Booksellers to customers: Ask any question you like!
You may have heard that there鈥檚 no such thing as a stupid question, and staff at Memphis鈥檚 The Booksellers at Laurelwood bookstore are out to convince others of that.聽
Staff recently compiled a of 鈥渁bsolutely NOT dumb questions to ask a bookseller鈥� on the store鈥檚 website.聽
鈥淲e spend much of our day answering questions posed by you, our customers. Many of those questions are presented almost apologetically, with the implied preface 鈥業 recognize this may be a dumb question, but鈥︹�� Others are more direct, preemptively begging pardon with a preamble along the lines of, 鈥榯his may be a really stupid question, but鈥�.鈥� I鈥檓 not here to comfort you with the reassurance that there are no dumb questions to ask a bookseller. There are. For sure. But we get them rarely enough that its best you not even concern yourself with them. You鈥檙e not the one asking them.鈥�
Questions that are absolutely acceptable, according to Laurelwood staff, include 鈥淐an you help me find [book title]?,鈥� 鈥淚 need to get something for my child聽[grandchild, etc.]聽to read and I don鈥檛 have a clue as to what,鈥� and 鈥淚鈥檓 looking for this book, but don鈥檛 know the author 鈥� or the title 鈥� but I read a review of it recently鈥�. no, I don鈥檛 know where I read the review鈥�. but it鈥檚 a new book (I think) and it鈥檚 about a guy who does聽[a thing]聽in聽[a place].鈥澛�
You might feel shy about asking that last one, but you shouldn鈥檛, say staff.
鈥淓ven if you have almost no information, go ahead and ask,鈥� Laurelwood staff wrote. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 a book that people and/or the media are talking about, we鈥檒l possibly recognize it from even the vaguest of description. If not, we鈥檙e well-practiced in asking the right questions and using our full complement of tools to identify the book you鈥檙e looking for. We can鈥檛 always pinpoint the exact title you鈥檙e looking for, but you鈥檇 be surprised how often we can. After all, we鈥檙e more than booksellers鈥�. [I]n the realm of books, we鈥檙e magicians.鈥�
Of course, booksellers do sometimes get strange queries from patrons. Author Jen Campbell worked at a bookstore in London and compiled some of the odder things she overheard as well as those submitted to her by other bookstore workers into her book 鈥�Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores.鈥� Questions included 鈥淒o you have 'Fiddler on a Hot Tin Roof'?,鈥� 鈥淲hat books could I buy to make guests look at my bookshelf and think, 'Wow, that guy's intelligent'?,鈥� and 鈥淪o where do all these books come from? Do you get them from Amazon?鈥澛�
And staff from Cambridge, Mass.鈥檚 Porter Square Books recently shared that searching for books isn鈥檛 always easy 鈥� 鈥渆very title and author鈥檚 name sounds like 鈥楽sdflkjx Dkfsldkflkjs鈥� over the phone,鈥� staff wrote in a .
