Hello! It feels like it’s been about a year since I was here last Friday. I’ve been on so many trains and seen lots of friends and eaten good food. I’ve walked so many miles my feet are still tired but I’m back in the bookshop in trousers that look a bit like pyjamas, but absolutely are not. I’ve got my coffee and my cosy jumper and I’m ready to sell some books! *suddenly wearing Elton John’s glasses* Are you reaa-ddy? Are you reaa-ddy for books? Yes, you are - oh, yeah!
In other news about me this week, I had a nice announcement in The Bookseller (the trade publication for the book industry) about my forthcoming picture book, The Tour, which is out next Summer with Walker Books. I should clarify that’s Summer 2025, not the elusive Summer this year that hasn’t turned up yet. There’s a customer in the shop right now who is wearing a woolly hat, so that give you a remote sense of what it’s like to be beside the sea today.
Postman brings me an package with a proof of Suzanne Rindell’s Summer Fridays, which is both timely (Friday) and offensive (Summer?!). I remember enjoying Rindell’s novel The Other Typist - this one looks to be a very different vibe but writers contain multitudes! This one sounds really lovely. A love story set in nineties New York with an MC who works in publishing?? Nora Ephron called on the landline and said yes!
A lady with a lovely accent (extra-soft geordie) comes in to find out the difference between Baptism and Christening, in terms of specific bibles to gift for the occasion. She’s been corrected by the parents that it was definitely a Baptism and not a Christening that was happening, and now she’s concerned there’s a Baptism Bible that might be different from the Christening Bible she usually gifts! “I’m not even religious” she says. God help us.
Delivery is here (full of bibles for a Sunday School order, but I think they’d make a nice gift for a Christening, or even a Baptism!). Also a few extra copies of our current book club choice, because we sold out AGAIN. And some restocks on sticker books and manga. Weirdly, there’s nothing for me in this order because I haven’t been at my desk this week confusing our ordering system for my own personal shopping basket again.
*in the bookshop, to me, a bookseller*
You don’t sell elastic, do you?
Well this is a truly terrible Friday. It’s 12.30 and we’ve had one sale. I wonder how many transactions the elastic shop has done. Let’s hope we can bounce back this afternoon…
A lady on a mobility scooter makes me jump out of my skin when her reversing siren starts shrieking at me, but as she’s reversed to look at our window display I’ll forgive her. Didn’t need that skin anyway…
Well one good thing about being on trains this week was that I was got to be in some train stations and I saw train guy doing some filming and also I bought this special KitKat which I did not eat then, but will eat now.
text from Business Mum: it’s actually quite pleasant today after that shower
me: well I had a shower too but it still looks overcast to me
BM: have those vouchers come?
me: nope.
*opens envelope addressed to BM that arrived this morning that I was ignoring and actually contains the vouchers*
me: yep.
Oh thank goodness for that, someone bought something. He actually said ‘there are about ten books on that shelf that I wanted to buy’, which is very nice to hear because our non-fiction section is honestly quiet chaotic. Anyway, today he’s taking this and this.
Phew! Another sale shortly after, to a man who wasn’t allowed to buy anything for himself because his birthday’s coming up but did buy two lovely children’s books including a gift edition Wind in the Willows. Very well done. I am a grateful toad of toad hall.
Next week it’s INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP WEEK!!! This means lots of things to different bookshops, all of them involving bunting. But let me focus on you directly, as readers of this newsletter, and say that a great way to celebrate independent bookshop week is just to buy a book from an independent bookshop. Ideally that’s your local independent bookshop, because you want your money to stay in your community and support the shops that keep your own high street happy. If you can’t get to a bookshop IRL then you can select an indie to support via Bookshop.Org using the map. Every sale on Bookshop.Org directly supports bricks and mortar bookshops, and if you make sure you’re selecting a specific shop for your purchase to go through, it can make a big difference to a small business. If you’re in the UK and want to get involved on social media, tag your purchases online with #IndieBookshopWeek and encourage your friends and family to shop indie!
I chat to a lovely lady who is here visiting for the day. She says always makes a point of visiting a bookshop in any town she visits (and it doesn’t even have to be independent bookshop week) and buys a book to commemorate the visit (I also do this). She asks about the Manderley editions which I don’t happen to have in today (dammit, must restock) but she’s delighted by my recommendation for this as it turns out she has a specific interest in London-set books and she’s already read and enjoyed some of the other Faber Editions (ideal!). I’m always delighted to sell one of these Faber re-issues because I love them so much!
A man comes into buy a parrot puppet. He checks the squeaker in the beak and says “That’ll be just right.” I am pleased.
I have hung the decorative Indie Bookshop Week bunting. This involves me climbing onto a chair and feeling on top of the bookshelves (euw) until I locate the little hole where we stuck a drawing pin in, when we hung the bunting last year, and the year before that, etc. It’s always new bunting, but the holes stay the same.
Town is dreadfully quiet for such pleasant weather (after a shower). I can only assume everyone is saving up their book shopping for tomorrow, under the indie bookshop bunting. I went early and handed out some of the promotional indie bookshop week bookmarks already today because I laugh in the face of date-specific promotional marketing materials alone in an empty bookshop. COME AT ME.
I take a long phone call from a lady who wants to order books in hardback that no longer exist in hardback. She has a list of twenty books that are now in paperback that she wants to order in hardback. I check each title and report that the hardback stock is gone, and that only the paperback is available to order now. She definitely doesn’t want the paperback and we move onto the next title. When I come across ONE that is still available in hardback, she asks how much it would be, and when I tell her the price (RRP plus a gesture towards the postage) she says she thought it would be reduced by now… because it has been out a while.
Text from BM who has been watching the local retailers whatsapp: Watch out - shoplifters about!
Me, looking around an empty shop: Will do!
Another incredibly tempting piece of post here - I’ve been sent a finished copy of Clean by Alia Trabucco Zeran, translated by Sophie Hughes, by the good people at 4th Estate. Paula Hawkins says Clean is a masterclass in suspense, which are two of my favourite things. This sounds really excellent, and I love that the editor who sent me this (Hi KW!) has directed me to this fascinating article on translation by Sophie Hughes for the New York Times.
It’s just one of those mysterious days when everyone seems to be everywhere else. Never mind, we can’t win them all! BM has just turned up with an ice cream for me so I guess actually I did win, somehow.
My bookwormlet has requested I bring home the next volume of Bunny Vs Monkey so there’s at least one more sale happening today, and there’s a last minute gift voucher for a customer I can only refer to as The Princess because she was The Princess in one of the pantomimes BM was in once and now she’s stuck that way forever.
A quiet one today, thanks for reading. I’ve had to do my best with what I had! I’ll see you on the Chat thread for weekend reads tomorrow, and paid subs for an essay in the week. This week paid subs enjoyed an essay about sharks, notebooks in movies and a short story by Camille Bordas. Honestly, they did actually enjoy it! See you next Friday at the bookshop for more of whatever this was. Let me know in the comments if your local bookshop also sells elastic. Byeeee.
The exchange with the hardback woman 🤣
🚩🚩🚩🚩Offering one small, unsolicited testimonial as a paid subscriber - Katie’s essays and group discussions never disappoint! Her book club selections are always engaging and fresh, and it’s always nice to spend time in her company. So very glad she drifted in and I had the presence of mind to tag along. 🚩🚩🚩🚩