AbeBooks' Reading Copy

If you don’t read literary magazines and journals, you’re missing out on a world of fine writing. In our latest Avid Reader, my colleague Beth has assembled a list of literary magazines and journals dedicated to the art of creative writing, and the preservation and exploration of the written word. Poetry, prose, essays and more are [...]

Move over, Superman – you’re not the only one who can perform a quick change in a telephone booth. According to the New York Times, an architectural designer from the Upper West Side is the real hero of this story. John H. Locke has devised a system by which he can quickly enter an empty [...]

Best remembered for his novel Brave New World, author Aldous Huxley wrote ten other novels and nearly that many collections of short stories. Today would be his 118th birthday. The circumstances of his death are interesting – not only did he request (and receive) a hefty intravenous dose of LSD on his deathbed, but also [...]

Everyone loves a dog, right? Okay, most people. I suppose exceptions can be made for those with allergies or intense fears – though I was chomped in the face by a collie as a child, and I rallied to still love Lassie. Dogs are fun and loyal, and unconditional in their devotion to their human [...]

Four federal prisons in Brazil are trying an interesting pilot program on their inmates. Known as the “Redemption Through Reading” program, eligible prisoners (as decided by a specially-appointed judging panel) will be allowed to shorten their sentence by four days for every book they read, to a maximum 12 books per year – meaning a [...]

Reading aloud was a bedtime rite of passage in my household. Long after I learned to read on my own, my mum would still read to me in bed often, for the simple pleasure and enjoyment of each other’s company. And for me, even though I was capable of racing through books well beyond my [...]

You would think writing a sequel to a successful book would be a simple affair. Some authors continue the narrative from the original book but the reader could also discover a radically different plot with new leading characters. The sequel might even be a prequel and, in some cases, the writer might be different. See [...]

Congratulations to Sheila Turner, who recently won BC Transit’s Transit Hero contest and earned a big pile of British Columbia-themed books (donated by AbeBooks) for her efforts. Sheila wrote a very interesting essay about her bus reading club where a small group of like-minded bibliophiles talk books on the morning commute. Our bus has a [...]

Bob Geldof is a bibliophile. To some people, he’s the lead singer from the Boomtown Rats. To other people, he’s the hero of Live Aid. He’s also the man who named his children Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom and Little Pixie. But it seems, according to this interview with ABC in Australia, that books are his [...]

A Girl Who reads – this beautiful spoken word poetry by Mark Grist celebrates the love of women who love to read.