Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops #1 & #2 by Jen Campbell

Title: Weird Things Customer Say in Bookshops

Author: Jen Campbell

Pub date: 2012

My Rating: ★★★★☆

View on Goodreads | Buy on amazon.co.uk |amazon.com | Book Depository

Title: More Weird Things Customer Say in Bookshops

Author: Jen Campbell

Pub date: 2013

My Rating: ★★★★☆

View on Goodreads | Buy on amazon.co.uk |amazon.com | Book Depository

But best – just go and buy in in a bookstore, and say some weird stuff when you at it!

A John Cleese Twitter question [‘What is your pet peeve?’], first sparked the ‘Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops’ blog, which grew over three years into one bookseller’s collection of ridiculous conversations on the shop floor.

From ‘Did Beatrix Potter ever write a book about dinosaurs?’ to the hunt for a paperback which could forecast the next year’s weather; and from ‘I’ve forgotten my glasses, please read me the first chapter’ to’Excuse me… is this book edible?’

This full-length collection illustrated by the Brothers McLeod also includes top ‘Weird Things’ from bookshops around the world.

I found out about those books on Esther’s blog Chapter Adventures on the Book Traveling Thursday post. I liked the premise of the book, so I decided to check it out immediately (I was at that time reading a very intense novel, and I needed a break). I am so glad I did. Weird Things Customer Say in Bookstores is amazing! I love it! It made me laugh so much, it was a perfect read to pick me up and to entertain me. This collection of short conversations between booksellers and customers, or overheard conversations between customers is the most bookishly comical thing out there. Trust me you will love it. I enjoyed the first book so much, that I read the second book next day.

Check out those random bits from the books:

CUSTOMER: Hi, I just wanted to ask: did Anne Frank ever write a sequel?
BOOKSELLER: ……..
CUSTOMER: I really enjoyed her first book.
BOOKSELLER: Her diary?
CUSTOMER: Yes, the diary.
BOOKSELLER: Her diary wasn’t fictional.
CUSTOMER: Really?
BOOKSELLER: Yes… She really dies at the end – that’s why the diary finishes. She was taken to a concentration camp.
CUSTOMER: Oh… that’s terrible.
BOOKSELLER: Yes, it was awful –
CUSTOMER: I mean, it’s such a shame, you know? She was such a good writer.

CUSTOMER: I’d like to buy this audiobook.
BOOKSELLER: Great.
CUSTOMER: Only, I don’t really like this narrator.
BOOKSELLER: Oh.
CUSTOMER: Do you have a selection of narrators to choose from? Ideally, I’d like Benedict Cumberbatch

CUSTOMER: (pondering) How much would a signed copy of the Bible be worth?
BOOKSELLER: Signed by whom?
CUSTOMER: Well … I don’t know. Not God, obviously. (Nervous laugh) That would be silly … wouldn’t it?

CUSTOMER: Did they make a film edition of the Bible when The Passion of Christ came out? You know, the text of the Bible, but with Mel Gibson on the front cover?