Sarah's Books - Used & Rare

My customers are amazing, and always surprising. In his memoir of life in bookish Paris, Time Was Soft There, which I have mentioned here before, author Jeremy Mercer says this about helping customers in the antiquarian book room at Shakespeare and Company: “It was akin to hosting a running talk show with a never-ending series of eccentric guests…” Ah, yes. April was one of the strangest and most interesting months I've ever had at the shop, in terms of shall I say quirky customers. Last week, for example, I had two people loudly proclaim their creeds to me, the words they have lived by. Both gentlemen were sixty- or seventy-ish. The first is a freelance journalist, and said this, at the top of his lungs:

"I never truckled; I never took off the hat to Fashion and held it out for pennies. By God, I told them the truth." From author Frank Norris. This is also the customer who said he'd propose marriage to me if I could find the books he wants (they are scarce, I gather).

The second said this, more quietly, but just as intensely:

"The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures." From the The Globe and Mail newspaper of Toronto, motto of the editorial page, originally from Junius. This same customer, whom I love dearly, also said, later in our conversation, "Women and booze come and go, but BOOKS ARE FOREVER!" He's been married four times, and his second wife made him sell his library. He has since accumulated a second library. I told him I'd be writing this down and putting it on my blog.

I have a life motto. A few, actually. The first is printed on my business cards and shop receipts, and it comes from the French actress Sarah Bernhardt's stationery: "Quand Même," roughly translated as "Despite All." I was named after the Divine Sarah, and her initials are SB like Sarah's Books, so it all fits nicely. The motto has an inherent bravery that I love; I think its essence includes triumph and living well and being happy no matter who you are or where you started from. My second life motto came to me via a Salada teabag fortune in college: "Most people don't recognize opportunity because it comes disguised as hard work." I still have this tucked into the edge of the bulletin board in my painting studio. Customers ask all the time how I managed to wind up with my own bookshop and, among other things, I tell them I worked for it. Hard. But look at the rewards!