Receipt from the Bookshop #51
Receipt from the Bookshop #51
part 51 of the ongoing series, you see.
GOOD MORNING EVERYONE. CAN YOU HEAR ME? I’M SHOUTING ABOVE THE WIND THIS MORNING. IT’S SHAKING ALL THE SHRUBBERY AND PROPELLING ALL THE PENSIONERS. IT’S EVER SO NOISY AS THE WIND HURLS ITSELF INTO THE BUSHES AND SHRIEKS ROUND OUR DOORFRAME INTO THE SHOP. HERE’S A PHOTO OF IT TRYING TO MAKE OFF WITH OUR WINDOW DISPLAY.
I’m not sure what this wind will mean for sales today. I guess it could blow itself away and we’ll be bathed in sunshine in an hour or so, or it just rattles everyones scaffolding and no one will want to go out for fear of being hit in the face by a flying paper bag from a bakery. Let’s see who is brave enough to come and buy some books today…
First customer has come to get another copy of The Cautious Travellers Guide to the Wasteland, which is our current window display and next month’s Book Club choice. We hosted a private family and friends event for the author Sarah Brooks this week, as her parents are longtime, loyal, local customers and the shop was filled with proud people including a few of the author’s past teachers and in particular, the history teacher who inspired her to do the studies that would lead her to write this novel. This history teacher was actually also one of my teachers at one point, but I think I’ve been deleted from his memory. One memory I have not been deleted from, however, is my year one teacher, Mrs Smith, who was also at the party, and remembered me instantly, despite the fact I was seven years old last time she saw me. It was such a lovely evening and we’re so thrilled that The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wasteland is an instant Sunday Times Best-Seller because it is absolutely the Best-Seller at Storytellers, Inc. this Summer too.
Just noticed these aggressive little signs that have sprouted out the shelves. Business Mum has obviously had a visit from some… some vulture… operatives. Apparently one of them was handsome! Anyway, it’s always nice to remind any people thinking about stealing from us that we will tell the police but, between you and I, we will judge you based on your theft. Steal something basic that you could have picked up anywhere? Urgh, why target a small business like ours who cannot afford the loss? Read the room! Steal a Fitzcarraldo or something from the poetry shelf? Ok, needs must.
I stole a book from school once. A Faber Typographic edition of The Whitsun Weddings that we were studying that term. I took it home and never brought it back and I still have it. I just felt that I really needed to own it, that specific one with the green font on the white ridged cover. I felt like I appreciated it so much more than next year’s student would. Anyway, I did go on to do a Masters in poetry and also own a bookshop that stocks Faber Typographics so maybe it’s alright that I kept it?
Delivery arrives and the delivery man has suddenly got his hat off. He’s usually always wearing a hat. Maybe the wind blew it off. Anyway, he remembers my name and I don’t have to sign anything.
That’s a funny way to run a business
(I don’t get the joke)
I made myself a nice little layered pot of breakfast to bring to work with me this morning with yoghurt, fruit and granola. I put the yummy honey nutty granola on the top so it didn’t go soft but what this meant was when I dropped the pot on the floor, the lovely crispy, bouncy granola sprinkled itself all over the carpet ffs. Now it’s just fruit and yoghurt. What is the point?And I had to get the hoover out. Henry ate all my granola!
Do you want to go in there to see if they’ve got that book that she wants?
Nah, I don’t think so.
I’m unpacking the order and there’s a note in the diary to text one customer ASAP, so I do, and a few minutes later she appears to collect the order and she’s on her way to the airport! “What a great service”, she says, “I only ordered these yesterday!”
Delivery also includes these to young fiction titles that I must give a shout-out to because I actually unboxed them last week and my daughter, the bookwormlet herself, immediately took them home (I paid for them!) and then proceeded to read Meg McLaren’s Watts & Whiskerton in one sitting, and declared it to be brilliant. She’s now enjoying Tiny Dogs by Rose Lihou, which we bought solely on the title, because palm-sized versions of larger animals is an enduring fantasy of mine, and now, also, one of hers.
Had some lovely post from
this week in the form of a ribbon-tied proof of her next novel The Summer Party which is out next week!
Here’s the tempting part, please read in a dramatic voice like a cinema trailer. I can see it now…
It's the event of the year - the company summer party. Mel can't wait to let her hair down with her colleagues. Sun, sea, and her sights set on her work crush. One big happy family.
But as the champagne flows and the sun begins to set, cracks in the team start to appear. Secrets, lies, revenge. No one is as innocent as they seem.
But could one of them be guilty of murder? Mel soon realises someone is orchestrating a deadly plan. And she must uncover the truth if she's going to get out alive . . .
A twisty and sun-soaked locked-room thriller that will leave you breathless. Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware and T.M. Logan.
A lady wants to order a book by Alex Gerlis, who writes spy series. She can’t remember the exact name but she read a book with Berlin in the title that was in a series, and now she wants the others. Now if you’re thinking that all books in series would have it written on their jackets that they’re the FIRST part, or the THIRD part, you’d be absolutely dreaming. If you image that perhaps the catalogue where the bookseller orders the books might at least give them a hint of the running order, you’re still asleep. Wake up! You’ve gotta WORK! I google the author’s website, where surely all the secrets are kept and discover this particular author has a book one in one series called AGENT IN BERLIN but also that book four in another series is called THE BERLIN SPIES. So the customer is going home to see which one she’s got. She’ll ring me later.
