monoceros blogsTiggie and I once had with an idea (just for fun) about setting up a tea-shop/bookstore. Lately, I've been daydreaming about the stuff I'd sell in that shop.
- Literary fiction (novels and short story collections)
- Travel writing (memoirs, essays)
- Essay collections (not the boring stuff, but provocative writing by Jonathan Franzen, Joan Didion, Umberto Eco, and Cynthia Ozick)
- Good poetry from various parts of the world
- Children's books, the well-illustrated kind with unusual stories
- A selection of graphic novels and quirky comics
- Reference books on writing and grammar
- A few art books
- Literary journals
- Some stationery: Moleskines, Namiki pens, Italian pencils, seals, wax sticks, marbled paper, desk organizers
- Shelves with sachets and tins of tea
- Canvas totebags for books
- Magazines on writing and reading
I'm sure I've got other ideas tucked away but I'll leave it as this for now. Perhaps if DSD has a stake in the shop, she'd add a section on cookbooks, in which case I'd insist on MFK Fisher's The Art of Eating as a featured title.
So it's Wednesday today, and I'm building my imaginary shop around the corner. The catalogue of items would probably be too specialized and the shop would never make any money because I eschew inane self-help books, cheesy self-improvement titles, and the mass market titles with overdoses of purple prose. I'm not too big a fan of chick lit. either, which doesn't bode well for my little store. These are actually the books that sell. But since I would never hawk something I wouldn't want to read, I'd have to be content with customers who share similar literary tastes, and that would be about eight people. Heh, and that's fine by me.
Posted by Monoceros at February 16, 2005 12:21 PMwe need also tea (all sorts of interesting and traditional teas) from all over the world -- hopefully fairly-traded...
i'd love to sell my mum's cake... =C)
a space for live musical (quartet/jazz etc) and readings... and walls for artists to show their exhibits...
oh darn... i could go on day-dreaming but work is yelling for me... eeek
Posted by: tiggie at February 16, 2005 1:45 PMThe tea's in the list, dear, but I'd leave that to you to select since you probably are the tea expert of us all. Live quartet and jazz music is right on! Yes, space for readings! =) I'd love to host a reading series, have already done a couple of intros for writers. It's fun.
Posted by: monoceros at February 16, 2005 1:48 PMof course i'm having a stake in this! We'll HAVE to make it happen one day! Let's keep the dream alive!
Posted by: dsd at February 16, 2005 7:35 PM