Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion

I'm hoping I can make this a topic

Oh it works. So why not the quiz one??

Well having worked in a bookshop I don't recall much weird things being said really. Only one 'customer' is a bit odd as she's always leaching off my boss to borrow money to buy lotto tickets.
I tell him to say to her we are not a bank.

Has she actually ever bought a book? My boss says never. I think he's a bit of a soft touch.

Have you read both of the books? Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops and More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops?

I loved them.

Yep both of them..hilarious.
I think the weirder customers frequent the second hand bookstores more though. The sillier things people says are often said by children. But only us bookish types would laugh in the backroom about it because you need to take each person seriously. Otherwise they won't come back. It's not their fault they don't know EVERYTHING.

“Do you have the children’s book I’ve heard about? It’s supposed to be very good. It’s called, “Lionel Richie and the Wardrobe”.

The author Jen Campbell has written another called The Bookshop Book so that is now on my TBR list.

The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell

Yep its all here...all unusual independent bookshops around the world - though my local chain bookshop does not feature, there's one in my town that just has cookbooks called Cook the Books, and has cooking workshops too!

Various authors contribute their musings about bookshops as well as bookshop owners, and fun book facts. Jen met the grumpy owner who wrote The Diary of a Bookseller too, and mentions various Book Towns around the world. I want to live in one.

My next book is The Library Book by Rebecca Gray

I read The Library Book. It's an anthology by several British authors about what libraries mean to them, some of it's a bit hit and miss as I don't know half of them. I thought it would be better if it an anthology written by librarians themselves with fun library facts like The Bookshop Book.
It's published by the Reading Agency in the UK who are endeavouring to save libraries from political destruction...cos politicians don't read history right? They keep repeating it.

I hope everyone here has read 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, the true story of a years-long, often quite zany correspondence between a British bookshop owner and a customer (Helene) in New York City.

No..I don't think I have read that one. Sounds like my next TBR

Fishface wrote: "I hope everyone here has read 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, the true story of a years-long, often quite zany correspondence between a British bookshop owner and a customer (..."

I love that book so much. The sequels are excellent, too, which is not common—Q's Legacy: A Delightful Account of a Lifelong Love Affair with Books is marvelous.

I used to live on the Upper East Side, and I often passed a building that had a brass plaque on it, saying, "Author Helene Hanff lived here, etc." I'm pretty nearsighted, so one day I'd stepped close to read it, and the building's doorman saw me and started talking about her!

This was'nt long after she'd died, and he had clearly been quite fond of her. He said she used to sit out by the door on nice days, enjoying the weather and smoking (in a scandalized near whisper, he added, "She smoked way too much!").

I said how pleased I was that someone who had come to NYC to be a playwright had actually found success, and he said, "Oh, yes—we have one of the theatre posters framed!" And then, when I timidly asked, he said "Sure, you can go in and look at it—down that hall on the right." So I did!

When I worked at a B. Dalton/Pickwick bookstore in the mid-1970's:

Elderly lady: "Where are your Little Women Dolls?"
"We don't have Little Women Dolls."
"You used to."
"No, we never have."
"Yes you did. They were right over there. [pointing] But it's all different now..."

I had lots of children come in on Halloween dressed up as scary monsters, begging for lollies.
I told them to get lost and scare someone else. Mostly I got rid of them by giving them lollies, my boss didn't want them hanging round, since they had no money.

But I did tell those who were dressed up as Harry Potter or Hermione or Dracula they could stay, and one little mermaid who didn't want to scare anybody. The others who weren't dressed up had to tell me joke, otherwise no treat. I had a kid's joke book ready but seriously a lot of those jokes I don't quite get...who writes them?!

My boss would be telling all the children that came up to them 'aw... you look so cute' in hopes of buttering up the parents to spend, but I was like 'you look like you just woke up from the dead' 'You're too scary' "stop haunting the bookshop' 'shoo! go scare someone else'

Selina wrote: "I had lots of children come in on Halloween dressed up as scary monsters, begging for lollies.
I told them to get lost and scare someone else. Mostly I got rid of them by giving them lollies, my bo..."

