One of the perks of being of being a bookseller is that I know readers - lots of different kinds of readers - and each and every one has a story to tell, a joke to share, a plate of homemade cookies, or a simple smile to remind me stop, breathe, and take in the day. This may sound counter intuitive, but many of these readers give me books. I am surrounded by books both at LaDeDa and at home, still, nothing tops a book that has been selected with care just for me.
My most treasured book-gift came from friends Jim and Susie Miller. On our opening day of business, the Millers were among our first customers. I was nervous, unsure if I had made the right decisions. On top of that, taking money from friends felt awkward, and embarassing. The book they chose happened to be one I had read several times. In fact, I owned a copy, It seemed logical to say, "Hey, I have a copy of this book at home. I'll drop it off at your house and you can return it when you're done." They proceeded to school me in Bookselling 101, Lesson #1 --sell the book if you want to keep the doors open.
Susie then handed me the most wonderful edition of Flowers from Shakespeare's Plays. With a tattered cover faded to a quiet sage green, the book bloomed with page after page of watercolor paintings, descriptions of each flower (and sometimes weeds) along with a quotation from the play in which the flower was mentioned.
Even better than that was the hand written note on the inside cover from gifter to recipient, followed by a note from Jim and Susie. If that isn't special enough, in the margins near most of the pictures were dainty notes on when, and where each flower had been planted, along with the temperature on planting day, and whether or not the flower thrived. Each February, I page through and begin planning for spring.
I began this blospost with the intention of focusing on the book pictured above. This, too, was a gift, nicey inscribed by customer-now-friend, Jim. "Bev, how often does a person run across a book that they give to their favorite bookstore?" The post was to offer desciptions of the seven types mentioned in the title in hopes that you would find yourself among the list and send us a note. Clearly, that didn't happen. But it will. I know this has gotten long. I have missed my moments pounding these keys; time flew as the words spilled. Check back next week for those promised descriptions.
You're wondering where the blog has been, right? Honestly, I don't know. In part, I was playing with other formats, hoping to create a weekly newsletter for the store. I enjoyed designing and writing short somethings in that form for a number of organizations and purposes. But, do you know how short those news items are? I created columns,stuck in some artsy icons, leaving little to no room for my scintillating commentary on books. And heaven forbid that my wisdom on universal truths would have to omitted. So, back to blogging it is. It is nice to be back and I am trying to figure out how to make commenting on here possible so you can add your own scintillating universal truths for our thousands of readers.
Thanks for stoipping by. (Please give the comment button a whirl so we know if it works or not. Thanks.)
Be happy
LaDeDa Bev
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