BiblioQueria 10

For me, going to my local bookshop isn't just about buying books. A bookshop is much, much more than just the books and magazines that fill that space; a bookshop is run by people, and it's the people who run the store that will bring me back again and again. In fact, I enjoy the people so much in that store that I even wrote a little piece about one specific bookstore experience, and it got published in the Globe and Mail a couple of years ago. You can read the little write-up here.

Everyone who works there is bright and funny and intelligent and loves books. In fact, having gone there so much, I have found out some fascinating items about some of the people who work there.

One of them has recently been hired as an editor for a large Canadian publishing company.

One of them is doing an apprenticeship in bookbinding.

One of them is a published poet.

So if you can, make an effort to get to know the staff who work at your favourite bookstore. They're more than just book experts, they're wonderful people with a multitude of views and interests. And you may be surprised at some of the interesting tid-bits of information that you find out about them!

So my question to you is...

Can you tell me any interesting facts about the staff at your favourite bookstore?

Comments

[R J Keefe]

1. My favorite bookshops all have the name "Amazon" in them. They almost always have what I'm looking for (if they don't, then I'll try Alibris), and I never see any titles that I wasn't looking for. The last part is very important.
2. Occasionally I wander into the Shakespeare & Co near Hunter College (and a number of my doctors), and I like to drop in at Crawford Doyle on Madison Avenue. The Metropolitan Museum of Arts shop is a must. But chatting with the staff at any of these places? So not New York. You never know, in this town, when you're going to tap a gusher.

[Julie]

Well, heh heh, I can tell you interesting facts about a certain bookstore-owning family. You know that great big corporate bookstore chain, the one based in my hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich? Well, back in the olden days when they just had one small shop on State Street, when I was a teenager, I used to babysit for their kids. And I have to tell ya, the dad was kinda sweet, but the mom was a bitch. A cold, mean, rude bitch. And their son was a true hellion, the worst I ever came across in my babysitting career.

Well, I feel better for getting that off my chest. I sometimes get on a soapbox and exhort people to support the independent booksellers instead of the big corporate chains . . . now you know the real reason why. :)

[Jozef Imrich]

I really didn't realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group...They are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man.
-Michael Moore on Librarians

As Bing Crosby used to sing, you've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative lust ;-)

[Bibliovixen]

The bookshop I frequent in the town were I work is owned by former English teachers. The wife is an avid knitter, the husband practices his skills in international Morse code (he's not said he's ever had an occasion to use it).

The used bookstores I visit in my hometown are so very different. The staff of the bright and cheery (and very small) bookstore are part-time. In their day jobs, they're teachers, two postal people and a volunteer firefighter. The staff of the other used (3-story) bookstore are like the store, darker, quiet, mysterious. Not given to casual conversation in the 10 years I've been visiting and purchasing from them.

[Isabella]

The 5 People had better be booklovers.

1. My favourite bookstore in my hometown sold used books. The proprietress was an intimidating and judgemental book snob, who didn't want you touching HER books unless you were worthy. I never shopped there much, but have spent years trying to prove that I am indeed worthy.

2. When I started university, the guy who worked at my favourite bookshop would come buy coffee from me. Brian. Drank it black. Working on his Master's in lit, had a roommate who partied way too much for his liking. Asked me out a couple times, but I declined, intimidated by the fact that he was at least 25 (I was 18). He started buying coffee elsewhere. Too bad, cuz he was smart, funny, and cute.

3. I worked in a bookstore briefly. It catered to office lunch crowds. Sold mostly Harlequins. The girl who "trained" me didn't read much; her all-time favourite book was The Flowers in the Attic.

4. In recent years, I enjoy browsing at Nicholas Hoare (in Ottawa and Montreal). But I'm not much of a people person — I could tell you more about the cats that live there than I could about the staff.

[Carmi]

Hmm, an interesting challenge for the next time I descend on my favorite literary haunt (and no, not Indigo or Chapters, but a REAL bookstore.)

Thanks for reminding us how important these folks really are.