We had a customer come into the store yesterday looking for a book for which he had very little information. The clues that he had were: it is set in France, and it has either an animal or a fruit or vegetable in the title. Now, for you booksellers in the audience, or anyone who just wants to play at home, the answer is at the bottom of this blogpost, so don't scroll down until you've made your guess.I think it is a general misconception that bookstore customers believe they are annoying booksellers when they ask for help finding a book about which they have very little information. The opposite is true: booksellers live for the customer who knows only that the book they are looking for has a white cover and is set in Lapland (Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida, too easy). Try this sometime: walk up to a bookstore information counter, and say you are looking for a book, but you don't know the title or author. My guess is you will see any other booksellers who might have overheard your query slowly drift towards to conversation. It is like being asked to play Trivial Pursuit in the middle of your workday, and the less information the customer proffers the better, so that if the answer is arrived at, bragging rights are claimed.
Well, such bragging rights go out to my man Cole, who hesitated not the least when presented with the question above.