I’ll just go and get my pie out the van.
A regular customer comes in with his cute little dog and a very cool shopping list including some Adrian Tomine, Peter Høeg and Michael Frayn’s play ‘Copenhagen’ in preparation for his trip to Paris, I’m joking, Copenhagen, which long time readers will know is My Favourite City based on the one time I went there last Summer.
Loyal customer and friend of the newsletter CH drops in to pick up a few gifts and tells me that her daughter mistook declared Business Mum to be the ‘nicest person in St. Annes’ after meeting her the other day. Ahahahahah! Oh, how we laughed. Even BM acknowledged this is not a name she’d usually answer to.
“Do you need anything?” I ask the tall man in aviator shades who has just done a lap of the shop like he own the place. Because he does. It’s our landlord. “No, just looking.” he says, “Bye!”
*gesturing at the window display* We’ve never looked at this book, have we?
Got a big box of proofs to show you, hold tight for some forthcoming titles you might want to make a note of. Or better yet, pre-order and surprise future you with a thoughtful gift.
The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King by Harry Trevaldwyn is a teen (the info says 14+) rom-com in the great literary tradition of Bridget Jones and, my personal favourite, Georgia Nicholson - a diary about (thinking about) snogging. Publishes in January 2025.
The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi, translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Picador are definitely looking to capture the Toshikazu Kawaguchi audience here, as this one looks like it’d be right at home in the Coffee Gets Cold series. This sounds like a serene and moving story, out in August 2024.
Cool colour combo on Tim Winton’s forthcoming novel Juice. Winton is a novelist I’ve been recommended many times but I still haven’t made the leap. Maybe I’ll make amends with this one - a searing, epic journey through a life where the challenge is not only to survive; it’s keeping your humanity if you do. For fans of Station Eleven and The Road (that’s me! I’m a fan of both!) Out in October this year.
Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood is a slow-burn romance and cosy autumnal fantasy about a witch who works in a bookshop. Hope she’s spend a lot of her time breaking down cardboard boxes and taking phone calls from British Gas. Or maybe she uses her witch powers to avoid those bits? Anyway, this sounds like a very easy sell for pumpkin-spice-season, it’s out in September, obviously.
Another fantasy title here - Somewhere Beyond the Sea (say that without singing it, I dare you) by TJ Klune. This is the sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea. Let’s hope they print that useful info on the finished copy for us basic booksellers - we’re not all witches, you know! This one is also out in September.
Ooh, interesting - this non-fiction title has an appealing premise. Eighteen by Alice Loxton is a history of Britain in 18 young lives. This sounds incredibly readable and interesting - I love the idea of accidentally learning about history while reading about teenagers. As my school history teacher would tell you, I was not a noteable student in the subject.
Kate Mosse is so famous her proofs just have her name on in her signature font. This one is called The Map of Bones and it’s out in October. Look, you already know if you’ve got a shelf full of Kate Mosse or not, if you do, you’ll want this one too. It’s a sweeping story of courageous women, a turbulent tale of survival, an epic journey across generations AND a race against time to discover the truth. And on closer inspection (opening the book) it turns out this is the fourth book in The Joubert Family Chronicles!
Finally, there’s a little sample of a forthcoming book of poetry selected by the Gruffalo’s mum, Julia Donaldson. This will be beautifully produced and make a lovely gift come Christmas time/christening presents, etc. I like that it’s called Pick and Mix Poetry (though absolutely no one would ever say pick and mix - it’s pronounced and spelled pick ‘n’ mix) and the illustrations by Becky Thomas are very pretty indeed.
Oh this is a nice… (forgets word for bookshop). That’ll be one of them new books.
A woman with a mouthful of food comes in with her hand over her mouth and says ‘sorry’ while she’s eating. She looks at the central shelf for approximately two seconds and then says ‘thank you’ and leaves. Weird place to come to chew?
Extra bunting has appeared on the lamp-posts in St. Annes Square because this weekend it’s St. Annes Carnival (if you’re local, it’s called Club Day). Club Day involves a big noisy parade, where local businesses, theatre groups and dance schools, sports teams, marching bands, schools and churches all walk in a big loop around the town or ride on floats that are decorated in various themes and everyone on them is dancing to a loop of music that is competing with the float infront. The churches have their Rose Queens (girls in bridesmaids dresses) and we don’t even sacrifice them or anything. Then there’s a big fair in the park with stalls and rides and you can spend £40 in 20 minutes and have nothing to show for it. It’s a wonderful day that we look forward to every year, until we remember that while the town is buzzing for the procession, everyone immediately vacates the centre to get to the fair, and we have a really quiet day.
*glances at bookshop, swigging* F*ck that!
And on that note, we’ll wrap it up! Thanks for stopping by the bookshop again and next week we’re celebrating one whole year of the live receipts from the bookshop! Have a great weekend friends. If you want to support my real life independent bookshop, shop through any of the clickable links here. If you want to support my real life, upgrade your subscription to this newsletter.
I read the landlord bit, and immediately pictured a very suave David Tennant as Crowley, in Good Omens, just sauntering in as he does 😀
As soon as I saw the words yummy granola I knew you were not destined to eat said granola