We decided to play the Q&A game with the ABC staff, and asked all sorts of bookish questions. In the coming weeks we will be posting their (sometimes cheeky!) answers here on the blog, so you can learn a little more about us.
Enjoy!
This time around we talk to Else, a newbie bookseller in our Amsterdam store.
What are your top 3 favorite books or authors?
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The entirety of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson
Ancillary Justice (Radch trilogy) by Ann Leckie
What is your favorite genre to read?
I love Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction and Science books, so those are the main genres I read.
In which literary world would you like to live/go on vacation?
I would love to visit the Night Circus, from Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. I think that would be a great place to spend a night or two.
What is your favorite bookish animal?
My own cat named Kilava (named after a character in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series).
Do you have any reading tips for our customers?
To get the most reading done in a day, I cram in reading into the “downtime” minutes of the day, be it while commuting by train, walking around (audiobooks are the best for this, but I have done this with a physical book before, do watch the traffic if you are walking outside though!), right before bed or on the toilet even! Those minutes really add up.
What non-book item at ABC can you not pass by without looking at it?
I am a big fan of notebooks, and they always stare at me and want me to take them home. But I am always waiting for the perfect time and occasion to use them, so they usually end up gathering dust on the shelves.
Which book changed your (look on) life?
The Overstory by Richard Powers really changed my outlook on life and my outlook on trees. Richard Powers manages to write fiction that is both intriguing and teaches you about the inner life of trees.
What is your favorite part of being a bookseller?
I love advising people on what books to read, and especially getting them to read books I absolutely love. Gushing about great books is a lot of fun, and getting paid to do it is an added bonus! ;)
I recently started out buying for the Science Fiction and Fantasy section in Amsterdam, and my main secret is that I read… A lot. Getting some of my personal favorites in my own section is a lot of fun. Somehow my own TBR also keeps growing while buying for this section, I wonder why… The rest is just advanced list making, doomscrolling on Instagram to see which SFF books to keep an eye on, and… well, talking to people about what they like. So if you have any personal SFF favorites, I am always open to new suggestions!
About the Author: Lilia
