Reading Copy

To celebrate Halloween, The Guardian’s Sam Jordison visits Whitby in Yorkshire - a quiet seaside market town….and, of course, the scene of Dracula’s evil work.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Here at AbeBooks.com we have an on-going problem - the difficult task of finding new staff. We have an exceptionally high profile in Victoria, where our headquarters are located, and across Canada as a whole but we still have to work very hard to fill our vacancies. We also have a top notch HR director called Judy Hamza, who works tirelessly to find talented people, but it’s not getting any easier. Currently, we have around 95 employees at our new offices in Victoria but take a look at our careers page and you will find eight or nine vacancies.

We’re not the only ones. All the technology companies on Vancouver Island have problems filling their job postings. We advertise our vacancies on the Internet and we’re open to applications from anywhere. Right now, AbeBooks.com employs Canadians, Americans, Germans, French, Italians, Britons, Spanish and Chinese and there is also an Australian, a Brazilian and a Russian. If you are the best person for the job, then our HR department will help you move to our neck of the world.

In an effort to fill some of these vacancies, we are staging our first ‘Open House’ event on Friday 2 November between 12 noon and 2pm. Anyone can attend but we’re particularly interested in meeting job-seekers. There will be an introduction to the company, free goodies to take away, a department-by-department tour of the company and if you leave your resume then you will be entered into a draw to win $100 worth of books.

In May, we moved into brand new offices on the top floor of a huge glass building overlooking the Gorge waterway. From my desk, I can see the Olympic Mountains in Washington State, sea planes taking off and landing in Victoria’s inner harbour, kayakers paddling from the Gorge and the entire city skyline. (I’m sure I have the best spot in the whole office.)

In order to attract, and retain staff, we offer a huge number of benefits and operate a regular program of social activities. Our working environment is relaxed and senior management put a lot of trust in its workers. We support many good causes. Anyone can submit ideas for making our business better. Everyone has the opportunity for progression into other areas of our business - we even give our employees the opportunity to work in our German office and see Europe at the same time.

We’ve decided to be more proactive and simply open our doors for the first time ever - even if you want to take a look inside our business then feel free to drop in. Get details, directions and a map here.

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My favourite children’s books at the moment are Lauren Child’s Charlie and Lola books. She’s funny and lacks the moralizing tone of so many American kids’ books writers. The Daily Telegraph has an interview with her. Don’t take my word for Lauren’s way with words and pictures - my five-year-old loves Charlie and Lola.

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Last week I was in Winnipeg, Manitoba visiting family. Poking through my mom’s bookshelf reminded me of how many literary greats have called Winnipeg or Manitoba home, at least for part of their lives. Carol Shields is one of my most beloved; I just reread Larry’s Party with great enjoyment this summer. Of course Margaret Laurence and Gabrielle Roy are part of the established Can-lit cannon taught to all high school students. My first-year University professor, Dennis Cooley, became one of my favourite poets with his clear images and tantalizing play on words. More recently, I found A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews a compelling novel; her characters’ decisions in heart-wrenching circumstances stayed with me months after finishing the book. Of course, this is a quick skim of the long list of great Manitoba writers. Do you have a favourite?

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A nice collection of end papers.

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Tis the season to be scared out of your tree. If you want to sleep poorly this weekend AbeBooks.com Avid Readers have voted on the 10 scariest characters in literature of all time.

Is there anyone YOU would have put on the list instead?

Popularity: 26% [?]

Over at Fine Books they are discussing the concept of the bookstore-barbershop business combo. Not only do these bookstores have great names but business concept is second to none! You have nothing but time on your hands while getting your hair cut so why not browse some books. This gives my previous favourite joint business model, the pub/Laundromat, a serious run for its money.

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Heather, one of our Online Marketers at AbeBooks got to meet JK Rowling in Toronto on the final date of her North American Mini tour.

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You may have noticed we had a small downtime. A small hiccup, and all seems fine now (save a few broken images here and there). The RSS feed should be working again as well. We’ll get the previous template back shortly.

If you find any issues please let us know.

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Straight-talking Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing sticks it to the Americans over their reaction to September 11.

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The New York Times reports the death of Peg Bracken - she is hardly a household name today but 47 years ago she made waves by publishing The I Hate to Cook Book.

Ms. Bracken’s cookbook, with illustrations by Hilary Knight, quickly became a staple of suburban homes. Published in various editions over the years, it sold more than three million copies. Every baby boomer’s mother, or so it seemed, had one on the kitchen shelf, its pages stained with the makings of Stayabed Stew, Sole Survivor and Spinach Surprise

Popularity: 20% [?]

For the last three days, the Story Laboratory has helped more than 120 children write their own stories and make their own books at beautiful Granville Island during the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival. Here you can see kids hard at work, showing off their creations, and a couple examples of some of the fantastic books being made with the Story Laboratory! Today, we’re be holding a drop in for anyone who wants to come by and make their own masterpiece. Look for the Story Laboratory sign next to the Granville Island Waterpark!

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I won’t be reading Anne Enright’s The Gathering. I’m sure it’s a great book but a long time ago I read Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and that nearly killed me with sadness. Earlier this year, I finally got around to reading Angela’s Ashes and that was hardly a barrel of laughs either. I’m sorry …. I just can’t read any more books about pain and suffering in Ireland. I know happy things do happen in Ireland - it’s just no author wants to write about them.

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If you are thinking in attending the Vancouver Writers Festival on Friday (19 Oct), look out for the AbeBooks.com Story Laboratory booth. We’ve been staging book-building workshops for children from local schools since Tuesday and Friday’s workshops are open to anyone. AbeBooks.com started the book-building program last year with a series of events at libraries in our home-town of Victoria. The Writers Festival is the Story Lab’s second appearance in Vancouver and we will also be appearing at Wordstock in Oregon next month - the time we’ve taken the Story Laboratory to the US.

Friday is also a ‘Pro D’ day in Vancouver so the Story Laboratory might be an ideal way to keep the kids busy.

The Story Laboratory, from 11am to 4pm, can be found behind the Kid’s Only Market beside the Cat’s Meow Restaurant and the Granville Island Water Park. AbeBooks.com supplies all required materials for the creation of a literary masterpiece.

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Author Martin Amis certainly knows how to make friends and influence people in the Islamic world.

Popularity: 14% [?]