Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars (aka 7/10)
The fact I own this book can be blamed on Simon from Savidge Reads. He featured this on his blog the other day and after finding myself smiling at his examples, I popped over to Amazon and bought it. I understand what he was saying in his post, wondering if laughing at some of the examples when we might say such things ourselves was being a bit mean. But from his examples, it seems to me that it is more a case of smiling with someone rather than laughing at them.
I read it today. It was a short, quick read (it probably didn’t take me much more than half an hour) that made me laugh out loud in several places. I’d heard a few of the stories before, but most were new. Many made me smile, some made me scratch my head in disbelief and others, as I said, made me laugh out loud. Fortunately, I was alone in the house at the time, so I didn’t have anyone come to ask what was wrong with me.
I’m not entirely sure that it was worth what I paid for it, considering how short and simple it was, but it made me laugh, which was something I needed after finishing Blackout (the review for that will hopefully come tomorrow as I need a little more digestion-time before commenting on that one.)
There’s really not a lot to say about it that I haven’t already. Short, quick, funny. So I thought I’d finish off by encouraging you to read it by sharing my two favourite entries.
PARENT (to a child who is misbehaving): THERE SHOULD BE NO YELLING UNLESS SOMEONE IS ON FIRE!
CHILD (firing back immediately): What if a weasel was robbing the store?
PARENT (long pause, . . with the flickering of a smile): I don’t know . . . is he armed?
– Richard Due & Elizabeth Prouty: Second Looks Books, Prince Frederick, Maryland, USA
I guess I like this one because I can imagine it happening to my family. And I like the second one because the image it conjures up is just plain funny.
CUSTOMER: Do you have this children’s book I’ve heard about? It’s supposed to be very good. It’s called ‘Lionel Richie and the Wardrobe.’
– Sean Martin: Primrose Hill Books, London, UK.


Posted by Reviews, Alphabetical by Author « Too Many Books on 21st September, 2012 at 6:41 pm
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Posted by Reviews, Alphabetical by Title « Too Many Books on 21st September, 2012 at 7:20 pm
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