Random reminder

Press, 22 September 1987, Page 36

Random reminder

ÒKS

OOK, LINE, AND SINKER Years ago, a Lytteltonian applied for a Christchurch bookshop manager job. Their idea at the time was that books were merchandise, to be merchandised in basketsful, piled high, sold cheap. Bookstores then were dignified, even austere. The jobseeker was shaken by the hand and told to keep on seeking. It was not the loss of dignity that caused concern to the directors of the firm, nor the thought of tickets shrieking SPECIAL OFFER UNREPEATABLE BARGAIN in pink ink. It was the threat to good order and discipline. To run a business on a margin of 15 per cent instead of 30 per cent was not the way to run a business. Times change. Shop assistants no longer assist. The single till now has no Index to Books In Print from which to take your order. Baskets are indeed piled high, but with "ooks,” not books. An "ook” Is a non-book. It is manufactured rather than published. It bears a title like “Instant Celebrity’s TV-Tie-In Compilation of Current Buzz-word.” The

Special Offer sticker is all of a piece with the shrink-wrap.

Yet some of us, in private, still gather in groups to read. There is an author called Virginia W. One drives to a famous-name bookseller. Dunno. You could have a look down the end. We got a special on, you know, what you said. Thingies. Books. The earnest attendant is correct. A section of shelving has been set aside for books. None have hard covers. There are three authors beginning with W. None of them is Virginia. Nufflnk? The attendant furrows its brow. You could try in town. They got more science fiction than wot we have.

One refrains from speech. One smiles with grace and disengages one’s sleeve from the tinsel. Which way is the door? I know! chortles the assistant. The brow has un-furrowed. Maxi-Market, over the way. . They got books. Try them.