The Diary of a Bookseller

SATURDAY, 18 OCTOBER

Online orders: 3

Books found: 3

Nicky stayed last night and opened the shop this morning. Anna and I returned from Glenapp at about lunchtime.

A customer came in with four bags of books, mainly rubbish, but they included a book called Once a Customer, Always a Customer, which I suspect he put in there deliberately to annoy me.

At 4 p.m. an unusually smart-looking Mr Deacon appeared to pick up his book. I commented that he was looking quite sharp, to which he simply replied ‘Funeral’ on his way out of the shop.

A couple with a young boy came in and bought books. The boy spotted Nicky’s notice inviting customers to be filmed reading from their favourite book and asked if he could read from his. He was seven and called Oscar. He read very clearly from a Harry Potter book, and afterwards Nicky asked him if he was reading anything now, to which he replied ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. Nicky was visibly impressed, and his parents looked justifiably proud. They explained that, although there are elements of it that are not particularly suitable for child to be reading, they didn’t think that he was old enough to understand the full implications of the ‘crime’ for which Tom Robinson was being tried. Apparently Oscar had asked if he could read it.

Till total £245.49

19 customers