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Lynn

Lynn was born in Minnesota, USA, in 1949. Her first sentence was ” O, datta boek!” Her mother read to her before their afternoon nap and took her to the library weekly, where they always checked out the maximum number of books.
Although she thought she’d be a writer someday, she’s spent 50 years co-creating bookstores instead. The urge to write a little bit once in a while is satisfied by making blog posts about things few others will remember.

Amazing blast from our Past!

Written by Lynn and Steve Malenka Steve Malenka, who worked at ABC in the 1970s—first as fiction and gay book buyer, later as manager of the Book Bar, which sold Sammy’s Hotdogs as well as remainder books for one guilder a piece—has some wild memories to share. Here’s a photo of [...]

2023-05-04T16:31:47+02:00Tags: , |

ABC History – Freight and the Sunday New York Times

Written by Lynn Of course, we had no idea when opening an English language bookstore full of remainder books how vital freight services would become for our survival. (Just as most people didn’t think about logistics and supply chains until Covid hit.) At first, our books came from Baltimore on pallets [...]

2023-03-28T11:09:58+02:00Tags: , , , |

Signing the ABC papers over to us

written by Lynn Forty years ago this February, I landed at Baltimore airport in the worst snowstorm they’d had in 10 years. On the way to our host Larry Boltansky’s home, the freeway was closed and we had to shovel the station wagon out from under snow to get to a side [...]

2024-04-24T21:19:40+02:00Tags: , , , |

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: , , |

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: , , |

ABC Top 5: 2022 Edition

Here we go again with our 5(ish) favorite reads of 2022. We try very hard to keep to 5, but it’s not always possible. So, there may be 5 or 6, an A and a B list, memorable reads or just plain marvelous books. We hope you enjoy it and [...]

Celebrating Thanksgiving Day at ABC since 1989

written by Lynn The wish to celebrate Thanksgiving with booklovers, staff and people homesick for that Thanksgiving experience springs from a homey image of people from sea to shining sea, from prison canteens to five-star hotels, all eating the same menu at the same time. There’s always room at the [...]

2022-12-01T10:17:08+01:00Tags: , , |

US Mid-term Elections – What to do?

written by Lynn Mid-term elections in the US on November 8 will determine all kinds of policy changes over the coming two years. In anticipation of the books that will be written about the outcome, we have a couple of recommendations for you in the meantime: Read about the rule of [...]

2022-11-06T12:05:01+01:00Tags: , , |

50 years of Memories – Another riveting ghost story

written by Lynn Following Oprah’s initiative, in 2003 we launched our first Community Read. It had been done before in Chicago, when the entire city—media, government, library and school system—got together to encourage everybody in Chicago to read the same book during the same summer. It worked wonderfully! People spoke about [...]

2022-12-01T10:17:45+01:00Tags: , , |
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