Chase Wave News Reporter: Xiao Xiao
Today is World Book Day
"Put down your phone and dive in for an hour"
Will you be able to hold on?
Readers who participate in the in-depth 1-hour event
My bookstore refused to punch in, avoiding bestsellers
This is an independent bookstore tucked away in an office building, with two separate rooms, one for reading and the other for reading activities. As the name suggests, the store is more like a warm and comfortable study room full of books than a common chain bookstore. Three or five readers read quietly in the soft light. Reader Xiao Wan is a frequent visitor here, and she is used to picking a favorite book every time, sitting by the window, looking at the street scene outside the window, there is a kind of "big hidden in the city" quiet. "It's not the same as the kind of chain bookstore in the commercial body, and there are some newly opened Internet celebrity check-in bookstores, which look hot on the surface, but in fact, many people buy a glass of water, take a book, check in and take pictures, and feel like they've been to the bookstore when they post a circle of friends. It's a real place where you can read a book in peace. ”
In order to provide a "quiet desk" for readers who come to read, Cheng Lei, the manager of the bookstore, has put a lot of effort into it.
Cheng Lei, a "post-70s" generation, was called "Big Stone" by book friends. Ten years ago, Cheng Lei, who was still working as an accountant in a company, resigned naked and decided to open a bookstore without thinking too much. I arrived at the store at 8 o'clock in the morning every day, made proofs at 9 o'clock in the evening, and soaked in the bookstore for more than ten hours a day to take care of my business. "Most of the people who come to my store now are immersed in reading books and rarely talk. Some customers who work in the neighborhood come almost every day. ”
Cheng Lei, a professional bookstoreman
I want to be a "good book recommendation officer"
The friends around him were envious, thinking that he had time to read every day, and the time was very idle, but in fact, it was not.
Cheng Lei said that opening a bookstore is not a matter of being in charge. In order to be a good "professional bookstoreman", Cheng Lei skims hundreds of books a year, in order to recommend them to readers in need. "I will read the table of contents and overview of the book myself, and after understanding the essence of a book, I can recommend it to readers, because many old customers who like us here, they trust me, and they will take the initiative to ask me and hope that I will recommend it to them. ”
In Cheng Lei's view, professional bookstoreers are the "good book recommendation officers" who discover good books and become readers. Of course, there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and the book that suits you is the best. "Everyone is different, for example, if three people want to recommend history books to me, I will talk to them, understand their needs, and then recommend different books to them. For example, if someone is more superficial, I will introduce him to the general history. Some people have studied more thoroughly, not only to see the affairs of a certain emperor of a certain dynasty, but even to see the same historical allusion and the views of different people, so I will recommend some more profound and professional historical classics to him. ”
There are no bestsellers sold here, and even Cheng Lei once had a whim to make a list of the unsold books in the store, which was quietly asked by those anti-bone readers. Among Cheng Lei's readers, there are those who like bestsellers, and there are even some who have personalities, and even find what they think is good books in the corner of the bookstore. "Our books here don't have any special labels, mainly literature, history and philosophy, but also design and art. We don't get new products as fast as normal bookstore chains, and we don't run after bestsellers. Bestsellers are not bad, they are more like fast food in books, modern people have limited time, and perhaps they should take limited time to read more chewy books. ”
"I keep my original intention, and I want to go further"
Ten years after opening the store, Cheng Lei has built a large number of book lovers. In Cheng Lei's view, reading should not be a deliberate, utilitarian move, and it is precisely because of his insistence on this concept that in addition to selling books, he insists on doing free reading public welfare activities, which also makes his business once in trouble. "The main thing about running a brick-and-mortar bookstore is that it is facing economic pressure, and I have not made any money, although I have also wandered, but I have persevered in the wandering. There may not be much material gain, but spiritually there is still a lot of wealth. There is a saying that "love lasts a long time", and no one knows what will change tomorrow. I believe that more and more people will join the ranks of reading and know how to buy good quality books. ”
The shop is full of calligraphy and paintings, and a calligraphy on the beam reads: "Read with life perception, and live with reading." More and more people love to read, but most of them don't necessarily know the correct way to read, which may be Cheng Lei's best interpretation of how to read correctly. "I don't think you need to blindly pursue the quantity of reading, some people read a lot of books but do not absorb them, or they do not apply them to their lives at all, reading books is out of touch with life, and to put it mildly, they read it and become "nerds". The key to being able to read books is to connect the content of the book with work and life, and make reasonable use of it, which is the meaning of our reading. ”
To be a cordial and pure bookstore is the direction that Cheng Lei has been working towards. On World Book Day, he is still guarding his bookstore as usual, ushering in the delivery, gently and calmly accompanying this special day, but it is also an ordinary day for him every day.