I didnt know they did Halloween in New Zealand. Interesting. I would tell the owner that just because they didnt spend money that day you never know, they might come back a different day and remember those kind people that work there. Hopefully you will still be there in a few years when those kids get older and do have some money to spend. It's important to build those long term relationships.

Most people don't but in recent years it's become popular, because the mall and shops now encourages it. We still have Guy Fawkes on November 5.

We have a children's section but because its a chain store there's no real scope to specialise and we have limited space. If I owned it I would make it more child and parent friendly. I'd not only reach out to school libraries but also playcentres and kindergartens.

I'd have evening adult readings too. The mall doesn't really do much for the late nights, they could do quiz nights or something, but it seems they just expect people to come and shop and then go home. Maybe watch a movie. They have some children's events in school holidays but I think it's a bit lame what they offer overall.

Selina wrote: "Most people don't but in recent years it's become popular, because the mall and shops now encourages it. We still have Guy Fawkes on November 5.

We have a children's section but because its a chai..."

I think you have some good ideas. Promoting reading in children will lead to new customers when they are grown.

The Pickwick bookstore chain in Southern California was bought by B. Dalton in the mid-1970's. The original Pickwick stores did business as B. Dalton/Pickwick for some time after that.

One day a woman came into the store I worked at and asked for pedometers. The manager told her we didn't sell them. The woman replied that she was told to go to Pickwick to get one. The manager said, "They probably told you to go to Pick and Save." (A bargain chain much like today's dollar stores.)

The woman replied emphatically, "No! PICK!-WICK!"

Our biggest supermarket chain here is called Pak n' Save.

I would recommend watching the recent The Booksellers documentary for anyone interested in rare and secondhand book shops. Mostly about bookstores in NYC. They call them 'antiquarian' there. We're talking about really old books, ones that are leatherbound or in vellum or first editions not the mass market paperbacks most people buy and pass on to someone else.

I picked up 84, Charing Cross Road. Charming.
The closest we ever get to correspondence in our bookshop is people wanting their attached documents files to emails printed out. Stuff like passports and drivers licences, immigration forms.

I don't think foreigners really want to buy rare New Zealand books...though we do sell a few calendars that people post overseas. It's expensive though to send things via post these days.

I saw the movie of 84 Charing Cross Road.
I love it. It stuck pretty close to the book!

I'm going to read the sequel too, wonder if that's been filmed as well.

I love the part where Helene throws the edited Pepys diaries against the wall, then starts typing an angry letter. Call this a book lol.
Miss Hanff to you, I'm only Helene to my friends.

I'm sure one of the customers in the bookshop mistaken for a wealthy american was Connie Booth (Polly from Fawlty Towers). Othewise Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins were perfectly cast.

I asked my boss if our bookshop has in stock a local author's book who was launching it at the library next week.
Boss said she came in but he said no as he was overcommitted and had thousands of dollars in books already and then snapped I was backchatting because I said oh but she's local, what if customers ask? And where can they buy it if we don't stock it?

And then he blamed me for getting him talking about supply in front of customers. I was just asking a question, which I thought was a reasonable thing to ask. But he could have said I'll tell you the story later...?

I shut up after that. And here I was thinking well its only him that talks about 'margins' and 'supply' and 'stock' in front of customers when I'm only really concerned if the books are on order or not.

I remember I once said to him, customers don't care about your margins. They just want to know if they can get the book.

One thing, the date due stamp went missing at the library, I'm sure the juniors were using it last, and its the second time its happened, so from now on since we don't have funds to buy another one we are just using happy stamps now on the date due slips when issuing books. (I use the happy stamp on hands when juniors take out books)

Although I have this idea that at the bookshop, instead of issuing receipts that most customers don't want anyway, we just stamp their hands with 'I've been to the bookshop'.

