So, a little bit of a story for you. I suggested this book to Alex... oh, probably not long after we started the blog (my Goodreads shows me that I added it to my "To Read" shelves in October, and that was probably pretty near when I told Alex about it.) Neither of our libraries had it, and nine times out of ten, we get books from the library, so we decided against it.
So then, for MONTHS Alex said that she had a "Top Secret Book" that she was going to mail to me for the blog. And when I say months, I mean months. I would say at least two, but probably three that she kept forgetting to mail it to me.
Finally, about two weeks ago I told her, "If you don't mail this secret book, I'm not going to be able to read it." I also asked her if she would tell me the super secret book. She said, no, but it was a book I suggested awhile ago. And then I immediately responded with, "Is it Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores?"
When she said, "DAMN IT!" I knew I was right. Which was fine, because I had already bought and read it a month before, so she didn't need to send it.
Now, onto the actual review. It was a fun book. I mean, it's EXACTLY what it says it is. Campbell started writing down the absolutely ridiculous things that people would say to her in the bookstore where she worked. For this particular collaboration other bookstore workers sent her quotes too, so it's a mix of both her experiences and others.
Some of the things people said... I mean, I worked in retail for awhile and I'm STILL surprised by some of the quotes that Campbell puts in here.
The book is funny, and while, no, not a literary masterpieces, it's still pretty hilarious, so five stars for that.
As a librarian, I get funny, weird, unusual questions about books from time to time. I've had students ask me how much a book costs (at which point I have the opportunity to explain the difference between the bookstore and the library). I had a student who needed books about the work of Pablo the behavioral scientist (who turned out to be Pavlov, of course).
One of my favorite websites that I read on a daily basis is Not Always Right (and the spin-offs Not Always Working and the newly founded Not Always Learning). They're reader-submitted stories about crazy customers (or coworkers/bosses, or students/teachers/faculty). This book is a lot like reading those sites, probably because it started as a similar website: http://jen-campbell.blogspot.com/2011/05/weird-things-customers-say-in-bookshops.html
It's a quick, fun read that delivers exactly what it promises.
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