The Ladybird Book of Christmas: or why people come into an independent bookshop

All kinds of people come into independent bookshops, for all kinds of reasons. Perhaps you want to discover a new favourite author that you don't yet know exists, or you want the one book that's going to light a fire underneath a reluctant reader. Or you want that new book by the author who's name begins with 'A' (or possibly 'I'). You might need a gift for a difficult-to-buy-for Aunt, or a voracious Uncle who's read everything. It might be your turn to choose the next read for your bookgroup (and you want to make sure it's a good one, unlike last time), or you might just want to soak up that special atmosphere you get from a place where almost all of the books have been hand-picked, and many have been read and reviewed.

In short - to take advantage of the all the good stuff that you get from a passionate independent bookshop.

At this time of year, it can get a bit manic in the shop. We don't have *quite* the same amount of time to say "Hi" and ask after the dog, there might be just a few more dark rings around the eyes, and worries about 'Christmas casualties' (those desperately needed books that won't reprint before the big day, and which keep us awake at night).

Bookselling is physically and mentally demanding - mentally shifting up and down through the 'recommendation engine' that sits between the ears of a bookseller (aka 'our brain'), whilst being on the feet all day, whirling around the shop, trying to strike a balance between friendly, engaging customer service and over-caffeinated maniac. Holes appear on the shelves as stock reduces. Holes also appear in shoes and further up belt-buckles.

Honestly, someone should write The Independent Bookseller's Diet' - it'd be a Christmas bestseller.

So Happy Christmas from everyone here at Mostly Books. We close 3pm Christmas Eve, we're then open again next week, Tuesday Dec 29 - Thursday Dec 31. For the rest of that time, all the staff will be sitting somewhere quietly reading a book.

We get incredible support from our community here in Abingdon, and we thought you'd appreciate this last blog post of the year. To everyone who reads this blog, who reads our newsletter every Friday, who comes in and trusts us to recommends books for friends and family - have a fantastic Christmas and we'll see you again with some great new books in 2016...