Sophie Archives

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.

Bookbits for 5 February 2024

By Sophie Let's start off with some award winners: this year's Newbery Medal (for best US children's book, basically) was won by Dave Eggers for The Eyes and the Impossible (illustrated by Shawn Harris). The Caldecott Medal (for best illustrations of a children's book) was awarded to Vashti Harrison for Big. [...]

Sophie2024-02-05T15:50:15+01:00Tags: ABC Events, Awards, Black History Month, Bookbits, Bookish News, Sophie|

Staff Choices: romances we’ve read and loved

Put together by Lília February is seen as the Love Month, so we've chosen some of our most loved reads from our romantic fiction sections for your delight. We love romance and it shows! Night Shift - Annie Crown Naomi: This is a romcom as it should be: [...]

Lilia2024-01-25T15:08:15+01:00Tags: Best of Lists, Book Reviews, Ester, Lília, Naomi, Natalia, Pleun, Romantic Fiction, Sophie|

Bookbits for 11 January 2024

Written by SophieHeyo! Happy 2024, first of all, may it be a very bookish and kind year to you and yours. To celebrate this new year we're bringing back an Olde Blogge favorite (to write, in any case): the Bookbits, bookish news in small bites. We hope you'll enjoy them throughout the [...]

Sophie2024-01-13T09:59:59+01:00Tags: ABC Events, Best of 2023, Best of Lists, Bookbits, Bookish News, Sophie|

System Collapse

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Sophie2025-02-12T17:49:07+01:00Tags: Book review, Book Reviews, Martha Wells, Murderbot, Science Fiction, Series Highlight, Sophie, The Murderbot Diaries|

III: ABC Top 5 2023 Edition: Steven, Sophie and Bob

Here we go again with our 5(ish) favorite reads of 2023! We try very hard to keep it to five, but it’s not always possible. So, there may be five or six suggestions, an A and a B list, memorable reads or just plain marvelous books. This year we’re presenting [...]

Lilia2024-11-29T15:11:27+01:00Tags: ABC Top 5, ABC Top 5 2023, Best of Lists, Biography, Board Games, Bob, Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Games, General Fiction, Our Top 5, Science Fiction, Sophie, Steven, Young Adult|

Staff Picks: Gift Edition 2023

Written by Lília Winter and Gift Season have arrived in our part of the world, so it’s time to talk about special editions and new titles to up our present ante! We have a huge pile of recommendations and also some advice: get your books and presents ASAP. The [...]

Lilia2023-12-03T15:51:47+01:00Tags: ABC, Art, Best of Lists, Biography, Crafts, Driver's Test, EmmaV, Floris, General Fiction, Holland, Iris, Juvenile Fiction, Kids, Luke, Music, Photography, Poetry, Romantic Fiction, Shirley, Sophie, Staff Picks, Tom, Traffic Manual, Travel Literature, Young Adult, Zeynep|

Staff Choices: what we’ve read and loved – Part 5

Put together by Lília Written by Jouke, Martijn, Chiara, Sophie, Iris and Simone Warbreaker - Brandon Sanderson Jouke: Two sisters, captive gods, an ingenious magic system featuring breath and colors, and a talking sword. I love Warbreaker and I have no idea why I waited 11 years to [...]

Lilia2023-11-29T15:46:15+01:00Tags: Best of Lists, Book Reviews, Crime Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Greek Mythology, Iris, Jouke, Lília, Martijn, Mythology, Science Fiction, Simone, Sophie|

Always Coming Home

A rich and complex interweaving of story and fable, poem, artwork, and music, it totally immerses the reader in the culture of the Kesh, a peaceful people of the far future who inhabit a place called the Valley on the Northern Pacific Coast. The author makes the inhabitants of the valley as familiar, as immediate, as wholly human as our own friends or family. Spiraling outward from the dramatic life story of a woman called Stone Telling, Le Guin's Always Coming Home interweaves wry wit, deep insight and extraordinary compassion into a compelling unity of vision. Ursula K. Le Guin's Always Coming Home is a major work of the imagination from one of America's most respected writers. More than five years in creation, it is a novel unlike any other.

Lilia2025-02-12T17:49:13+01:00Tags: Book review, Book Reviews, Science Fiction, Sophie, Ursula K. Le Guin|

Staff Choices: what we’ve read and loved – Part 3

Put together by Lília Written by Renata, Martijn, Lília, Jouke, Sophie, Simone, Jonna and Natalia In this Part 3 of our Staff Choices the titles below were chosen by one or more ABC colleagues, and everyone has their own reasons for loving them. Read on to see what they are. You [...]

Lilia2023-08-22T11:26:08+02:00Tags: ABC, Best of Lists, Fiction, Greek Mythology, Jonna, Jouke, Lília, Martijn, Mythology, Natalia, Renata, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction, Simone, Sophie|

Lessons in Chemistry

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute take a very unscientific view of equality. Forced to resign, she reluctantly signs on as the host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. But her revolutionary approach to cooking, fuelled by scientific and rational commentary, grabs the attention of a nation. Soon, a legion of overlooked housewives find themselves daring to change the status quo. One molecule at a time.

Lilia2025-02-12T17:49:15+01:00Tags: Bonnie Garmus, Book review, Book Reviews, Science Fiction, Sophie|

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