Selina wrote: "I asked my boss if our bookshop has in stock a local author's book who was launching it at the library next week.
Boss said she came in but he said no as he was overcommitted and had thousands of ..."

Our local bookstore can order books in that they don't stock. They also offer a discount in order to compete with Amazon, but they sell many used books that they get for cheap as well from customers (I have sold there before--they buy right off but due to loss, etc, they give you only 10 or 10 percent of the books original price, but it's an easy way to offload books and support a small, local business.) It takes a few days, and perhaps your boss would be amenable to offering that.

Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "I asked my boss if our bookshop has in stock a local author's book who was launching it at the library next week.
Boss said she came in but he said no as he was overcommitted and ha..."

No, its a chain store and they only really buy new books, mostly from the big 5 publishers. We can order things in but don't have a huge backlist as the store isn't that big. If we didn't stock toys and stationery and cards and magazines and gifts as well, it would work.

Selina wrote: "Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "I asked my boss if our bookshop has in stock a local author's book who was launching it at the library next week.
Boss said she came in but he said no as he was overco..."

I am envious you all have bookstores close to you. The closest to me is 60 miles.

Customer rings up just as we are closing at 9pm.
'Are you open till midnight?'
Me- 'No. Come back tomorrow'

Do people think we sleep at the store or something.

Selina wrote: "Customer rings up just as we are closing at 9pm.
'Are you open till midnight?'
Me- 'No. Come back tomorrow'

Do people think we sleep at the store or something."
How funny!

This one looks pretty good.
Just Another Day at Your Local Public Library: An Insider's Tales of Library Life by Roz Warren

Bizarre chapter titles so far...

Bad librarian!
The Dog Ate My Library Book
My Doctor Who T-shirt Is Bigger on the Inside
Would you Ask a librarian for a lap dance?
The Inside Poop on Librarian's Daily Adventures
Is it ever Okay to write in a library book?


Well, not bizarre to us librarians, its kinda normal. I'll speed through it as per usual. As most weird readers are slightly paranoid, and think we are reading their minds, the know every single book they've read because it's recorded on the library database, I think maybe patrons have some cause to be suspicious of us. But I've never sectioned anyone. Most of us librarians are doing this job to stay OUT of jail.

Now I have customers swearing at me since the glut of all those books with f*** in the title. :-(

Come on be original and use a different word.

"Do you sell lightbulbs?"

No.

Book lights yes.

Claudia wrote: "Fishface wrote: "I hope everyone here has read 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, the true story of a years-long, often quite zany correspondence between a British bookshop owner..."

Helene Hanff is now my favourite author....
I'm reading The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street after reading Q's Legacy: A Delightful Account of a Lifelong Love Affair with Books. Though I had never heard of Q. Funny I did complete a degree majoring in English Literature though I didn't turn out to be a writer. It's a precarious living, though you could say the same for being a librarian. But without writers, where would librarians be? We'd just be issuing wordless picture books...

Selina wrote: ""Do you sell lightbulbs?"

No.

Book lights yes."

Too funny!

I got into this novel called The Librarian by Salley Vickers

Unfortunately it's very dull. And like most predictable chick lit, the young ingenue falls for the older married man (its says right in the blurb on the back) I'm wondering why some authors are completely lacking in imagination when writing about librarians as characters. The Giver of Stars was like that as well.

Give them a proper quirk, not a 'everythings gonna be solved by some humping in the shelves' drama.

Huh, Shaun Blythell has another one out called Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops

Might be good for a few laughs or yucks.
I think he's milking being a bookseller for all it's worth though.

I visited 3 bookshops in one day.

One was a cookbook bookshop that only sold cookbooks. I signed up for a cooking workshop as they have a kitchen out the back. They were listed in The Bookshop Book. It's called 'Cook the Books'

Then I went to the Women's Bookshop. I saw a few men go in after I left...

