On Thursday I woke up and found out that an old entry of mine had caught the eye of someone else’s Tumblr blog.  I had joined with several other booksellers to create this hodgepodge list shortly before I quit my job.  I then spent a languorous seven months away from independent bookstores, author events, and shelving.  I still saw book people every so often, but I had lost my label and was happy to do so.  

I moved away, and after a few months of putzing around my new city, I answered an advertisement seeking a children’s bookseller.  I got the job that same Thursday, and something clicked into place.  Customers can be assholes, children rip apart books, and the things left behind on bookshelves are disgusting, but I miss bookselling.  The customers who are lovely, the conversations about books that emerge at unlikely moments, and the books themselves are what make me want to go back and do it all over again.  

1. You can’t crack spines of paperbacks, and hold your books in a particular way to maintain spine integrity.
2. You find yourself appreciating the scent of paper.
3. Your personal library is alphabetized, or organized by genre.
4. You consider books to be interior decoration.
5. You own multiple editions of the same book, because you have to have all its iterations.
6. You know what Brodarting is and may know how to do it yourself.
7. You think most of the books on the bestseller list aren’t worth your time.
8. You buy books you know you will never read, just because they look good on your bookshelf.
9. Your living space becomes inhabited by piles and piles of books after the huge bookshelf you bought becomes overwhelmed with them.
10. You once fell in love with a fictional character.