STAFF
Kelly Hughes - Mayor of Winnipeg's
Cultural City Hall
Bookstore Owner Kelly Hughes has been called "staccato and laconic" by poet Méira Cook, "so funny I peed myself" by CBC Radio's Shelagh Rogers, and "off-putting, rude and tasteless" by an angry fellow named Chris. Kelly Hughes is the guy who hosts Kelly Hughes Live!, writes This Week at Aqua Books, was nearly sued by Campbells Soup, and was practically arrested by the Winnipeg Parking Authority. Armed with nothing more than a few jokes and half a theatre degree from the U of W, he runs Aqua Books. Not wanting being a pre-teen TV star (Let's Go!) to be his only claim to fame, he created Aqua Books out of white glue, tissue paper, macaroni and half an egg carton. He had an adult help him with the scissors.
KELLY'S TOP 10 BOOKS
(in order of appearance)
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
The Hobbit - Tolkien
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Dying Earth - Jack Vance
The Inklings - Humphrey Carpenter
The Red Pavilion - Robert Van Gulik
Two for the Lions - Lindsey Davis
The Number One Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
The Eyes of the Heart - Frederick Buechner
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
KELLY'S WORST.BOOK.EVER
One Million Centuries - Richard A. Lupoff
Chandra Mayor - Acquisitions and Audience Development Guru
Chandra Mayor is an author and editor. She is the author of three books, August Witch (poems), Cherry (a novel), and the Lambda-nominated All the Pretty Girls (short stories). She has received several awards, including the John Hirsch Award for most promising Manitoba writer, and the Carol Shields Winnipeg book award. Her work has been widely published in magazines and anthologies, and she has appeared at festivals and venues across the country. She is also the Poetry Co-Editor for Prairie Fire magazine. She has a secret fondness for historical Christmas romance novels, a bit of a chick-lit fetish, minimal retail experience, but a great deal of enthusiasm.
CHANDRA'S TOP 10 BOOKS
(in order of importance of author's sex)
Mistress Masham's Repose - T.H. White
Bastard Out of Carolina - Dorothy Allison
Home of Sudden Service - Elizabeth Bachinsky
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Dangerous Angels - Francesca Lia Block
Eva Luna - Isabel Allende
Sister/Outsider - Audre Lorde
The Book of Eve - Constance Beresford-Howe
Morning in the Burned House - Margaret Atwood
Kissing the Witch - Emma Donoghue
Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters
Satan Says - Sharon Olds
Who Do You Think You Are? - Alice Munro
CHANDRA'S WORST.BOOK.EVER
Since Chandra can't count, she doesn't get a 14th choice.
Jay Diaz - Soundman/Key Grip
Jay Diaz used to be a poet and writer before he realized there was no money in it. He found the same of his BA in English Literature. This prompted his move to the lucrative world of live sound reinforcement and janitorial services. He likes comic books, sports and little ceramic houses. He is married and has many children. Thank you for your interest.
JAY'S TOP 10 BOOKS
(in random order, off the top of his head)
Lamb - Christopher Moore
Jailbird - Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
The Faces of Jack Munro - Tom Wayman
Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
Green Lantern Rebirth - Geoff Johns
A Dame to Kill For - Frank Miller
100 Bullets - Brian Azzarello
The Killing Joke - Alan Moore
The Tick Vol. 1 and 2 - Ben Edlund
Jailbreaks: 99 Canadian Sonnets - edited by Zachariah Wells
Soft Geography - Gillian Wigmore
JAY'S WORST.BOOK.EVER
Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry
Curtis Nowosad - Director of Spang-a-Lang/Jazz Boss
Curtis Nowosad has quickly become Winnipeg's go-to drummer. At twenty-two, he has already performed in big band and small group settings with some of New York’s finest jazz musicians, including Stefon Harris, Marcus Printup, Ted Nash, Steve Wilson, Miguel Zenón, and his teacher and mentor Steve Kirby.
Julia Michaud - Copyright Hacker
Julia Michaud was the veteran graphic designer responsible for executing all of our illegal trademark-busting activities. When not conceptualizing brilliantly home in her PJs, she can be found hanging upside down on Tatsu® in Southern California's Magic Mountain® rollercoaster theme park. She's available for freelance work, online Scrabble®, James Brown singsongs and Peter Sellers film festivals.
JULIA'S TOP 10 BOOKS
(in ascending order of silliness)
It's Always Something - Gilda Radner
The Stone Angel - Margaret Laurence
Shogun - James Clavell
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories - ed. Greenberg
Schindler's List - Thomas Keneally
Knock Wood - Candice Bergen
Erotic Dreams: The Secret to Understanding Women's Hidden Mysteries - Gillian Holloway, MD
Bunny Bunny - Alan Zweibel
When You Look Like Your Passport Photo It's Time to Go Home - Erma Bombeck
JULIA'S WORST.BOOK.EVER
Neuromancer - William Gibson
NO LONGER STAFF (but still loved)
Dave Burrows - Tumblemaster
Dave Burrows was a college graduate, and BC transplant who was sucked into the Winnipeg vortex. (Until BC sucked back - and yes, BC does suck.) At AB he fought n00bs on the internet, smooth talked belligerent people, gave tours, sold books and gave radio interviews. He also earned his street cred by updating the Aqua Books Tumblelog and working on all our other social media sites. He is currently living in Uncle Russ's basement in Surrey, writing the future bestseller, Best Pick-up Lines Overheard At a Book Store.
DAVE'S TOP 10 BOOKS
(in order of author's height)
Collected Poems - W.H. Auden
A Confession - Leo Tolstoy
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Coming Through Slaughter - Michael Ondaatje
Baseball: A Literary Anthology - ed. Nicholas Dawidoff
The World According to Garp - John Irving
Antiworlds and The Fifth Ace - Andrei Voznesensky
Fear and Trembling - Søren Kierkegaard
The Stranger - Albert Camus
Diamond Dreams: 20 Years of Blue Jays Baseball - Stephen Brunt
DAVE'S WORST.BOOK.EVER
Anthem - Ayn Rand
Ariel Gordon - Cat Herder
Ariel Gordon is the author of three recent small press poetry chapbooks. She is a regular contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press' books section and, each September, is Blogger-in-Chief of HOT AIR, the official blog of THIN AIR (i.e. the Winnipeg International Writers Festival). Her first full collection of poetry is slated for publication with Palimpsest Press in spring 2010. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms. Ariel can be reached at ariel@aquabooks.ca.
ARIEL'S TOP 10 + 2 BOOKS
(titles that come to mind when asked the hated 'favourite' question)
The Burning Alphabet - Barry Dempstern
A Passage to India - E.M. Forster
Girls Fall Down - Maggie Helwig
The Studhorse Man - Robert Kroetsch
The Blue Castle - L.M. Montgomery
Tom Thomson's Shack - Harold Rhenisch
Traplines - Eden Robinson
More Than Three Feet of Ice - Brenda Schmidt
Moo - Jane Smiley
Reading by Lightning - Joan Thomas
Jailbreaks: 99 Canadian Sonnets - edited by Zachariah Wells
Soft Geography - Gillian Wigmore
Sherman Reimer - Web Sherpa
Sherman Reimer is a designer, programmer and K-Tel recording artist. Sherman moved back from Vancouver and bought a house in Winnipeg because his wife was tired of living in a van down by the river.
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