Some Saturday morning fun on Storywraps

"I always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library."

-Jorge Louis Borges

 

 

Having been part of a staff in a children's book store I can attest to what I am going to expose you to today. Adults and kids do say and ask the weirdest things and it is very hard to keep a straight face and focus on being polite when these bizarre and yes, even sad, pontifications spew forth from their mouths. This book is for anyone who is a book lover, adores browsing bookstores frequently, and especially for those who are fascinated with the speak that erupts from the brain and the oral cavities of the incredulous human species.

The author is someone I would love to meet and hang out with. Oh the stories she could tell and the places she's been....

Here's her bio so you can learn a little more about her.

Jen grew up in a small village by the sea in the north-east of England. After studying English Literature at Edinburgh University, she moved to north London to sell books and write stories. She works part-time at an antiquarian bookshop.

Jen's first book, Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops, was published in 2012 and was a Sunday Times Bestseller. The sequel, More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops, was released in 2013. 'Weird Things...' is available in seven different languages, and was a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards.

Her new non-fiction book The Bookshop Book was published October 2014 by Constable/Little, Brown, and is the official book of the 2014 Books Are My Bag campaign. www.jen-campbell.co.uk/the-bookshop-book

Jen is also an award-winning poet and short story writer. Her poetry pamphlet The Hungry Ghost Festival is published by The Rialto., and she is currently writing her first novel.


These excerpts from the book will really make you smile...enjoy.

Customer: Excuse me, do you have any signed copies of Shakespeare plays?
Bookseller: Er…do you mean signed by the people who performed the play?
Customer: No, I mean signed by William Shakespeare.

Customer: Did Charles Dickens ever write anything fun?

Customer: I read a book in the sixties. I don’t remember the author, or the title.
But it was green,and it made me laugh.
Do you know which one I mean?

Customer: I’ve forgotten my glasses, could you read the beginning of
this book to me to see if I like it?

Customer: Do you have any second hand crosswords?
Bookseller: You mean crosswords that have already been filled in?
Customer: Yes. I love crosswords, but they’re so difficult.


Customer

What books could I buy to make guests look at my bookshelf and think:
‘Wow, that guy’s intelligent’?

Customer: Do you have any books by Jane Eyre?

 

Customer: Do you have this book (holds up a biography) but
without the photographs?
Bookseller: I think the photographs are published alongside
the text in every edition.
Customer: Why?
Bookseller: I suppose so you can see what everyone looked like.
Customer: I don’t like photographs.
Bookseller: Ok.
Customer: Could you cut them out for me?

Customer: I’d like to buy your heaviest book, please.

 

Customer: My children are climbing your bookshelves. That’s ok, isn’t it?
They won’t topple over, will they?

©2012 by Jen Campbell. From Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores.
Overlook Press. All rights reserved.

 

From Jen's blog: jen-campbell.blogspot.ca

This week at the bookshop...

Little girl: My brother’s guinea pig died last night. Do you think we can eat it? My mum says
that booksellers know lots of things, so I thought that I’d ask you.
Me: Erm… does your brother want you to eat his dead guinea pig?
Little girl: No. My brother wants to bury it in the garden, but I think that’s stupid.
Me: Why?
Little girl: Because it’s cold outside and his guinea pig didn’t like the cold. (Pause)
Also, I like eating new things. My dad let me eat sushi last week and I liked that.
So perhaps I’ll like guinea pig, too.

Never a dull moment!

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops

Read on and read always! Enjoy your day immensely.

It's a wrap!

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