Friday, September 06, 2002
Tonight a young college student came in with a friend. He had been in earlier asking for good adventure books that would expand his mind. This time he wanted books by Phillip K. Dick, and any other authors that I thought he should read. My kind of customer question.
I showed him the new edition of Minority Report and other stories, then Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Another customer overheard us and joined the conversation. He recommended a couple other Dick titles. Our events coordinator walked by and echoed my praise for Ender's Game. She pulled Connie Willis' Doomsday Book and Passage. Soon the college student and his friend both had pens and paper to jot down all the names we were throwing at them.
It was getting close to closing time, so I had to duck out a few times to do the normal end-of-day chores. I came back and they were talking about poets. Mark Doty, Emily Dickinson, Billy Collins.... Back to sci-fi, feminist sci-fi writers...Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, have you read Daniel Quinn's Ishmael? yes that knocked him out of his orbit. A reference to cyberpunk, William Gibson. Everyone must read Kelly Link's short stories in Stranger Things Happen... China Mieville's world in Perdido Street Station and The Scar is going to be big, it's already gaining momentum. So many books, so many people to talk with.
ah, these are the moments we do this job for.
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I showed him the new edition of Minority Report and other stories, then Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Another customer overheard us and joined the conversation. He recommended a couple other Dick titles. Our events coordinator walked by and echoed my praise for Ender's Game. She pulled Connie Willis' Doomsday Book and Passage. Soon the college student and his friend both had pens and paper to jot down all the names we were throwing at them.
It was getting close to closing time, so I had to duck out a few times to do the normal end-of-day chores. I came back and they were talking about poets. Mark Doty, Emily Dickinson, Billy Collins.... Back to sci-fi, feminist sci-fi writers...Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, have you read Daniel Quinn's Ishmael? yes that knocked him out of his orbit. A reference to cyberpunk, William Gibson. Everyone must read Kelly Link's short stories in Stranger Things Happen... China Mieville's world in Perdido Street Station and The Scar is going to be big, it's already gaining momentum. So many books, so many people to talk with.
ah, these are the moments we do this job for.
