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| ABC News: June 2013 |
In This Issue:
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| Book Lovers Meet @ ABC Online | |
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ABC's Book Lovers Meet wants to be a friendly place for book lovers, reading buffs and writers alike. The forum will feature a monthly book discussion but will also have room for casual ramblings about specific genres. You may also expect some interesting links, tips and information concerning ABC and the literary world at large. ABC's Head-Tweeter Ester has worked hard to get everything started, but we need your help to make this a vibrant, exciting place. ABC customers are some of the most informed and interesting people we know so head over to our new online forum, introduce yourself and get talking about books! |  |
| Patti Smith returns to ABC | |
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Patti Smith's visit to ABC last year was a huge success but a bit of a last-minute thing, meaning we had to disappoint lots of fans who were not able to come and meet Patti. Her 2012 concert at Paradiso also sold out quickly so we are very happy that Patti is coming back to Amsterdam, to Paradiso AND.... to ABC! Poet, songwriter, biographer, visual artist and musician, Smith is also a mother to Jackson and Jesse from her marriage to the late Fred “Sonic” Smith. In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the prestigious title of Commandeur Des Arts Et Des Lettres. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Just Kids, a memoir of her days in New York with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, was published in 2010 and became an immediate, world-wide bestseller. It won a National Book Award. Smith released a new album last year, Banga, and a re-issue of her 1992 memoir Woolgathering, a small, luminous memoir in which Patti revisits the most sacred experiences of her early years. Patti will sign books at ABC Amsterdam on Friday, June 28th, from 15.00 hrs onwards. --- Other confirmed upcoming events: Aernoud Bourdrez and Brandon Gordon. Details of these events and other workshops and exhibitions hosted by ABC can be found online and in our monthly Events Mailing. Sign up here! |    |
| Rick's 25th Anniversary in Het Parool | |
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Rick, our MAJOR event-planner, recently celebrated his 25th anniversary at ABC. He is the one responsible for bringing stars like Patti Smith, Stephen Fry, David Sedaris and Spike Lee, to name a few, into our stores to sign books for you. His network is large and eclectic, and even resulted in an article detailing his career at ABC in Dutch newspaper Het Parool! The article is by Lorianne van Gelder for Het Parool, translated by Alexander Moust and edited by Bryna Hellmann-Gillson. It was published on March 12, 2013, and we are republishing it with permission of the author. That Canadian with one sweater Rick Lightstone, the enthusiastic PR-person at the American Book Center, has close to 5,000 Facebook friends. He remembers anyone who’s been in the shop longer than merely dropping in to find and pay for a book. Without his presence and efforts, many international stars, like Stephen Fry, Dionne Warwick, Ziggy Marley, Spike Lee and David Sedaris, would not have come to the bookshop on the Spui. ABC’s PR-man is a real networker, so his friends and colleagues say, but not in the tedious ‘good-for-business’ sense of the word. “He’s the man through and with whom people come together,” says Gary Goldschneider, writer and dear friend to Lightstone for years. “He often says, ‘This is someone you need to meet,’ and he’s always right.” Click here to read the article in full. |    |
| Win a € 15 ABC gift certificate with books that made you cry | |
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The power of books to trigger our emotions is unparalleled. How often have you found yourself chuckling at what a character thinks on the page in front of you? Or felt pure anger because of the injustice done to a favorite persona? Have you ever found yourself crying unashamedly at a book's ending? We have. We've found ourselves blubbering into a tissue on Bus 24 in The Hague, clutching a copy of The Road. And we're not alone. To celebrate the extraordinary emotional pull of books, we are planning a beautiful window at ABC Amsterdam in July, and we need your help with filling it! We will give a € 15 ABC gift certificate to the 3 people who send in the most heart-wrenching literary sob stories. Your book of choice and reason for crying will also be put on a special poster in the window. Check our blog on how to enter this tearjerker of a prize draw! |   |
| June is Thriller Month | |
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Ah, June... Month of bloody murder, insiduous crime and general mayhem. At least in the Netherlands, where this June marks the 25th anniversary of the annual Thriller Month (Maand van het spannende boek). This year, the Thriller Month celebrates its classics. Our Amsterdam window team have put together a criminally good window (see picture at right) and the Mystery & Thriller sections in both stores have stocked up for your reading pleasure. One title we are all eagerly awaiting is Stephen King's Joyland - the cover alone is worth the price of admission. |  |
| Win free movie tickets to World War Z | |
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United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself... The novel World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks are ABC favorites and steady sellers in our fantasy/horror/humor sections in The Hague and Amsterdam. On July 4th (US Independence Day!) World War Z will hit the theaters world-wide. It's a spectacular action movie you HAVE to see at an IMAX theater near you. Leading man in the film, Brad Pitt, is also one of the producers. World War Z is planned to be the start of a blockbusting zombie thriller franchise. In cooperation with IMAX Pathé, we will be giving away 3 pairs of tickets to World War Z! See our blog on how to win. Make sure you also take a gander at our upcoming World War Z window in Amsterdam, illustrated by artist Martin Pikkaart. |   |
