AbeBooks' Reading Copy

This isn’t the first time that billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates has shared his reading suggestions – last December we talked about his five favorite reads of 2014. It’s interesting to see the far reach and impact it has when someone so powerful and successful recommends something with their stamp of approval, as when Gates […]

There’s been very exciting news for Ayelet Tsabari: it was recently announced that the Toronto-based author has won the 2015 Sami Rohr Prize. The prize began in 2006 and was conceived by the grandchildren of Jewish philanthropist Sami Rohr on his 80th birthday, to honor his appreciation for Jewish literature. Administered by the Jewish Book […]

When it comes to voracious readers, we know no better example than librarians. These are the people steeped in the day-to-day curating, maintenance and knowledge of the collections in the stacks of our local libraries. We couldn’t help but wonder – when immersed in endless books day after day, how do you choose what to […]

Every single year around this time, I find myself reflecting back on the books I’ve read since January 1st, and feeling: 1) mad at myself for not reading more; 2) mad at myself for wasting my life finishing that one really dreadful book; 3) delighted that I kept going through the hard bits of that […]

The blog Crappy Taxidermy has spawned a book, Crap Taxidermy. If you thought no more damage could be done to an animal after its death, think again. This book features many examples of oddly posed animals, badly stuffed animals and bizarre animal hybrids created on some person’s kitchen table.  If you enjoy this book, then you […]

Travel writing is one of the genres that I dip in and out of. On Saturday, I visited Black Sheep Books on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia and picked up a copy of Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman from the store’s rather good travel section. Salzman’s book is recommended by Paul Theroux in […]

Our latest video lets you have a glimpse inside the most exciting photographic discovery so far this century. The mystery part begins in 2007 when an amateur historian took a chance at an auction house and bought some negatives and film. The wonder part begins in 1926, with the birth of Vivian Maier, who only […]

Some authors churn out books nearly at the pace one would read them, but Khaled Hosseini takes his time with his craft.  It has been six years, less a day, since Khaled Hosseini published  A Thousand Splendid Suns; and  it is one week shy of the 10th anniversary of  his debut novel, The Kite Runner, […]

The latest AbeBooks video offering is a review and peek inside of the book Le Corbusier Le Grand, a stunning visual biography of the work and life of Swiss-French architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, more commonly known as Le Corbusier (an altered version of his maternal grandfather’s name).  Le Corbusier specialized in building solutions for exploding populations […]

What did 2012 in the book world look like? It was a year dominated by Fifty Shades of Grey. We lost Maurice Sendak, Ray Bradbury and Maeve Binchy. Hilary Mantel won the Booker Prize (for the second time) and nobody won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. J.K. Rowling returned, casually. Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Junot […]