Saturday
Awkward Customer Request of the Week goes to the MAYBE twelve year-old girl, in with her mum today, who was looking for a particular book that "her friend at school really liked." I didn't recognise the title but I offered to check the author so she'd know what to look for. Turns out it wasn't a nice teen novel at all, but a misery memoir about a girl being swept up in the world of sex trafficking. All I could think was "Holy shit, I REAAAALLLY hope your mum's with you if you ever find a copy of this book." My horror was mercifully changed to a case of the warm and fuzzies when a little girl bought a book with puppies on the front a few minutes later and kissed one of them on the nose before she left. As they went out I heard her chirping "This is a lovely shop, Daddy! Isn't it a lovely shop!" That was when I melted into a soggy girlie heap, along with a couple of other people who'd seen the whole thing... :)
Aaaanyway, you may have noticed that this is a much shorter post than my last one. That's because Bout of Books 6.0 starts on Monday, and since my participation in that is pretty much a reading journal in its own right, I'm cutting the ones on either side short to make way for my BoB posts in the middle.
Sooo, onto the actual reading part! I didn't do a lot today, because the shop was busy and there were a LOT of kids around, which for me, means lots of running up and down tidying the children's section so books don't get ruined and it's nice for the NEXT family. I also had the headache from hell, so I spent much of the day alternating between moaning gently to myself and being zoned out on painkillers.
When I DID come to read, back home after work, I suddenly realised a huge disadvantage of having a lovely beautiful scrumptious hardback like Jane Eyre. Yes, it's gorgeous - but I do a lot of my reading while I eat breakfast or tea. And you REALLY don't want to be reading a lovely beautiful scrumptious hardback when you're simultaneously trying to eat hot buttery crumpets, y'know? So instead, once I'd finished suspiciously questioning the cat about whether she'd been licking said buttery crumpets while I was out of the room, I read a few pages of A Book Addict's Treasury, a compendium of book and essay extracts ABOUT books and reading. I finally finished the introduction to Jane Eyre after that (once I'd washed my hands free of buttery goodness) and NOW my headache's back with vomiticious vengeance, so I'm off to fetch yet more painkillers and watch the last episode of season 4 of Gilmore Girls. Lorelai and Luke, woohoo!
Sunday
Aaaah, today has been... interesting. In terms of work, we may as well not have bothered, to be honest. It's been one of those end-of-school-holiday days where everyone's just time-wasting and no-one's buying. Lots of "Didn't this used to be a Red Cross?" and people who don't want to talk to, look at or in any way interact with the person behind the counter.
On the other hand, we DID get some more signatures for the town's 'Say No to Costa' petition (they want to open a huge branch here in our tiny indie town... can you say 'Death Knell'? The online petition's HERE if you want to find out more and help give us a boost!) and we named an owl! He's one of James's new birds, we'll be sponsoring him this year, and we've been struggling to come up with a mutually attractive name for weeks. I liked Percy (as in, Percy Jackson or Sir Percival), or maybe Aramis (the wisest of the Three Musketeers!). Mum liked Pip (as in, Great Expectations or LOTR). In the end we went for Oscar! The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite books ever, and what sums Mum and I up better than "I can resist everything except temptation"? :)
Today has also been a day of blog-writing like crazy, trying to get posts finished and Bout of Books daily templates all ready to go so come tomorrow I can just read and enjoy myself. I can't wait - particularly if it turns out that all the local kids have gone back to school ON THE MONDAY for a change! *fingers crossed*
I actually haven't read a thing all day, because of work and Bout of Books prep and *cough* catching up on the penultimate episode of Homeland (shut up, it was time!)... I still have an hour or so before bedtime but I still haven't done my online grocery shopping or finished my BoB stuff, which I really don't want to have to put together in the week, so who knows? I might read a few pages, I might not, but I'm going to sign off here for the weekend anyway and get back to my entirely self-inflicted admin jobs! :)
Is everyone ready for Bout of Books 6.0? And I'm curious - if you had to name a small cute owl, preferably with a literary or bookish theme, what would you go for?
Those misery memoirs seem to be A Thing with teenage girls, for some reason. They were always coming in and buying them when I worked in the charity shop. I dislike them on principle, but especially when in the hands of a thirteen year old.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read a single one of those clothbound hardbacks! I love them and I own seven of them, but I daren't touch them! They're too pretty. It helps that I only buy those editions of books I read and loved, so I don't actually NEED to read them :)
Archimedes is a good name for an owl... Bit cliched though. Walter? Rochester?
I'm hosting a Bout of Books challenge! And I'm about to finish my current book so I can get a fresh start. Most of my reading might be done at the end of the week as I have A TON of work this week, but never mind :)
Also, I love this idea Ellie. You should create a linky for it...
DeleteI love Rochester for an owl! But then, I'm biased... :)
DeleteI KNOW YOU ARE HOSTING A CHALLENGE! I saw the list and I was like 'ZOMG I KNOW HER!' and I wrote your day in my diary and everything. It better be a good one now is all I'm sayin', because I am all ready to rock on that day. ROCK. I haven't actually started Jane Eyre yet either. The intro was long and I was busy, sue me! So I get a clean slate for tomorrow too, which is rather nice.
I thought about maybe doing a Linky of some description, maybe even try to work out how the hell to make a cool button or something? Maybe once the read-a-thon's over and I've finished blitzing the hell out of my MIU2012 stats and picked the winners, then I'll get on it... I'm anticipating a lot of quiet time at the shop when we go back, so I'll be at my leisure to play around with it!
P.S. Is it just me or does this comment sound rather violent? Like maybe I'm Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, or possibly an army general who's had too much coffee? I think this is usually a sign that it's time to put the laptop the hell DOWN and go to bed. :D
DeleteHaha, I'm all nervous about it! Genuinely. So much pressure! I tried to explain how big a deal it is to Lewis and he just kind of metaphorically patted me on the head... but then brought me tea, so it's okay.
DeleteHey, you get more points for reading the introduction than you do for starting the book! Those things can be TOUGH.
Hell, I'd join. I was going to ask you if you minded me doing it this week (with credit. OBVIOUSLY. And a link. OBVIOUSLY), but... I didn't. DO IT ELLIE!
Those are the customers who make it worthwhile! :) Though I'm with you on my doubts about the misery memoirs - having said that, I find the very thought of them voyeuristic, especially when you get ladies buying them in bulk or boxsets... NOT what I'd suggest for a twelve-year-old girl.
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with the fancy clothbound Les Miserables in Waterstone's the other day. Though a paperback might be better as I, too, am more likely to read it over lunch.
Very much looking forward to the little darlings going back to school - though generally it's not them who are a problem so much as them in combination with harrassed parents. I think round here most schools start up again tomorrow - here's hoping.
Oscar is a great name for an owl.