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Read All Over – Maegan Thomas

Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.

Six years of University gives you a lot of tools for appreciating literature and exposure to some amazing books - if you do it right, a lit class can be like a really great book club. But more often than not it withers your passion for reading. So now that I'm graduated and doing ads and promotions for Discorder (check out the Fundrive!), Books and I are patching things up. I've made Books a nice lobster dinner, open Books' favourite bottle of wine, and bought Books a little something for after.

Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.

What book makes you feel like a kid again?

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, 1955, fills me with wonder and glee. You can read "Writers on Writing" or "The Paris Review" but everything you really need to know - about creativity, writing, life - is in The Purple Crayon.

What books have changed your life?

Unfortunately, I can't say that any book changed my life, but some drops in the bucket are definitely bigger than others. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, clichéd as that sounds, crystallized a lot of things for me and is as relevant now as ever; the same for Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell. Add to that Slaughter House Five or pretty much anything by Kurt Vonnegut, and Harold, and you can get a good sense of me.

The one book you always recommend is...

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, 1955. But a close second is Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey. It's my desert island book, the one book you'd ever need. That and Harold, of course.

How do you like your books served up best - audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner, e-reader…

I'm getting more into podcast and audiobooks, and availing myself of the library (save those pennies kids!). But I like to own a book, preferably one with some years on it. I've always been a dog earier, a note maker, a hard mistress of my tomes. I have love for writing and books, but not a lot of reverence.

Librarian vs. English Professor - who is sexier?

Depends on which one has authority over me in the given moment.

Your life story is published tomorrow. What's the title?

Have You Gone Outside Today? The Maegan Thomas Story.

Where is your favorite place to crack open a good book in Vancouver?

I'm definitely a bus reader, but the best is in the summer I pull my scraggly, red velor armchair onto our porch overlooking 10th and read with a cold one while the bikes go by, the trees rustle, and our downstairs neighbour blast what can only be describe as hardcore jug country.