I had just ascended a ladder to the YA overstock shelf yesterday when a customer took My Most Excellent Year, by Steve Kluger, off the shelf. He declined my standard offer of help and chuckled at my staff rec, which says something like, If you like theater, the Red Sox, Julie Andrews, or a little town called Brookline, check this one out. (Seriously, do.) Usually, when I see a customer looking at that book, I say, "That's a really good one." But this customer had obviously seen my staff rec and it seemed like overkill to also recommend it verbally, so I continued my intrepid search for whichever book I needed at the time and didn't notice that the customer had taken all three copies of MMEY from the shelf.
A few minutes later, a co-worker arrived in search of the remaining copies, which were in - you guessed it - overstock. Why the need for all the copies? So the author could sign them, of course.
Mr. Kluger, I wish I had said so while you were standing there, but My Most Excellent Year is a really good book. Nice to almost meet you.
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Haha, love this. Last time I was in a bookstore, I told a woman looking for Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere that it was a really good book... yeah, turns out she knew that already since she edited it.
ReplyDeleteShoshana:
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the rec. I'd have said something, but I hate calling attention to myself in those situations.
In any event, Brookline Booksmith is my neighborhood bookstore--I'll look for you the next time I'm in.
Steve.
Understood! Thanks for dropping by the blog; it's nice to e-meet you.
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