Today we present our bookstore buddy Jörg Neuburg, Managing Director of the Erftstadt Bookstore Köhl.
Dear Jörg, why did you choose to run a bookshop?
My idea to do something practical was growing as early as when I started studying. By the time I had to decide what kind of job I would train for, working in the book trade was just one of several options. However, I had such a great time, with lots of varied tasks, during the apprentice period in a bookshop that afterwards I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Please describe the final few meters of the route you take in the mornings to your bookshop.
I travel the last few meters across the parking lot directly towards our back door under the big illuminated sign saying BOOKSHOP. Then I get our and step inside the bookshop’s office.
Throughout the day ...When the shop-door opens and someone steps inside...
The bit about opening doesn’t work in our case because we tend to leave the door open. But, anyway, we welcome every visitor with a friendly smile and a few words of greeting.
What is the wonderful thing that happens when we read?
When we read, we can forget about what happening around us and become somebody for completely different as long as the story lasts. We can allow ourselves to drift and be on our own but are also able to widen our perspectives of the world. Or, at other times, simply enjoy ourselves. Besides, reading always stimulates one‘s own creativity and makes one think about new ideas.
Many say they don’t have the time to read. What can they do about that?
Reading can be done simply everywhere, all one has got to do is to let it happen. I have caught myself at it even while cooking: I simply couldn’t put the book down in the gaps between different stages of the work.
Has a Norwegian book given you a reading experience that you remember with pleasure?
I really enjoyed reading the crime stories by Samuel Bjork. I’m already looking forward to the publication of the third volume about Inspector Munch.I'm Travelling Alone (Munch and Krüger Book 1); The Owl Always Hunts at Night (Book 2); The Boy in the Headlights (Book 3) are translated by Charlotte Barslund and published by Penguin/Corgi (UK) in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
From the German by Anna Paterson.
Visit the the webside of Buchhandlung Köhl in Erftstadt here.
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