TITLE: What's the Best You Can Do?
AUTHOR: Derek Rowlinson
GENRE: Memoir
RATING: 4 Stars
I am a fan of books about books, for two reasons. 1) I love ANYTHING books and 2) from 2001 to 2005, I actually had my own used bookstore with an inventory of over 300,000 books! So, it is with huge glee that I started reading this book. I always thought that I should write my own experiences running and owning a bookstore - some of the stuff I heard and seen would NOT BE believed!!! and I actually found some of my own experiences being mirrored by author Derek Rowlinson in Ireland - which goes to show you that book people are book people anywhere in the world!!!!
First of all, What's the Best you Can Do? is an honest look at the bookselling world. Although he does, on occasion, come across as sounding a little gruff, I have to say that I totally understood him - as there seems to be some kind of view that booksellers have it easy and that selling books is all about sitting there and reading all day. In this book, Rowlinson makes a point of telling us that bookselling is hard work and that he does it for his passion for books and NOT because he is making lots and lots of $$$$.
This book details some of his life experiences while owning the bookstore. Some stories are cute, some are kind of sad and some are funny. I especially loved the story about the bookseller getting to a point where he/she can actually know right off the bat if someone is just coming in to browse or not! As I was reading this book, I found myself nodding my head in absolute understanding on many occasions.
The one thing I thought was missing in this book was the author's experiences with the actualy books - what he felt like when he got to open a whole box of books - his love of discovering what was inside the boxes, some of his treasures (although he did talk a little about this while detailing his visits at other stores). This part of the bookselling is crucial and seemed to be missing here.
Still, this book works because you can feel the authenticity of the author and as I am certain, we have all been the "client" at one point or another - hoping for a break on the price or just perusing the bookstore endlessly without any intention of buying anything.
This was a fun read and made me remember lots of my own experiences.
8 comments:
Me too! There is something about characters who love books. I have notices that in every one of Dean Koonz's books he has a book scene.... either a library, or an author writing, or a book store....
Greta blog by the way! I will be back!
Hmmm, this does sound like an interesting read.
You should read (and review,LOL)
"At home with books : how booklovers live with and care for their libraries" by Estelle Ellis.
I thought it was a great book and great pictures of home libraries.
This sounds like a good book, Tina. Great review!
The book sounds great! You should do a series of posts about owning a bookstore - it would be great!
Nice review! This one sounds great, lots of fun. There used to be this coffee shop/used bookstore near my house but it was taken down for some stupid gas station...I miss it, we used to hang out there all the time and buy frappicinos and whatnot.
-Lauren
Sounds like a good read. I will have to check this book out. Nice review. Thanks
I'm adding this to my to-read list - books and Ireland - two of my favorite things to read about!
I agree with Kathy, Tina; a series of posts about owning a bookstore is a great idea!
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