Because I spend so much time brainstorming about how to find good books to put on the shelves I sometimes forget about the importance of crappy books (to use an idiom common in the trade). Today my first customer came in search of “Vanna Speaks,” which, as you all know, failed to win a Pulitzer in 1989, and is today rarely found within Ivy League curricula. My customer bought the book when it came out all those years ago, but foolishly lent it to an unreliable friend and never saw it again. She was hoping to replace the lost copy that she had once enjoyed so much and, thusly, is a consumer of multiple copies of this book. Sadly, I didn’t have one for her, but I was able to learn how she had come to be such a loyal reader: she thought it was a great job, Vanna White’s assistantship on Wheel of Fortune, and wanted to know how it all happened. Recently she met the now 50-plus year-old letter-turner and was reminded how impressive she seemed back then, and still is. This online review of the book accentuates its lasting merit: “Turns letters, writes books, does sit ups – I LOVE HER!!!”
Day: November 29, 2012
The Hannah Interview
by Jas Faulkner
Sam was laughing when I answered the phone.
“Open your email,” she said. “it’s not one of those screamie video things, I promise.”
It was a picture of a hand printed sign that taped to the front door of the store with a My Little Pony sticker. It read: “Book sighing at the back of the store. Free cookies with book.”
Tab’s niece, Hannah, was staying with her favourite aunts and it looked like she was back in business. Whenever Hannah’s parents work took them out of town, Hannah packed her suitcase, filled an old knitting bag with her latest sketchbook, lozenge paints, brushes and her latest journal and supplies for her guinea pig, Darla Hood, Darla’s cage and carrier and head over to her aunts. She found her parents’ penchant for digging up stuff to be tedious and preferred the glamourous world of books.
However, she was having none of this retail or struggling author stuff. Her goals were twofold: she wanted to reopen Meg Ryan’s bookstore from “You’ve Got Mail” and she wanted to be a rich and famous writer of books with purple covers. For those of you playing at home, Hannah is precocious eight-year-old.
“We had a signing last Friday.”
