Issue 40 / January 2012
Tales from a Bookshop
Clerkenwell Tales opened in Exmouth Market in August this year. Owner Peter Ho will be posting stories, notes and musings from behind the counter of an independent bookshop.
Monday mornings are made that much harder if your girlfriend insists on your company (no matter how reluctant & whingey) at the Gym before work. Possible punishment for rolling in a tad drunk, Sunday night? Hmmmm.
I can't believe this is the start of my fifth month as an indie bookseller. Jaded? Ground down by the Chains? Nope, like a new born puppy, I'm still very much full of enthusiasm and happily surprised at what my customers buy. Lots of Sontag and Zweig with a healthy dose of Orwell added into the mix.
I won't lie, it's been a hard five months but also hugely enjoyable getting to know my customers. Who are a fantastically articulate and informed bunch, happy to engage and chat about books and culture. Lots of goodwill and thankfully a smattering of sales too. Of course, amongst the compliments have been a few brickbats but so far more of the former. What I've learnt so far is not to puff my chest out too much or think of myself as the mutts nuts when customers are positive, and not to wail and keen if people are critical. One customer did call what I was doing a 'folly' and looked at me with great pity. Bless.
Current bestsellers include...
Zizek's First as Tragedy, Then as Farce; a blunt, brutal examination of where we are as a society and a forceful, contentious call to arms for the Left to reinvent itself.
Paul Auster's Invisible is his fifteenth novel and finds Auster in a stirringly playful but reflective mood. Delighting in the sexual trysts, intellectual posturings of Academia, all spread over a 40 year arc of history. Small it ain't!
Oh, before I sign off... a bit of celebrity customer spotting which may tickle. Dylan Moran popped in on Saturday and thankfully I resisted the urge to quote lines from Black Books at him. Or call him Bernhard Black. Or hug him. Just!
Peter Ho
Clerkenwell Tales can be found at 30 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QE
Telephone 020 7713 8135 or email info@clerkenwell-tales.co.uk
Wednesday, 25 November, 2009
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