| Femke interviews Marianne Williamson | |
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This spring, our former colleague Femke Wijdekop had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. She got the opportunity to interview bestselling author, frequent Oprah-guest and Course in Miracles-teacher Marianne Williamson! Marianne Williamson is the author of A Return To Love and The Law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money and Miracles. Her famous lines "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." and "It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us," have inspired Femke ever since she first read them as a 19-year-old working on the Second Floor in the good old Kalverstraat store. Click here to hear Marianne and Femke talk about love, money, miracles and a visionary woman called Polly Higgins who is letting her light shine to save Planet Earth. May this interview inspire you to work miracles as well! |   |
| Win free tickets to a lecture by earth lawyer Polly Higgins | |
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Sometimes individuals can act like beacons of lights, create tipping points and be bridges between different worlds. On June 30th, in Amsterdam, Earth Lawyer and meditator Polly Higgins will train you to become such a beacon of light and save Gaia with her. She will teach you how you can: - transform feelings of anger or hopelessness, when faced with environmental destruction, into compassion and bold action; - access that place of greatness and vision within you from which you can co-create a peaceful world; - use your own skills and talents to become an Earth Guardian in your own unique way; - become part of the global End Ecocide-movement and use your political and economical influence to help birth a Green Economy. In cooperation with Rishis, ABC will give away 1 pair of tickets to Polly’s lecture. Click here to find out how and to learn more about Polly Higgins and her mission. |   |
| School trips to our Espresso Book Machine | |
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Last month, a small group of 5th graders from the International School of Amsterdam went on a field trip to our Amsterdam store. Their ultimate aim: to see how a book is made! Thanks to the see-through sides of our Espresso Book Machine, the process of printing the pages, binding the pages to the cover and trimming the book to size could be seen up close and personal by them all. Thanks so much to Dana, 5th grader extraordinaire, for taking the initiative for this trip, and to the mother who chaperoned the group. Interested in doing a similar kind of tour? Mail ebm@abc.nl. |  |
| Help Lebowski Publishers find their next literary gem | |
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So you think you found the next Stoner? The publisher with the golden nose, Oscar van Gelderen from Lebowski Publishers, is looking for the next literary jewel. He’s the man who spotted Stoner, written by John Williams in 1965, and brought it to the Netherlands, where the Dutch translation has sold more than 100,000 copies and for months ruled the Dutch bestseller list. Besides Williams, Van Gelderen ‘spotted’ and published Dave Eggers, David Sedaris, Hunter S. Thompson, John Kennedy Toole, Banksy, and many more books written outside the Netherlands. Always scouting for that (forgotten or neglected) literary gem which deserves to be presented to Dutch readers, Oscar asked us to ask you to recommend that special novel which is not yet available in Dutch, but that you think should be. On Saturday, June 19th, you can pitch the book you think ought to be translated next by Lebowski at ABC Amsterdam! You will have exactly 60 seconds, so be prepared! Please note that you must register for this event. |   |
| Next Starbucks Book Club selection | |
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Did you all enjoy reading the Starbucks Book Club's first selection, The Dinner? The next book selected is In the City of Bikes by Amsterdam expat Pete Jordan. Read Aviva's review of the book here. Pete will visit Starbucks the Bank in Amsterdam in July to discuss and sign his book! Check our site in the coming month for the exact date. |  |
| Think like a lawyer, DON'T act like one | |
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Move over Paul Arden! There is a new guy on the block... and he's going to solve all your conflicts. Aernoud Bourdrez is a lawyer and negotiator specializing in copyright. He will present his book Think Like a Lawyer, Don't ACT Like One at the ABC Treehouse in Amsterdam on Saturday, June 8th. He also has a brand-new website: bourdrezlaw.com. |  |
| Best of the Bits | |
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Which award-winning Science Fiction author popped by ABC Amsterdam unannounced? How many degrees of ABC can you view on Google? What would the cover of A Game of Thrones have looked like if the author had been a woman? Let your mind snack on our tasty Bookbits and Store Bits, filled with news about the literary world in general and ABC in particular. Check our blog regularly for other bookish facts and frivolities, too, like our You Review program and special section spotlights. |  |
| ABC Fact of the Month | |
