Chapter 76 76．Is it fun to open a bookstore?

Q Xiaoqing asked the bookstore owner I have always had a dream to open a bookstore.Although it is also heard that many people who love to read will lose their love for reading after they really own their own bookstore, but in any case, who knows what the result will be until that day.The few books I've read about bookstores are fantastic, Bookstores: I Just Want to Start a Bookstore (by Penelope Fitzgerald) and (by Helene Hanff).I would like to ask a bookstore owner (who has opened a bookstore before) some interesting stories about opening a bookstore, preferably in a literary expression.

A Original Xiaowang Bookstore Owner Tang Song Answers Xiaoqing My bookstore at that time was on Guoding Road next to Fudan University. On the left was the 21st Century Kaoyan Bookstore, and opposite was New Oriental, which also sold books on oral English.My bookstore is called Xiaowang Bookstore, and it has a pure literary accent.Among the three stores, I was the worst in business. In fact, there is no interesting story, it is very sad.If you want to talk about it in literature and art, I remember that one day I sat in the shop and wrote a poem: No. 306 A, Guoding Road, just/opposite New Oriental/Next to the 21st Century Kaoyan Bookstore/It used to be a record store/pirated discs, CDs and underground bands/now it’s a bookstore/it’s no longer bustling/pedestrians looking around /Be brave, walk in/Look around/There is nothing here/I want to go to the side for postgraduate entrance examination/I want to go abroad to the opposite side/There is nothing here/Only Lao Tang is alone/Sitting in the pile of books, as thin as a bookmark/ There is nothing here, only/a path leading to the spider’s nest/a garden where the path forks/Old Tang is not old/in his early twenties/he is healthy and has no partner/occasionally, he has to go to the toilet/just go to the opposite New Oriental/ TOFEL GRE fresh urine sample / through the sewer / sent to the other side of the ocean together / if you are lucky / even a visa will be exempted / Lao Tang always crosses the road slowly / comes out of New Oriental / feels like a turtle / plans to do one in the future The language school/only teaches Chinese/is located at No. 306, Guoding Road.

> Q76 Extended reading legend of both sides ——reading/Wang Xiaomao "If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, please give me a kiss, I owe her a lot..." Love and regret, all of Helene Hanff's affection for Max & Cohen Bookstore, 84 Charing Cross Road, is contained in this one sentence. Ms. Helene Hanff, an American playwright who lived in poverty all her life, was living in New York and could only buy "expensive or dirty" books.One day, she saw an advertisement of a second-hand bookstore by chance, and wrote a letter to that bookstore with the mood of giving it a try... That's how fate came about.At the beginning, it was just about business, and Frank Del, the manager of Max and Cohen Bookstore, replied to the letter. He was very polite and responsible, and found several needed books for the overseas customers of his bookstore.Helene Hanff was also very naughty when she was delighted. When the other party called her "Madame" in the letter for the first time, she emphasized: "I hope that on your side, 'Madame' refers to us. It’s a different story.” She was really quick-witted and had a good sense of humor, and she was generous—she sent ham and eggs to the bookstore several times, even though she was having a hard time herself—and was an immediate hit with Frank Dell and the entire bookstore staff. goodwill.At that time, the life of the British was very difficult, and even silk stockings were luxury goods, so Helene Hanf, an American, had to blame the US government in the letter for only caring about Japan and Germany after the war and forgetting the allies who have been helping them all along .

The people in the bookstore are also very simple and lovely, with a real temperament, optimistic and open-minded—at least in their letter to Helene Hanff, and it may also be the usual etiquette of the British.In any case, the employees of those bookstores include Frank Del’s wife, daughter, and old lady who embroidered. They gave me the impression that they were a bit similar to the Chinese people I heard who could sleep without closing the door when the new China was just liberated— — our fathers.Does suffering make people kinder?These images all serve as the background of the relationship between the two protagonists, warming up the sad atmosphere at the end of the incident for a long time.

After reading a few letters, I no longer pay attention to the authors mentioned in the book and those rare books, but to "human feelings".At this time, the buying and selling of books in the letter seems more like an incidental function (it is true, the bookstore manager no longer archives these letters according to the bookstore system), Hai Lian often mentions the difficulties and joys in life in the letter, He even wrote to Frank Dell: "You are the only one who understands me in this world." Even the reserved British gentleman is no longer stingy with words of greetings—for Helian's success and misfortune in life. And the expression of joy, anger, sorrow and joy.Frank Del's wife finally had to admit to Helene her jealousy of their correspondence, of course after Frank's death.

Although the obituary letter was written by the bookstore secretary who had never been in touch with Helene, Frank's death is really the climax of all the correspondence and the book.Hai Lian’s trip to the UK, which has been expected by correspondence for 20 years, has never been carried out, so the two have never met, especially in the previous letter Frank said that “the hands and feet are still good”... We have to be sympathetic after reading this Hailian's state of mind when she got the letter... the book didn't describe it for us, but I was already excited. This is the legend of both book lovers and book sellers, and it is also the luck of both parties.It is legendary because that era has passed and such things will not happen again.Not only the update of communication means, but also the increasing scarcity of human feelings.The translator, Mr. Chen Jianming, already mentioned in the preface that the human magic power of the time-consuming delivery of letters cannot be replaced by fast instant messaging tools and emails.The beautiful era of waiting is gone, and once lost, it will never come again; saying that both parties are lucky not only means that both parties can be in that era, but also means that they met such a friendly and caring person.And, of course, third-party luck—the kind of luck we get to get such books, to read at night, and to console ourselves by imagining specific scenarios of those events.