Speaking of Books

Some of you may know that I am a total bookworm. It's sort of ridiculous. I'm the girl whose mother had to tell her to go outside to play when I was little. "Natalie, put the book down. You need to go outside and play." Seriously. I would have been some parent's dream.

So, really, the job at B. Dalton was a dream job. And, it taught me a lot about this community. Because, as a Catholic school girl, I was pretty sheltered (trust me, this is all going to come together). Around the time I worked at the bookstore is around the time that St. Oprah started her bookclub (the first one). This was before publishers truly understood the Kool-Aid Ms. Winfrey served her followers. Women would come into the bookstore THE DAY that she delivered her sermon proclaiming the book she had found as the "Best Book Ever" and we were helpless. Clueless.

Here's a typical exchange:
Customer: I need to get Oprah's book (keep in mind, Oprah had not written the damn book).
Me: I would be happy to help you. Do you have the title of the book?
Customer: No.
Me: Hmm. How about the author?
Customer: No.
Me: Well, I really need that information in order to find it.
Customer: The book has an orange cover and it's about (using her hands) that big.
Me: Oh. That one? Let me show you where we keep the orange books that are about (using my hands) about that big.

I believe the first book she chose was The Deep End of the Ocean. Highly readable. Mass market appeal.

The next book she chose was Song of Solomon.

Toni Morrison. For those of you who don't know, Toni Morrison is an African American author who writes about African American issues and can be quite graphic in her novels. When this selection was chosen, we sold many of these books. Within 1-2 weeks, most of these books came back. One woman told me it was too "descriptive."

All of this brings me to my trip to the bookstore last night. I was there to purchase a book for my bookclub (we'll see how this goes - I am not sure about this whole bookclub thing) and of course got sidetracked. I don't take a quick trip to the bookstore. I take a 1-2 hour trip to the bookstore.

I was standing in front of the new non-fiction section next to a woman who was paging through the new Jonathan Franzen novel, Freedom, which has been chosen as the new Oprah book. Which is ironic seeing as how he put up such a fuss the last time she chose his book. But, that's a different story.

Now, yes, I am going to make a judgment here. This woman looked utterly confused that Oprah would choose a book such as this. She kept reading the jacket, picked it up, put it down. She was the stereotypical Oprah junkie who looked like she would be more comfortable reading Twilight than a highly praised work of fiction. (Two side notes: a. I will rip on Twilight throughout this blog, so get used to it and b. I think Jonathan Franzen is kind of an egotistical asshole, so it's not like I really want to read his book either.)

Here's the funny part. While I was standing in front of the non-fiction section I notice that the biggest misogynist in the world has written a new book. I honestly thought this man couldn't possibly have any further exploits to write about. And, once again, people prove me wrong. One thing about this man, he's honest about it. He knows he's an asshole and doesn't try to pretend he's not. So, I pick up the book to read the inner flap and laugh because I cannot believe that there are stupid women in this world who choose to be exploited by a man such as this. The content doesn't so much offend me as confound me.

I set the book down and pick up Jon Stewart's new book. And, I see the woman who is afraid of the Jonathan Franzen book pick up Mr. Misogynist's book. She looks at the flap for about 5 seconds, sets it down, gives me a dirty look and speeds off to another section of the bookstore.

I pretty much laughed for the entire time I was in the bookstore every time I thought about it. But, why are people so afraid to read something out of their comfort zone?