And then wandered on down to a secondhand bookshop called the Open Book. It was an old villa made into a bookshop, all the rooms had shelves in them. I wish all libraries and bookshops were like that with different rooms instead of like a huge warehouse.

I bought a book called Titanic: True Stories of her Passengers, Crew and Legacy by Nicola Pierce. Can't wait to read it! I'll give it to my brother, he's mad on the Titanic.

Selina wrote: "I visited 3 bookshops in one day.

One was a cookbook bookshop that only sold cookbooks. I signed up for a cooking workshop as they have a kitchen out the back. They were listed in [book:The Booksh..."

Lucky! There are no book stores near me.

I'll just add two novels I was reading about bookshops as they have bookshop in the title.
I'd just call them bookshop fantasies as BOTH of them were about inheriting a bookshop. They were not bad to read but I had a few issues with them...like REALLY, that plot wasn't realistic! (I work in one, so I know a plot hole when I see it)

The Bookshop of Yesterdays
The Printed Letter Bookshop

And for the most part, if a bookshop is going under, they mostly get sold or go to new ownership, very few get given as inheritances.

Selina wrote: "I visited 3 bookshops in one day.

When I lived in NYC, a friend used to call that "booking," as in, "Wanna go booking on Saturday?"

One was a cookbook bookshop that only sold cookbooks. I signed up for a cooking workshop as they have a kitchen out the back. They were listed in [book:The Bookshop Book..."

I was just reading about a bookstore like that, out in SF. It's called Omnivore Books, and it's run by a woman named Celia Sacks who sounds awesome! It's all sorts of food books, not just cookbooks.

I wish all libraries and bookshops were like that with different rooms instead of like a huge warehouse.

If you ever visit Massachusetts, check out the Montague Bookmill, whose slogan is "Books you don't need in a place you can't find" (it's not that hard, actually). They're exactly what you describe, all sorts of different rooms, all with books. Their website has some pix, but they don't really convey the feeling of it.

Claudia wrote: "Selina wrote: "I visited 3 bookshops in one day.

When I lived in NYC, a friend used to call that "booking," as in, "Wanna go booking on Saturday?"

One was a cookbook bookshop that only sold cookb..."

I got really excited to read about this bookstore in MA but it's way up north of Springfield, so far away. There is also a wonderful bookstore in Boston called Trident Booksellers on Newbury Street that has a café, etc. I once met a GR friend there for our first IRL visit (her idea--she was born & raised in MA whereas I came as an immigrant). I live farther away from that bookstore than people in Boston do, since I live south of the south shore, but in normal times I get to Boston about once a week from Sept to early May.

Karin wrote: "Claudia wrote: "Selina wrote: "I visited 3 bookshops in one day.

When I lived in NYC, a friend used to call that "booking," as in, "Wanna go booking on Saturday?"

One was a cookbook bookshop that..."
https://www.tridentbookscafe.com/

I made a suggestion to my boss
Why not have the childrens books lower down on the shelves so they can see them and the young adults higher up? Then you'd get more people buying them.

Of course he looked at me like I was an idiot and didn't know anything about retail.

Selina wrote: "I made a suggestion to my boss
Why not have the childrens books lower down on the shelves so they can see them and the young adults higher up? Then you'd get more people buying them.

Of course he..."

On the one hand, kids would ask for them more, but on the other hand they tend to get dirtier and are more likely to get damaged if kids can grab them.

When my kids were small I kept them in carts in the middle of the aisle so they couldn't grab things off the shelves (my eldest has Apserger's, so it was a lot easier than trying to make rules, since she needed micro-rules or she'd find loopholes).

Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "I made a suggestion to my boss
Why not have the childrens books lower down on the shelves so they can see them and the young adults higher up? Then you'd get more people buying them...."

