|
|
Words
Worth Staff or "Your Personal Shopping Service"
Staring at a wall of books can be an intimidating or
an exciting prospect. Let our staff help by clarifying your needs and placing the best books in your hands. From the thousands of
books we have collectively seen and read, each of us has gleaned the
gold from the dross and we want to pass this onto you! We all have gifts
to buy through out the year and we all know how hard it can be to find
the perfect gift. And a book is always the perfect gift - for yourself
or loved ones! Feel free to contact or email staff individually
for the book advice. Click on their name for their email address.
Also check out our list of the top 25 books that
we created to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. You can read the list
HERE.
|
|
Tricia
- Co Owner & Head of
Safety Committee |
The "mama" of Words Worth, Tricia does
the bookkeeping and loves to hand sell so much that she feels
like every day is a party at the store. Tricia is a lover of great
fiction. She is always involved in Uptown
issues, knits while watching movies, and gardens passionately. Seek
her out for knitting and gardening
books as well as general history, parenting and the perfect picture
books to read to grandchildren.
Click
HERE to read books previously recommended by Tricia Currently Reading:
Galore by Michael Crummey
is a
multi-generational novel set in a small out port community in
Newfoundland. I admit I have a bias in favour of Michael’s books:
everything he has written I have loved and this book is no
exception. I could smell the ocean, taste the food, shiver on the
beach, weep over the sad parts and laugh teary-eyed at the antics
while reading this book. It is a joy to read.
|
|
Bronwyn - Event Coordinator &
Marketing Nit-picker |
|
From the age of twelve, Bronwyn has worked at Words Worth and has done
almost every job in the store (blindfolded, backwards and in heels)!
Bronwyn is an African and Black history aficionado. Also ask her about
anything with art instructions and crafts, and we mean the whole gamut!
Her other passions include
armchair travel, books for parents and expecting moms and only the
coolest and smartest books for kids of
all ages.
Click
HERE to read books previously
recommended by Bronwyn
Really Enjoying: Half the Sky by
Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn
I'm only half
way through this book and I feel like my eyes are opened at every chapter
on issues affecting women in "developing" countries. I think most of us
are aware of the trafficking of people (mostly women and children) but
with so many other issues stalking our media landscape, this slips into a
forgotten corner. The authors are trying to bring these important issues
back to the forefront. One idea that I am already impressed with is a
solution to fighting terrorism: educate girls - most countries that breed
terrorism are extremely patriarchal.
|
|
David - Manager & Scotch lover |
|
Since 1999 David
has been a mainstay of Words Worth Books. "Consider it done" is David's
motto, and it is true. For the hard to track book or any book-related
chore, we count on David for help. His knowledge of books is amazing, and
his sense of humour keeps both customers and staff grinning. David has
read almost every piece of fiction that has graced our shelves, pick his
brain in particular for stellar mysteries, and the
best in current events and politics. He also seems to have the location of
every book in the store tattooed to his
brain - always helpful in a pinch.
Dave loves mysteries - click
HERE for some of his favorites and
click HERE to read other books
previously recommended by David
Loved:
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
One wonders how many great
reviews Dan Chaon has to amass before he breaks into best seller status.
Three connected stories around absence,
shifting identities and actual identity theft converge in a thriller like
climax, but Chaon has literary chops like few other American authors. His characters are full and entirely human and
he writes perfect sentences. Dan Chaon is on my shortlist of favourites and
I’ll bail on most anything else to read new work from him.
|
|
Chris - Receiver & Resident
Techie |
|
Chris is our
soft-spoken guy with quiet sarcastic humour. He does most of the processing of
book shipments and knows all that's worth knowing about J.R.R. Tolkien. He
also knows his way around our Science Fiction and Fantasy Shelves, both
for adults and children/teens and keeps his eye on all great graphic
novels. We're not sure if he can do anything backwards and blindfolded
except reading his bike!
Click HERE to read books previously
recommended by Chris
Is Savoring: Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
At the heart
of a brilliant narrative that stretches from Renaissance Italy to the
moons of Jupiter is one man, the father of modern science: Galileo Galilei.To the inhabitants of the Jovian moons, Galileo is a revered figure whose
actions will influence the subsequent history of the human race. From the
summit of their distant future, a charismatic renegade named Ganymede
travels to the past to bring Galileo forward in an attempt to alter
history and ensure the ascendancy of science over religion. And if that
means Galileo must be burned at the stake, so be it.From Galileo's heresy
trial to the politics of far-future Jupiter, from the canals of Venice to
frozen, mysterious Europa, Robinson illuminates the parallels between a
distant past and an even more remote future—in the process celebrating the
human spirit and calling into question the convenient truths of our own
moment in time. |
|
Mandy - Magazine &
Newsletter
Guru |
Mandy has a particular mission in life to
make sure that pre-teens and teens are reading only the best books
available. Her other interests include books on world religion,
spirituality and children's titles. She is our magazine manager and loves
to track down hard-to-find-magazines. And Mandy also takes charge of our
amazing blogs and edits our e-newsletter. We are used to her
harassing us at the end of the month for book reviews for her Words
Worth marketing endeavors.