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Did you know... that we have bargains galore? We pride ourselves on having a varied and up-to-date selection of new US and UK titles, but that doesn't mean we only have new books. At ABC Amsterdam, you will find our bargains in specially marked sections on each floor. If you are a true bargain hunter, however, you simply must come to ABC The Hague. Not only do we have our bargains in specially marked sections on the ground floor, but we also have a first floor filled exclusively with sale books and magazines! ABC The Hague has regular trade-ins so you will also find a good selection used books here. |   |
| New & Notable Titles - Non Fiction | |
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Cooked by Michael Pollan Fire, water, air, earth — our most trusted food expert recounts the story of his culinary education. In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements — fire, water, air, and earth — to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a successio ... more Also featured on our Blog | |
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Feral : Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding by George Monbiot In Feral, George Monbiot, one of the world's most celebrated radical thinkers, and the author of Captive State, Heat, The Age of Consent and Amazon Watershed, follows his own hunger for new environmental experiences, in a riveting tale of possibility and travel with wildlife and wild people. How many of us sometimes feel that we are scratching at the walls of our lives, seeking to find our way int ... more | |
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Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel C. Dennett Over a storied career, Daniel C. Dennett has engaged questions about science and the workings of the mind. His answers have combined rigorous argument with strong empirical grounding. And a lot of fun. Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking offers seventy-seven of Dennett's most successful "imagination-extenders and focus-holders" meant to guide you through some of life's most treacherous su ... more | |
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Last Train to Zona Verde Air Exp by Theroux Paul Following the success of the acclaimed Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and The Great Railway Bazaar, The Last Train to Zona Verde is an ode to the last African journey of the world's most celebrated travel writer, Paul Theroux. 'Happy again, back in the kingdom of light,' writes Paul Theroux as he sets out on a new journey though the continent he knows and loves best. Having travelled down the rig ... more | |
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Outsider: My Autobiography by Jimmy Connors Connors ignited the tennis boom in the mid 70s with his aggressive style of play, his vulgar antics, and his renegade behavior. He sets the record straight about his mother, his life, and the game he dominated for so long. | |
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Spinfluence: The Hardcore Propaganda Manual for Controlling the Masses by Nick McFarlane Spinfluence is an irreverent take on how propaganda is used by 'The 1%' to control the remaining 99%. It's written from the perspective of an organisation that works directly for the 1%. But in a satirical twist the book exposes the amoral and highly unethical techniques used through propaganda to control the masses. | |
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Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking by Douglas Hofstadter In a major new work from the author of 'Godel, Escher, Bach' and 'I Am a Strange Loop', two leading scholars argue that analogy is the basis for all human thoughts. From this singular premise, Pulitzer-Prize winning author Doug Hofstadter and French psychologist Emmanuel Sander construct a broad argument that explains how analogies help us find order out of the chaos of the world. From the simple ... more | |
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The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies by Jonathan Alter In this sequel to his bestselling The Promise, Jonathan Alter digs into the back story of the campaign and Obama’s performance as president. This will be the most penetrating account of how Obama won or lost the election and how he confronted the implacable forces arrayed against him—a sluggish economy, vicious partisan opposition, his own failures as a politician and communicator. The book will b ... more | |
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The Lost Art of Finding Our Way by John Edward Huth Long before GPS and Google Earth, humans traveled vast distances using environmental clues and simple instruments. What else is lost when technology substitutes for our innate capacity to find our way? Illustrated with 200 drawings, this part treatise, part travelogue and part navigational history brings our own world into sharper view. | |
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Visit Sunny Chernobyl : Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places by Andrew Blackwell The lifeless moonscape of Canada's oil sand strip mines. A vast vortex of plastic floating endlessly around the Pacific. An eerie abandoned town square in a radioactive Ukrainian wilderness. These are the places the tourist boards would rather you didn't see. The places that don't show up in any guide books. And the places that, six years ago, journalist and film-maker Andrew Blackwell set out to ... more | |
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Waits/Corbijn: 77- 11 by Anton Corbijn With his trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock styles such as blues, jazz and vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Tom Waits seems a perfect match for Anton Corbijn's grainy signature photographs. Their long-time collaboration has now yielded this book combining Corbijn's Tom Waits portraits of twenty-five years with Tom Waits lyrics from such legendary alb ... more | |
| New & Notable Titles - Fiction | |