These are children's chapter books, not baby books.
I'm thinking of some of the chapter books that are way over my head I can't even see them. Pretty much Everything can be grabbed in the shop. Except the little toner print cartridges and calculators and expensive pens. They have locks on them. Its more likely adults shoplifting though, the boss caught an adult the other week.

If you don't want ANYBODY touching anything, you just have an online shop, or have everything behind the counter, and you have to ask the shopkeeper like in the olden days.

Selina wrote: "Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "I made a suggestion to my boss
Why not have the childrens books lower down on the shelves so they can see them and the young adults higher up? Then you'd get more peopl..."

1. yes, people should be able to touch the books! I was thinking of very young children and I have seen books in bookstores that have been damaged that way, which is why I thought of it.

2. yes, put the young adult novels and the children's novels and chapter books where they can readily see them!

Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "I made a suggestion to my boss
Why not have the childrens books lower down on the shelves so they can see them and the young adults higher up? Then you'd..."

I have to laugh. The only bookstore close to me but still an hour away is Barnes and Noble. They have a pretty big toy department there. My grandkids weren't interested in the books at all. They wanted toys. My youngest grandson cried because grandma said they weren't getting any toys that day, only books.

Koren wrote: "Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "Karin wrote: "Selina wrote: "I made a suggestion to my boss
Why not have the childrens books lower down on the shelves so they can see them and the young adults higher ..."

Its the adults stealing the toys, not the children in our bookstore.
Toys aren't a huge seller as there's a Toy warehouse nearby, and the toys we were selling weren't as appealing as their ones. Though the models of aircraft and ships do sell, its more the adults coveting those. They can't really play with any of the toys though as they are all in boxes.

We've got the toddler books and baby books with puppets and soft toys on some of the top shelves though. Children in pushchairs aren't able to grab anything though as they are strapped in. I wouldn't recommend going shopping with very young children. Best to leave them at home or being cared for then take them. Its too stimulating. Also shopping can be very boring for children in general, since most don't actually have money to spend and have to traipse after their mums taking ages to decide and begging for things they can't afford. Its best if they are given some small pocket money to spend if they are out shopping or gift cards.

Haha don't mean to sound like I'm an expert or anything!

People used to complain that libraries ought to be more like bookstores (no dewey decimal system, books face out on display) but sometimes I think bookstores ought to be a bit more like libraries.

There is really no places to sit and browse in the bookstore I work in. Most people just kind of wander in buys a card or two, and then leave, unless they know the exact book they are after. If someone sees a book they already know they want, they'll buy it, or we'll order it in if its not there. Most people don't just buy books for the sake of buying books, probably cos in my part of town people don't have that much spare cash!

I don't know why people seem to have this idea that customers will come to the mall with money to burn! Shopping isn't really a leisure activity for many, it's a necessity.

Today, a child was looking for The Bad Guys series by Aaron Blabey, she came in with her dad, and even he couldn't find it. It was on the top shelf ('B' for Blabey) and he would probably have never found it if he hadn't asked me.

Went to cooking class at the cook bookshop last night.
I learned South East Asian Street food.

Also read this children's fiction set in what was the real-life Coles bookshop in Melbourne, back in 1893. It's called The Grandest Bookshop in the World By Amelia Mellor and I would say it's kind of like Jumanji, except in a bookshop. And yes, again, common trope, the bookshop is under threat, this time from a con man called the Obscurosmith. The children then must solve 7 riddles to save their ma and pa's bookshop from imminent takeover.

Another ficitional book set in a library Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

It's about 12 kids who win an essay contest to be locked in a brand new public library opened by philanthropist gamer Mr Lemoncello, who is supposed to be this Willy Wonka like character, and they have to solve puzzles and find clues to 'escape' like an escape room.

My thoughts...interesting plot but could have been better written and the characters and american references were really falling flat for me. All the kids were brats even the main one which I didn't like so wasn't rooting for anyone to win, unlike Charlie Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

It's a whole series but I thought it was a bit try-hard.