{"id":1019,"date":"2014-01-21T14:16:41","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T19:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/?p=1019"},"modified":"2014-01-21T14:16:41","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T19:16:41","slug":"have-you-hugged-your-bookseller-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/2014\/01\/21\/have-you-hugged-your-bookseller-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Have You Hugged Your Bookseller Today?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cuppa<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Writing News<\/h1>\n

January –, 2014 The biggest news at Cuppa Pulp is that, after several months of neglect, we’ve updated the feature posts to review\u00a0The Last Policeman<\/em> novels, and to introduce guest blogger Jeffrey Shaffer. Jeffrey is a Portland, Oregon bookseller, and married to children’s book author\u00a0Susan Blackaby (Brownie Groundhog and the Wintry Surprise<\/em>). We’ve been enjoying his personal reflections on book selling, and hope you will too!<\/p>\n

Writers interested in guest-posting here about reading or writing may message us on Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/span> (as Jeffrey did) or email us at info@cuppapulp.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

We also hope to check in with more news for readers and writers in the weeks to come\u2026 but for now we’re sliding by on the assumption that writers are all busy fulfilling their new years’ resolutions to write more, and readers are taking a break to watch the new season of Downton Abbey (and re-watch old episodes in between).<\/p>\n

Have You Hugged Your Bookseller Today?<\/h2>\n

A COLUMN BY JEFFREY SHAFFER<\/p>\n

\n

A consequence of working at Annie Bloom\u2019s is that I\u2019ve developed two personalities. BookLover Jeff is gregarious, always happy to start open-ended conversations with customers, and sometimes has trouble knowing when it\u2019s time to shut up. BookSeller Jeff is pragmatic, maintains an awareness of what\u2019s happening in every aisle, and is always careful not to do anything that might degrade the reputation of the store. The tug of war between these two determined personas is ongoing, even when I\u2019m relaxing at home.<\/p>\n

For example, not long ago I was drinking my morning coffee while staring out the kitchen window and saw something truly wonderful. A young man was strolling along the sidewalk staring intently at an object in his hands. I assumed he was holding some type of web-accessing device but no\u2013he was READING A BOOK.<\/p>\n

The voice of BookLover Jeff immediately spoke up inside my head. \u201cThat person should be congratulated!\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cToo many people these days are becoming slaves to their electronic communication gadgets. You need to run after that guy and let him know he\u2019s doing a great thing. Give him a big bear hug and say, \u2018I officially declare you to be a reading rock star! You\u2019re my new BFF! Keep turning those pages!\u2019 \u00a0Go tell him. Now!!\u201d<\/p>\n

It was very tempting. I do believe that reading should be encouraged at every possible opportunity. But in this case there was a major complication:\u00a0\u00a0I was wearing only a terrycloth bathrobe.\u00a0\u00a0Before I had time to make a move toward the front door BookSeller Jeff stepped in with some cautionary advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t even think about it,\u201d he warned.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cStay right here and finish your coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel bad just letting that guy walk away,\u201d I said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat harm could come from complimenting someone for reading a book? And I could also tell him I work in a bookstore, so he understands why I\u2019m so thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reply was immediate.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHave you never heard about The Law of Unintended Consequences?\u201d \u00a0Sometimes BookSeller Jeff can be a bit sarcastic. \u201cLook at this from a more objective viewpoint. What is that guy on the sidewalk going to think when he sees you, a total stranger, charging toward him in your bathrobe? It\u2019s also highly likely that during the chase your waistband will come untied and give the entire encounter an X-rating.\u201d<\/p>\n

BookLover Jeff felt the wind going out of his sails. \u201cOkay,\u201d he offered, \u201cso how about we just forget the bear hug and give the guy a high-five?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood idea,\u201d I said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with that? \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty much everything,\u201d BookSeller Jeff shot back. \u201cConsider the bigger picture. Suppose the incident goes viral. Word gets around that a man reading a book caused a scantily clad homeowner to come running out of his house and give chase. It\u2019s the kind of story that makes people not want to carry books around in public places. Then they find out where you work\u2014that could cause consumers everywhere to be nervous about even shopping for books, so then bookstores all over America start going belly-up, and suddenly the entire publishing industry is reeling. Do you want all that on your conscience? That you wrecked the book business with one impulsive act of affection that went tragically haywire?\u201d<\/p>\n

By this time the sidewalk reader had disappeared around the corner at the end of the block. \u201cWell, he\u2019s gone but not forgotten,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he\u2019ll come back someday,\u201d BookLover Jeff added hopefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he\u2019ll walk into your store one day and become a regular customer,\u201d BookSeller Jeff suggested.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be great,\u201d I agreed. \u201cAnd now that you mention it, I sometimes give hugs to regular customers.\u00a0\u00a0How come you\u2019ve never had a problem with that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the store is a controlled environment that provides a literary context for the hug,\u201d BookSeller Jeff patiently explained. \u00a0\u201cAnd, in some instinctive way, you have always been careful to observe the two crucial rules about spontaneous hugging, the first of which is to let the customer make the first move so you know the mood is receptive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what\u2019s the second rule?\u201d I wondered.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe absolutely, positively certain,\u201d BookSeller Jeff concluded, \u201cthat all of the participants are fully clothed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Shaffer is a bookseller and booklover at\u00a0Annie Bloom\u2019s Books\u00a0in the historic Multnomah Village district of southwest Portland. His relationship with Annie Bloom\u2019s began in the 1990\u2032s when the store\u2019s booksellers enthusiastically sold his two humor collections\u00a0I\u2019m Right Here, Fish-Cake\u00a0and\u00a0It Came With the House.\u00a0He continues to blog about politics and popular culture\u00a0for\u00a0Huffington Post\u00a0and also contributes to the \u2018Modern Parent\u2019 blog at\u00a0the\u00a0Christian Science Monitor.<\/em><\/p>\n

This blog post originally appeared here<\/span><\/a><\/span>, and was republished with the author’s permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0Writing News January –, 2014 The biggest news at Cuppa Pulp is that, after several months of neglect, we’ve updated the feature posts to review\u00a0The Last Policeman novels, and to introduce guest blogger Jeffrey Shaffer. Jeffrey is a Portland, Oregon bookseller, and married to children’s book author\u00a0Susan Blackaby (Brownie Groundhog and the Wintry Surprise). We’ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cuppa-blog","category-homepage-firstfeature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1019"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1021,"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1019\/revisions\/1021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cuppapulp.com\/writers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}