As a new colleague Mike didn’t have the chance to take part in our Q&A game last year. He was very interested in doing it anyway, so we asked him the same bookish questions and he answered them all.
Mike is our Dungeon Master extraordinaire and part of the D&D initiative Dobbelgangers, and is always ready to play. ;-)
What are your top 3 favorite books or authors?
The Fear And The Freedom – Keith Lowe
The Name Of The Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
The End We Start From – Meghan Hunter
What is your favorite genre to read?
Anything that either forces open my perspective on this world or allows me to escape into another. Be it history, fiction or fantasy, if it has a touch of either social science, magical thinking and/or gritty realism, I’m down.
In which literary world would you like to live/go on vacation?
Vacation: Detective Noir America
Live: The forest of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (yeah yeah, it’s a play I know, but this blog is already posted, what are you gonna do?).
What is your favorite bookish animal (fiction or nonfiction)?
Hands down: *drum roll* The Rainbow Fish.
Do you have any reading tips for our customers?
There is a surprising amount of yoga poses you can do while reading. And otherwise the Japanese Kiba Dachi (horse stance) is also great to strengthen the legs while supplying the good old human brain with extra oxygen. It actually does make you take in the text better, I swear! :p
Take breaks though, the next day you’ll feel it.
What non-book item at ABC can you not pass by without looking at it?
Dice. And sometimes dice. Oh, and I often stop by the dice too.
Which book changed your (look on) life?
If You Meet The Buddha On The Road, Kill Him.
What is your favorite part of being a bookseller?
Helping hyped-up people find the book they’ve hunted for.
What’s your secret for choosing the books you buy for your sections?
I have not been entrusted with a section of my own (yet). Probably for safety reasons. ;p
