Today we present our bookstore buddy Veit Hoffmann. Veit owns the bookstore Buchhandlung Jost in Bonn. Here he ensures the smooth running behind the scenes and plans the readings and events in the bookstore. Veit likes to read historical novels and chooses the best travel guides with a great pleasure.
Dear Veit, why did you choose to run a bookshop?
Because a good friend of mine showed me, several years ago, just how wonderfully satisfying it can be to introduce people the dreams and stories of others – while actually earning an income at the same time.
Please describe the final few meters of the route you take in the mornings to your bookshop.
I turn the corner and straightaway face the bookshop’s display window. There is an awning above it. Opposite the shop, on the other side of the street, is the best ice-cream parlour in Bonn. Instantly, I no longer think just about books and how to sell them but also about pistachio ice-cream and espresso. There’s no better way to start the day.
Throughout the day...
… there is not enough space here to describe a whole day. Besides, every day is different but always as exciting.
When the shop-door opens and someone steps inside...
… luckily, that happens quite often, but mostly I am not involved because I’m stuck at my office desk. I’m sure our counter staff could spend hours telling you about the many interesting and often quite extraordinary encounters that booksellers usually experience every working day.
What is the wonderful thing that happens when we read?
Reading lifts us out of the daily round and creates endless new images inside our heads – as if pressing a button. Whenever you immerse yourself in a story, you become part of another world for just as long as you care to be. Even non-fiction accounts are capable of effortlessly sending your thoughts off in directions that you didn’t know existed before.
Many say they don’t have the time to read. What can they do about that?
Reading can be done everywhere. On the train, on the sofa, in the garden. All you need is to stop doing whatever else preoccupied you and – there you are, your time with a good book can start at once.
Has a Norwegian book given you a reading experience that you remember with pleasure?
I remember with particular pleasure reading a book by Jon Fosse for the first time – it was yet Morning and Evening. Even now, I remain fascinated by Jon Fosse’s spare language and, yet, his ability to bring so much joy into this deeply sad narrative and inspire courage to carry on with life.
Translated from the German by Anna Paterson
Visit Buchhandlung Jost's website here.
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