Bookshopping: a sonnet

We’re not like this, you and me.  But some people in bookshops are…

Bookshopping: a sonnet


Excuse me, if you wouldn’t mind
I’m looking for a certain book.
A famous one – you know the kind –
The sort to own (in case folks look).
The author’s name I can’t advise –
I’m pretty sure that he was male.
I think perhaps it won a prize,
Or featured in your half-price sale?
My favourite blogger thought it fine;
She gave it eight stars out of ten
(She said she would have given nine,
But doesn’t like to flatter men).
You can’t help? Even with such
Description? Well, thanks VERY much.

18 thoughts on “Bookshopping: a sonnet

  • February 18, 2014 at 10:42 am
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    Just great Simon! I've always loved the idea of working in a library or bookship, but it's the customers like that who put me off!!

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    • February 26, 2014 at 8:32 pm
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      I've always been lucky in the secondhand bookshop and libraries I've worked in – well, NEARLY always….

      Reply
  • February 18, 2014 at 10:23 pm
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    Takes me right back to my bookshop managing days. It was the beginning of the Oprah era (so no help from Google) and everyone wanted the book that she had talked about the day before but no one could remember the title or the authors name but thought it might have a purple cover. And where do you keep the non-fiction books? Spot on as always, Simon!

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    • February 26, 2014 at 8:33 pm
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      Oh that must have been awful! Even in the Bodleian I often turn to Google (as students often get their reading lists confused and don't know whether something is an article or a book…)

      Reply
  • February 19, 2014 at 6:31 pm
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    Fantasic Simon! I can't manage a sonnet, too difficult to manage the iambic pentameter etc., but here is a limerick for the other side of the coin:

    To get us to enter, you don’t need a hook
    We know Charlotte from Anne with a just a mere look
    We cannot resist
    A book shop is bliss
    Where you often find us Stuck in a Book

    Reply
    • February 26, 2014 at 8:34 pm
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      I love it, Ruthiella! Especially the second line, that's wonderful :)

      Reply

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