Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most. Sean Cranbury is a writer and book lover living in east Vancouver. He is the Executive Editor of Books on the Radio Projects – which is an evolving series of book-related collaborative projects that use the Internet and public performance to build networks and do other cool things with the creative writing/publishing communities in Vancouver and across Canada. He is a curator with the W2 Real Vancouver Writers’ Series, co-creator of the Advent Book Blog, and an organizer of the epic books and technology unconference, Bookcamp Vancouver. Sean also speaks about topics like ‘Social Media Use for Writers’ and ‘Piracy vs Free Content’ at the SFU Summer Publishing Workshops and the Surrey International Writers Conference. He also has a day job.

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It’s an interesting book. A kind of elegant, fantastic fable based around a magical carnival. There’s dueling magicians and acrobats, contortionists, big tops, apple cider, etc. The book has generally received raving reviews – emphasis on the raving more than the review – and I hope that it finishes as the triumph that it is setting itself up to achieve.  Though I have a suspicion that the book is over 100 pages too long.

How do you like your lit served – audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner, e-reader, other?

Paper and ink is the preferred method of transference. It’s more durable, travels through time better, doesn’t suffer outages, battery drain, digital hindrances. Audio is also great. It delivers the voice and the cadence, which can be important. Second hand stores are crucial to the survival of literature and should not be underestimated, same goes for libraries.  e-Readers are a temporary distraction provided by a confused industry. Their greatest legacies will be to choke countless landfills with their meaningless obsolete dead touch screen technologies, the memory of e-ink, and the false promise of convenience.

What publication could you not live without?

Bidoun Magazine, the Believer, Grantland, Fader Magazine.

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

The W2 Media Cafe.

What books have changed your life/influenced you the most?

The stories and novels of Vladimir Nabokov were very influential for me. Martin Amis’ London Fields. Jeanette Winterson’s Art Objects, among others by her, were also really important. I’m sure that I’m forgetting more than a few.

The B’s: Bukowksi, Baudelaire, Burroughs.

It’s a bit of a sausage party. I’m trying to change that.

What is the most cherished item in your library?

The Complete Far Side by Gary Larson. 1st Edition slip-cased. Mint condition.

The one book you always recommend is…

If you haven’t read Lolita, you must.

Your life story is published tomorrow, the title is…

Never Not Now: Reliable Advice for Time Travelers.

Photographs courtesy of Sean Cranbury.

The next W2 Real Vancouver Writers’ event is Tuesday, January 24 at 7 pm at W2 Media Cafe.