening, people who had arrived separately were huddling together for photos without anyone asking them to.

For Adebimpe Sanusi, founder of OTRwithB and OTRwithBSocials, that mix was always the point. “I see myself as a professional sidequester,” Sanusi says. “I have a lot of interests, and I’m always looking for new things to try. I wanted to find spaces in Lagos where I could do that with other people, but I realised most of what I found was very specific. You could join a book club or find people who wanted to rave, but what if you want to learn how to cook one month, carve wood the next or try carpentry after that? I couldn’t find the kind of social club I was looking for, so I decided to create it.”

That is where OTRwithBSocials comes in. The activities will change; one gathering might involve books, another cooking, carving or something else entirely. But the idea is to create a reason to try something new, return to an old interest or simply spend a few hours doing something you enjoy with people who showed up for the same reason.

If Slow Sundays: Book Edition was anything to go by, the books were only the beginning. OTRwithBSocials is the experiences arm of OTRwithB, creating thoughtfully curated gatherings that bring people together through food, drinks, culture and shared experiences. From intimate gatherings to larger cultural moments, OTRwithBSocials is about creating spaces that invite people to slow down, connect and experience Lagos differently. OTRwithB is a Lagos-based cocktail and beverage experience company founded by Adebimpe Sanusi. From its beginnings as a mobile cocktail bar, OTRwithB has grown into a beverage experiences brand that delivers thoughtfully crafted drinks and elevated bar services for events, celebrations, and brands.