A couple leaned into the counter and said ‘good on you mate.’ They admired my PayPal device and said it is good to see me bypassing those bastard banks. They like my displays, pronouncing them as creative.
I creatively display Proust next to Patrick White, chronic asthma sufferers together.
A young woman said that George R R Martin ought to look after himself better so he can keep writing more books. She said he looks as though he is on the brink of a heart attack.
John asked me why I don’t take a crack at Proust.
Two friends stood outside the door and said: don’t you just love kid’s books! Her friend said: don’t you just love little old bookshops! They were smoking and did not come in, but they continued to express admiration for the books, the shop and the windows. One of them says that the weather is Christ awful.
I was asked for Dr Who, the Mr Men books, Alice in wonderland and The Selected Essays of George Orwell. I was asked if there was a book containing all of the stories from our local newspaper.
A mother said to her children that fussing would not make her pick her books any faster. The oldest boy said that he wanted a finger bun from the bakery.
Birgett speaks rapidly to her children in English and then in Dutch, they answer in both languages without looking up from their books. She is always reading something, and so are her children.
A lady tells her husband to tie his reading glasses to his head.
A small boy who visits regularly told me that he had found a Tashi: ‘I’ve got a Tashi. You don’t need a creepy story do you? I’ve read the dragon Tashi. We’ve picked a few books here and, well, I found a treasure chest inside this book but tonight I am having a sleepover.’ Then he tells me that there are eight books that he loves and that he is five years old.
His mother tells me about his bookcase at home, he now has more books than lego…she doesn’t really know why he wants all these books. As she tells me this her own arms are stacked with books she has just chosen. The child says again that he is having a sleepover later on and that he has a double bunk. He turns in a circle and jumps as high as possible. His mother says: ‘steady there.’
Jo suggested that the Australiana table was too crowded.
Robert told me that he had held himself together at Centrelink.
A family bought 18 Agatha Christie books for an adult daughter who only reads Agatha Christie and who does not watch TV, not even Goggle Box.
Jenny asks me if I think that computer books are taking over. I tell her that there is no evidence of that here.
The Book Keeper Book Shop 