STEPHEN LEWIS meets the woman behind York's newest bookshop.

JO Dodd woke up one Sunday morning with her future suddenly crystal clear. The 36-year-old marketing manager was working out her redundancy from Norwich Union in York, and wondering what to do with the payout she was going to receive.

"I had thought about doing a sandwich bar or coffee shop type of thing," she says. "but there are so many in York. So I thought, it is better to do something I am equipped to do."

She had always loved books - which is what she suddenly realised on that Sunday morning. "And I decided that was what I was going to do!" she says.

The result is Worm Holes, York's newest bookstore. Spread out over three floors of a venerable building on Bootham - just opposite the Bootham Tavern - it's obvious as soon as you walk in that this is a bookshop with a difference.

Downstairs, where the new books are kept, there is an expensive-looking desk with leather chair where Jo sits - plus, of course, shelves lined with books.

The two upstairs floors, however, are furnished more like stylish sitting rooms, with chairs, side tables and discreet lighting - and the books carefully arranged on custom-built shelving.

The idea is for customers to feel that this is a place they can drop in to, relax, browse around at their leisure and, if they can't find quite what they are looking for - or even don't know what they are looking for - ask her for advice, Jo says.

The selection of new stock downstairs is fairly small, with an emphasis on quality modern fiction: Booker and Whitbread prize-winners, that sort of thing. But she has on-line access to about 250,000 titles from her wholesalers, so can order just about any book you could imagine asking for and have it delivered within one to two days, Jo stresses. And she'll be more than happy to make suggestions or discuss books with you if you have the time.

Upstairs is her selection of carefully-chosen second-hand books. Not antiquarian books, she stresses - just second hand books in good condition. "People can buy a good quality book at a reasonable price, and maybe discover someone new," she says. The books are carefully arranged on shelves marked with neat handwriting: thrillers, horror, fiction - and many of them, even though reasonably priced, look as good as new.

What really marks Worm Holes out as different, however, is the regular social events that are being staged there.

Already, in the nine weeks it has been open, Jo has inaugurated a regular 'elevenses' morning - Thursday from 11am to noon - where people can drop in to enjoy coffee and biscuits while they chat about books; has started an evening book club; and has held her first 'Dinner with the author' evening, featuring Magdalena Chavez, owner of El Piano restaurant and author of The Festival of Angels.

And last Friday, she held her first Book Dating session. Book Dating?

"It's a variation on speed dating," she says. "Each person chooses a book they love, and they have three minutes to tell each other about their book and to basically 'sell' it to them."

At the end of the evening, people vote for which book they were most impressed with - and pairs who vote for each other's book are 'paired up'. They swap books, and make their own arrangements for getting them back. "They can arrange to drop them off at the shop," Jo says. "Or if they want to, they can meet up over a beer."

She says it is as much a social event as anything, a chance to meet people with similar interests. But also a great way to find out about new authors.

The first Book Dating session last Friday was a great success, she says. Fourteen people turned up, and six of them were 'paired' by the end of the evening. And the discussion was so animated that quite often when it came time to get people to change over, she had an unexpected problem. "I couldn't make them be quiet!"

The next Book Dating event is on Friday December 5. December will also see a 'Poems by Candlelight' evening on Friday December 12, another book club meeting - and a 'Christmas with Worm Holes' event on Saturday December 20, where you will have a chance to discuss books over mulled wine and mince pies.

Worm Holes is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10am-5.15pm; Thursday 10am-7pm; and Sunday noon-4pm. To enroll for Book Dating costs £4.50. Call Jo at Worm Holes on 01904 620011.

Updated: 09:00 Wednesday, November 26, 2003