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And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini Hosseini, the #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author of "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns," has written a new novel about how people love, how they take care of one another, and how choices resonate through generations. From Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos, the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turni ... more Also featured on our Blog | |
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Big Brother by Lionel Shriver Big Brother is a striking novel about siblings, marriage, and obesity from Lionel Shriver, the acclaimed author the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin. For Pandora, cooking is a form of love. Alas, her husband, Fletcher, a self-employed high-end cabinetmaker, now spurns the "toxic" dishes that he'd savored through their courtship, and spends hours each day to manic cycling. Then, ... more Also featured on our Blog | |
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Black Skies by Arnaldur Indridason A man is making a crude leather mask with an iron spike fixed in the middle of the forehead. It is a 'death mask', once used by Icelandic farmers to slaughter calves, and he has revenge in mind. Meanwhile, a school reunion has left Sigurdur Oli unhappy with life in the police force. While Iceland is enjoying an economic boom, his relationship is on the rocks and soon even his position in the CID i ... more | |
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Joyland by Stephen King Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever. | |
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Magician's End: Book Three of the Chaoswar Saga by Raymond E. Feist As it began, so shall it end - in magic, mystery, and majesty... Thirty years ago, Raymond E. Feist wrote his first novel, Magician, a story about an orphan boy named Pug who is thrust by a war into captivity in an alien world, only to rise from slavery to become a Master Magician. Magician introduced readers to Midkemia and the Riftwars, an epic series of battles between Good and Evil that have s ... more Also featured on our Blog | |
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Nos4a2 by Joe Hill Charlie Manx burned a man to death in his black 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith, but that’s not the worst of it. Rumor has it that he kidnapped dozens of children, taking them to a place he calls “Christmasland.” The only child ever to escape was a very lucky girl named Victoria McQueen. Vic has a gift – she can ride her bike through the Shorter Way bridge and she’ll come out the other side wherever she n ... more Also featured on our Blog | |
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Paris by Edward Rutherfurd City of love. City of splendour. City of terror. City of dreams. Inspired by the haunting, passionate story of the city of lights, this epic novel weaves a gripping tale of four families across the centuries: from the lies that spawn the noble line of de Cygne to the revolutionary Le Sourds who seek their destruction; from the Blanchards whose bourgeois respectability offers scant protection ag ... more | |
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Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer ‘I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’ The Shock of the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of one man’s descent into mental illness. It is a brave and groundbreaking novel from one of the most exciting new voices ... more Also featured on our Blog | |
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The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu When out-of-shape IT technician Roen woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it. He wasn't. He now has a passenger in his brain - an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans. Now split into two opposing factions - the peace-loving, but under-represented Prophus, and the savage, po ... more Also featured on our Blog | |
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman US edition. Release date is June 18th. THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac - as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly's wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark, from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman. It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dar ... more Also featured on our Blog | |
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman UK edition. Release date is June 18th. THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac - as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly's wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark, from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman. It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Da ... more | |
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TransAtlantic by Colum Mccann 1919. Emily Ehrlich watches as two young airmen, Alcock and Brown, emerge from the carnage of the First World War to pilot the very first non-stop transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to the west of Ireland. Among the letters being carried on the aircraft is one which will not be opened for almost a hundred years. 1998. Senator George Mitchell crisscrosses the ocean in search of an elusive Irish ... more | |
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Vader's Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown In this irresistibly funny follow-up to the breakout bestseller "Darth Vader and Son," Vader, Sith Lord and leader of the Galactic Empire, now faces the trials, joys and mood swings of raising his daughter Leia as she grows from a sweet little girl into a rebellious teenager. | |
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