Bookseller Profile

How did you get started in bookselling?
I met my husband, David, in a friend's bookshop, and I was sick of nursing and I needed a sea-change. As David was already a bookseller, "His and Hers" bookshops looked like a good option.

Bookselling is not the easiest way to make a living. What keeps you doing it?
Memories of nursing, and because it allows us if not a great wage, a great lifestyle.

What is your specialty? How did you choose it?
I don't have any real specialty, just a lot of everything, although true crime, westerns and fantasy are my personal favourites. Basically the shop reflects my reading tastes, and I am a Catholic reader.

Do you collect anything besides books?
Yes: paintings, unicorns, dragons and frogs.

Do you have a shop pet?
No, but the three cats who own me insist on supervising my every move, especially if I am on the keyboard, or trying to have a coffee. Telzey (below right) is the eldest, and is autoc(r)atic, Pixel (above), is 12 kilograms (26.5 pounds) of pure custard, and the new addition, Meera, is 9 months old and fearless. There's also my husband, but that's another story.

What is the most unusual book you ever bought?
A first edition of my favourite book, Anne McCaffrey's Restoree. Although a lot of people think my collection of 127 different editions of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam slightly obsessive.

Do you have any legendary stories you tell about incidents in your store or as a bookseller?
Well there's the one about a person who strode into my shop, fronted me, and told me that she was going to report me to the RSPCA because of my forcing the cats to stay on a shelf in my window bookcase in the hot summer sun! While she proceeded to berate me, Pixel stretched and sauntered out against her legs, at which point she gathered herself and left without further speech.

What are your favourite books, or your recommendations?
Restoree, by McCaffrey. Good story, strong female character, and I love the legend behind the writing of the story. Also Louis L'Amour and Alistair Maclean as they write good swashbuckling yarns. J D Robb because she is light and fun and fluffy, with enough police procedural and character development (surprisingly for the genre) to make them rereadable.

Any last words?
No. And don't mention that at times my hair colour can go from bright pink to purple to blue and red, or that I wear LOUD dress jewellery.

~ Penny, Syber's Books

The views of the author, expressed above, are not necessarily those of the Advanced Book Exchange