Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell
Published: 2012

I got this for Christmas, and I had planned to read a few pages here and there over the next month, but I ended up reading it in one sitting. I’d seen it written about throughout the year and was excited to get my hands on it. I love both bookstores and laughing at people, so it’s really a perfect fit.

Jen Campbell worked in a bookstore for many years, and decided one day to start quoting some of the bizarre things she kept hearing on her blog. She also posted quotes sent in from other bookstore employees. Eventually it got some publicity, with a little help from Neil Gaiman, and those quotes were put into this book. It’s a weblog fairy tale!

Here’s a taste:

Customer: If I had a bookstore, I’d make the mystery section really hard to find.

Customer: I’m looking for some books on my kid’s summer reading list. Do you have Tequila Mockingbird?

Customer: I read a book in the sixties. I don’t remember the author, or the title. But it was green, and it made me laugh. Do you know which one I mean?

Customer: (holding up a Jamie Oliver cookbook): Would you mind if I photocopies this recipe?
Bookseller: Yes, I would.

Was I rolling on the floor with laughter? No, but I was amused, and I couldn’t stop myself from reading through to the end, so it did hook me. I got it as a gift, which I think is perfect, as I probably wouldn’t have picked it up myself.