Click HERE to read books previously
recommended by Mandy
Relished:
The Space Between by Don Aker
Once bitten by a werewolf, a person will spend
time switching back and forth between wolf and human until only in
cold weather will he or she remain a wolf. Then, after so many years of
living as both, a person becomes a wolf fully, leaving their human life.
Grace was dragged into the woods by wolves when she was younger, but never
changed. Ever since she has had a connection with one yellow-eyed wolf in
particular who watches her from the edge of the woods by her house. Until
one day she meets Sam and can't shake the feeling that she "knows" him
somehow. Grace and Sam have a few dilemmas around their romance as Sam's
pack attack a too important human and the whole town is up in arms. Read more
HERE
|
|
Carolyn -
Everyone's Favorite Bartender |
Carolyn is our newest full-time staff
person. She still bartends part-time at Jane Bond which e xplains
her meows and winking eyes. Guaranteed she will call you honey or
dude or if you're really lucky both! Carolyn loves hanging out with
the magazines or doing displays.
Just Loves: The Witch of
Portobello Road by Paulo
Coelho
How do we find the courage to always be
true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of who we are?
That is the central question of
international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work,
The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious
woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well—or hardly at
all. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is
the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about
love, passion, joy, and sacrifice. |
|
Erica
-
Our Kids Expert! |
|
School supply teacher by day and super
bookseller by night, Erica is eager to share her love of kids books
and fiction with you. We hope that she will want to use her teacher
talents during our monthly kids events, provided she isn't to tired
from school children during the week!
Click HERE
to read books previously recommended by Erica
Thought Highly Of: Swim by Marianne Apostolides.
Swim entwines the present with those past actions and consequences
that have brought Kat to the Greek mountain village where her father was
born. She swims laps while her fourteen-year-old daughter reclines on a
chaise lounge, poolside, reading a book. Without ever leaving the pool we
enter discrete scenes with Kat's parents, daughter, husband and lover. On
entering each point in this history, Kat reveals an undertow of sound,
rhythm and words in their rippling meanings. Each new lap moves Kat closer
to her impending decision: whether she will leave her husband. But the
deeper tension within this innovative novel derives from the writing
itself its vital urgency that extends the possibilities of narrative
beyond the fixed and into the fluid.
|
|
Laura
-
Our Part-time Fiddler |
|
Laura is a university student, taking international
development courses. Naturally sociology, current events and history are
some of her favorite sections. When not reading or studying Laura plays
a fiddle in a rock band and loves to bike. She may be quiet, but she has
strong opinions!
Click HERE
to read books previously recommended by Laura
Devoured: Red Bird by Mary Oliver
"Red bird came all winter / firing up
the landscape / as nothing else could." So begins Mary Oliver's
twelfth book of poetry, and the image of that fiery bird stays with
the reader, appearing in unexpected forms and guises until,
in a postscript, he explains himself: "For truly the body needs / a
song, a spirit, a soul. And no less, to make this work, / the soul
has need of a body, / and I am both of the earth and I am of the
inexplicable / beauty of heaven / where I fly so easily, so welcome,
yes, / and this is why I have been sent, to teach this to your
heart."
This collection of sixty-one new poems,
the most ever in a single volume of Oliver's work, includes an
entirely new direction in the poet's work: a cycle of eleven linked
love poems-a dazzling achievement. As in all of Mary Oliver's work,
the pages overflow with her keen observation of the natural world
and her gratitude for its gifts, for the many people she has loved
in her seventy years, as well as for her disobedient dog, Percy. But
here, too, the poet's attention turns with ferocity to the
degradation of the Earth and the denigration of the peoples of the
world by those who love power. Red Bird is unquestionably Mary
Oliver's most wide-ranging volume to date. |
|
Chuck - Co Owner (currently on
sabbatical but still avidly reading) |
|
The "papa" of the bookstore, Chuck is a
jack of all trades. Computer expert, book buyer and visionary, Chuck
reads constantly and writes reviews for the local newspaper. Chuck
always has a carpentry project on the go. You can see him with an
electric drill at hand as he dreams about his next sailing trip. A
typical gentleman; Chuck knows his way around nautical books,
architecture, woodworking, house building, plus topics in
spirituality, psychology, self-help, and physics.
|
|
Chuck writes a regular book column for The
Record. Read the latest column
HERE |
|
