Books and Buyers

One of the things I enjoy about my new position with Latte Books is (as Anne Shirley might say) the scope for imagination that it allows.

Sometimes it is easy to see a connection between book and buyer. A buyer from Washington D.C. orders a book on history and politics. From Southern California comes an order for a diet and exercise book. The Manhattan, KS buyer needs a book on gender studies before the fall semester begins.

At other times, however, there is much to wonder about. Today I shipped a book to a man - Surviving Colon Cancer. Is it for him? His wife? A friend? A parent? It was a bittersweet moment in the Shipping & Handling Department as I sealed the envelope.

Or take one day last week, for instance. A woman ordered a copy of Wild at Heart. To give away to a man in her life? Or to read herself, in hopes of understanding him better? That same day a man ordered a copy of Captivating, the book by John Eldridge and his wife that is basically a female Wild at Heart. My mind raced all over again, imagining the potential future readers of the book I shipped off.

Ever so often we sell a book that Marky actually bought from me. Perspectives, a book on missions, found a new owner today, as did The Jane Eyre Affair. I wonder what they will think of my books, what kind of people they are to be searching these particular books out, and if reading them will have any kind of effect on their life.

I will never receive an answer to my musings, I know. But there is something fun in wondering.