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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?
I have an old, beat-up copy of Pierre Berton’s The Secret World of Og that was given to me by a friend ages ago. It’s a fairly dry-looking first-edition hardcover, but it always makes me think of a colourful illustrated paperback version I had when I was a kid.
What books have changed your life?
The first authors to really affect my world view were probably Kurt Vonnegut and Margaret Atwood. They were the first I remember who made me want to find everything they ever did and read it all, and they both wrote books with the sense that things can be awful and funny and beautiful and sad all at the same time. Anthony Burgess was another early discovery—he woke me up to what a skilled person can do with language.
The one book you always recommend is…
I’ve lost track of how many copies of A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright I’ve bought to replace a copy given away, only to give it away again.
How do you like your books serves up best–audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner e-reader…
I’m a big book buyer—I’m a sucker for a great cover or beautiful paper, and I’m never able to leave a bookstore without a few in a bag. I have to stop that sooner or later, since my husband is as much of a book hoarder as I am and we’re running out of space in our apartment. Since his first language is Swedish, we often have the same book twice, in two different languages. But change will come hard: I just bought my first e-reader this year so I could test out e-books for work, but I don’t like it and still haven’t used it for any personal reading.
Your life story is published tomorrow. What’s the title?
A Very Short Book About a Fairly Tall Woman
Librarian vs. English Professor—who is sexier?
I’d have to go with English Professor. Though I’m old enough now that a few of my friends are English professors. They better not get any ideas.
Where is your favourite place to crack open a good book in Vancouver?
On a blanket at Jericho Beach, during the five minutes of warm weather we get in the summer. (The best place in the universe for reading is in a hammock, but those are hard to come by in the city.) For the rest of the year… my couch, in a blanket, between two space heaters.
Favourite Vancouver/Lower Mainland writer?
Vancouver’s literary world—or the city itself—wouldn’t be the same without the fabulous Jenn Farrell. Full disclosure: she’s a friend, but I’d completely love her short fiction collections even if we had never met. I’ve been digging historical fiction by Lee Henderson and Adam Lewis Schroeder (I think the latter doesn’t live in the Lower Mainland anymore, but he used to, so he probably counts), and I’d also have to add William Gibson, who I’ve been reading since I first moved to Vancouver in the 1980s.
What is next on your reading list?
I think the poor books at the bottom of my bedside pile are turning to semi-precious minerals from the weight of the ones loaded up on top. But I’m just finishing up The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. Next one down the pile is Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb.
