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Sophie

About Sophie

Bookseller, stock buyer, display maker & Girl Friday at ABC The Hague & ABC Leidschendam. Has been at ABC since almost the last millennium. Current sections under her care are YA, Politics & Current Affairs, Sports, Prizewinners, and Staff Choices. Loves any book that makes her think, learn, and look at life from a new angle, whatever genre. Cat person, feminist, easily bribed with Nutella, preferred state of being = barefoot in the garden.

Black History Month at ABC: What to read

written by Natalia It is February, which means it’s Black History Month in the United States and Canada. Black History Month was first introduced in 1969 and has been celebrated nationwide since the mid-seventies. This month was introduced by Black educators as a way to celebrate Black culture and the [...]

2023-02-01T11:49:49+01:00Tags: , , |

Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage

"A myth-busting voyage into the female body. A camera obscura reflects the world back but dimmer and inverted. Similarly, science has long viewed woman through a warped lens, one focused narrowly on her capacity for reproduction. As a result, there exists a vast knowledge gap when it comes to what we know about half of the bodies on the planet. That is finally changing. Today, a new generation of researchers is turning its gaze to the organs traditionally bound up in baby-making―the uterus, ovaries, and vagina―and illuminating them as part of a dynamic, resilient, and ever-changing whole. Welcome to Vagina Obscura, an odyssey into a woman’s body from a fresh perspective, ushering in a whole new cast of characters."

2025-02-12T17:49:49+01:00Tags: , , , |

How we work

The book buyer: Lynn Kaplanian-Buller interviews Lília Visser Lilia is a seasoned ABC book buyer. Asked how she would define a good one, she says the most important characteristic for book buyers is listening to customers. Besides that, a book buyer must keep an eye on what sells, its [...]

2023-01-25T17:01:46+01:00Tags: , , |

Blind Book Date

It’s confirmed: our bestselling title at ABC Leidschendam in 2022 was the Blind Book Date! So what, exactly, is a Blind Book Date, aka BBD? It’s a curated title we gift wrap with only a few clues—just enough to get people interested in the story. It is indeed a blind [...]

2023-01-18T17:02:07+01:00Tags: |

ABC Anecdotes: Postcards in Amsterdam

written by Lynn The ABC started in 1972 after Mitch Crossfield and Sam Boltansky, who knew each other from Baltimore, came to Amsterdam in 1971 and saw the lines of English-speaking tourists outside Madame Tussaud's on the Kalverstraat, then one of the busiest shopping streets in Europe. They went to the jewelry [...]

2023-01-19T18:03:15+01:00Tags: , , |

Folklore & Fairy tale

Witches and the Folklore of Poisonous Plants written by Emma V Some of the most striking scenes of witchcraft in literature picture witches bent over a bubbling cauldron—from the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth tossing in ingredient after ingredient to cause “double, double toil and trouble”, to Harry, [...]

2023-01-13T13:56:45+01:00Tags: , , |

New year, new reads

written by Lauren The holidays are over, the kids are back in school and life for many is settling back into its less frenzied, everyday pace. With more time at hand and cold weather prodding us into a kind of cozy hibernation, January is the perfect time to dive into [...]

2023-01-13T12:11:28+01:00Tags: , , |

Our Share of Night

“Gaspar is 6 years old when the Order first come for him. For years, they have exploited his father’s ability to commune with the dead and the demonic, presiding over macabre rituals where the unwanted and the disappeared are tortured and executed, sacrificed to the Darkness. Now they want a successor.”

2025-02-12T17:49:51+01:00Tags: , , , |

Conversations with customers

Marie is a good example of a “growing up with ABC” customer: niece of our Sophie, she has known the ABC since she was born. Her ABC store may have changed from The Hague to Amsterdam, where she moved to study and work, but her loyalty remains the same. [...]

2023-01-07T13:40:18+01:00Tags: , , |
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