Jen Campbell Quotes

#1. Perhaps that is the best way to say it: printed books are magical, and real bookshops keep that magic alive.

Jen Campbell

#2. CUSTOMER: I'm always on night shift at work.
BOOKSELLER (jokingly): Is that why you're buying so many vampire novels?
CUSTOMER (seriously): You can never be too prepared.

Jen Campbell

#3. CUSTOMER: What kind of bookshop is this?
BOOKSELLER: We're an antiquarian bookshop.
CUSTOMER: Oh, so you sell books about fish.

Jen Campbell

#4. They are a brilliant device for shape-shifting as we can slip into the skin of authors from other times, other cultural backgrounds, brilliant minds who give us a new perspective on life and the world - something we all need from time to time. - Cornelia Funke

Jen Campbell

#5. CUSTOMER: Oh, look, these books are all signed. (Pause) I wonder who signed them ?

Jen Campbell

#6. CUSTOMER: If I were to, say ... meet the love of my life in this bookshop, what section do you think they would be standing in?

Jen Campbell

#7. There aren't many things in life better than books, tea and cake

Jen Campbell

#8. Bookshop Customer: 'Who wrote the bible?'
Customer's friend: 'Jesus.

Jen Campbell

#9. CUSTOMER: You know how they say that if you gave a thousand monkeys typewriters, then they'd eventually churn out really good writing? BOOKSELLER: ... yes. CUSTOMER: Well, do you have any books by those monkeys? BOOKSELLER: ...

Jen Campbell

#10. Steal not this book, my worthy friend,
For fear the gallows will be your end;
Up the ladder, and down the rope,
There you'll hang until you choke;
Then I'll come along and say -
'Where's that book you stole away?

Jen Campbell

#11. I figure whatever I choose to create, I'll be neglecting somebody - so my art may as well make me happy. - Audrey Niffenegger

Jen Campbell

#12. CHILD: Mummy, who was Hitler? MOTHER: Hitler? CHILD: Yeah. Who was he? MOTHER: Erm, he was a very bad man from a long time ago. CHILD: Oh. How bad? MOTHER: He was like ... he was like Voldemort. CHILD: Oh! That's really, really bad. Mother: Yes. CHILD: (Pause) So, did Harry Potter kill Hitler, too?

Jen Campbell

#13. How he described the bookshop: where the streets of the world meet the avenues of the mind.

Jen Campbell

#14. These places are time machines, spaceships, story-makers, secret-keepers. They are dragon-tamers, dream-catchers, fact-finders, and safe places. They are full of infinite possibilities and tales worth taking home.

Jen Campbell

#15. Bookshops are
time machines
spaceships
story-makers
secret-keepers
dragon-tamers
dream-catchers
fact-finders
& safe places.
(this book is for those who know this to be true)

Jen Campbell

#16. CUSTOMER: I read a book in the sixties. I don't remember the author, or the title. But it was green, and it made me laugh. Do you know which one I mean?

Jen Campbell

#17. Although I was always a keen library user, buying books was a different order of bliss, because I would get to live with these ones.
(A Chat with Emma Donoghue)

Jen Campbell

#18. CUSTOMER: Is your mother around ?
BOOKSELLER: ... I run this bookshop.
CUSTOMER: Oh. Sorry.

Jen Campbell

#19. CUSTOMER: Do you have any Robin Hood stories where he doesn't steal from the rich? My husband's called Robin and I'd like to buy him a copy for his birthday, but he's a banker, so ...

Jen Campbell

#20. Because whether we're in the middle of the desert or in the heart of a city, or the top of a mountain or on an underground train: having good stories to keep us company means the whole world.

Jen Campbell

#21. Who wouldn't want to get married in a room full of love stories?

Jen Campbell

#22. CUSTOMER: Do you have this children's book I've heard about? It's supposed to be very good. It's called Lionel Richie and the Wardrobe.

Jen Campbell

#23. CUSTOMER: I don't know why she wants it, but my wife asked for a copy of The Dinosaur Cookbook.
BOOKSELLER: The Dinah Shore Cookbook?

Jen Campbell

#24. CUSTOMER: You know that film, Coraline?
BOOKSELLER: Yes, indeed.
CUSTOMER: My daughter loves it. Are they going to make it into a book?

Jen Campbell

#25. Customer: Did Charles Dickens ever write anything fun?

Jen Campbell

#26. Art and science are made when people are terrified that they are going to die. (about "Arcadia" by Iain Pears)

Jen Campbell

#27. It makes me sad that grown up books don't have pictures in them. You're brought up with them when you're younger, and then suddenly they're all taken away.

Jen Campbell

#28. CUSTOMER (to their friend): God, the Famous Five titles realy were crap, weren't they? Five Go Camping. Five Go Off in a Caravan ... If it was Five Go Down To a Crack House it might be a bit more exciting.

Jen Campbell

#29. CUSTOMER (to her friend): What's this literary criticism section? Is it for books that complain about other books?

Jen Campbell

#30. MAN: Do you have black and white film posters?
BOOKSELLER: Yes, we do. They're over here.
MAN: Do you have any posters of Adolf Hitler?
BOOKSELLER: Pardon?
MAN: Adolf Hitler.
BOOKSELLER: Well, he wasn't a film star, was he.
MAN: Yes, he was. He was American. Jewish, I think ...

Jen Campbell

#31. CUSTOMER: Do you have security cameras in here? BOOKSELLER: Yes. CUSTOMER: Oh. (customer slides a book out from inside his jacket and places it back on the shelf)

Jen Campbell

#32. Customer: Where are your fictional novels?

Jen Campbell

#33. Customer: I'm looking for a book for my son. He's six.
Bookseller: How about this one - it's about-
Customer: Yeah, whatever, I'll take it.

Jen Campbell

#34. CUSTOMER: OK, so you want this book?
THEIR DAUGHTER: Yes!
CUSTOMER: Peter Pan?
THEIR DAUGHTER: Yes, please. Because he can fly.
CUSTOMER: Yes, he can - he's very good at flying.
THEIR DAUGHTER: Why can't I fly, daddy?
CUSTOMER: Because of evolution, sweetheart.

Jen Campbell

#35. Customer: Do you have any crime books involving speeding fines?

Jen Campbell

#36. CUSTOMER (holding up a copy of a Harry Potter book): This doesn't have anything weird in it ... does it? BOOKSELLER: You mean, like, werewolves? CUSTOMER: No (whispers) - gays. BOOKSELLER: ... right.

Jen Campbell

#37. You see, bookshops are dreams built of wood and paper. They are time travel and escape and knowledge and power. They are, simply put, the best of places.

Jen Campbell

#38. I still think that going in on that Friday afternoon and spending that money was one of the happiest experiences of my life.

Jen Campbell

#39. CUSTOMER: I'd like to buy this audiobook.
BOOKSELLER: Great.
CUSTOMER: Only, I don't really like this narrator.
BOOKSELLER: Oh.
CUSTOMER: Do you have a selection of narrators to choose from? Ideally, I'd like Benedict Cumberbatch

Jen Campbell

#40. CUSTOMER:Will you be open so I can buy the new Harry Potter book?
BOOKSELLER: Yep, we're having a midnight opening.
CUSTOMER: Great! What time?

Jen Campbell