My musings today are inspired by a bookstore customer whom I helped earlier this week. I adore the customers and try to provide the best book therapy experience. As a bonus, I added some musical musings, which may be a new feature. 4 minute 24 second read.   

Image of a stack of books and colorful paper flowers.

How can an ordinary day transform you?

The bells on the door jangled. A customer arrived and rushed in from the winter chill outside.

“I’m going to need your help,” the customer said. Her tone sounded desperate.

My expectations for seeing any customers in the bookstore on a cold Tuesday afternoon were low. But there she stood, an ode to St. Valentine’s Day dressed in a cheery sweater with red, white, and pink hearts. Beaded dangling white heart earrings set off her round, bespeckled face.

I waited to learn how my book matchmaking skills could serve her.

“Do you have old hardback books with paper like this?” she asked, putting a torn page on the counter. Her nails glittered and distracted me. Every nail was red, sparkling silver, or pink.

An unusual request, I thought. But I was game.

Then she explained the project. She was teaching her friends how to make origami flowers with pages from books. Her goal was to get a cheap alternative paper to origami stock. She showed me how the paper she held was the right weight and size.

“Where’s the poetry section?”

I didn’t peg her as a reader of poetry. The look on my face likely showed signs of distress, as if I would betray the books by telling her.   

“These books are for me. I’m not going to destroy them.”     

I believed her and pointed her to the two shelves behind her. She selected several books and soon had a stack. A slim poetry book with a colorful cover caught her attention. The title was slanted as if written in a child’s hand.

“This book isn’t for children. Just proves that you can’t judge a book by its cover,” she said.

I nodded. I realized I had misjudged her. She looked like the type who would spend time with instructional craft books and romance novels.  

Soon, she remembered her original mission: Find old hardback books. Because she told me she didn’t want to spend much money, I led her to the yellow-sticker paperback discount rack.

“Too small,” she said.

Then we roamed around the rest of the store, accessing the hardback paper stock options. I felt lost. Nothing was working for her. Next, I called the store manager who was out, and asked for her advice about hardbacks for the origami project.

Meanwhile, the customer showed me photos; she was talented. She was trying to make it a business. I later found out why.

Her phone kept dinging. She was besieged with messages from former colleagues telling her the latest bad company news. Tears welled up as she told me her story. After nearly 40 years of service, the company laid her off. Her experience was awful and worse, mismanaged. The memory was raw and fresh. She cried and talked. I listened.

My manager, whom I’d called earlier with the request, had returned. The manager offered to show our creative customer the stash of books ready for recycling. One such book was ignored, unsold for 500 days. Because the store had limited storage space, we could not afford to keep excess inventory.   

The woman, who I was now on a first name basis with, returned with six thick hardback free-for-the-taking books. Her eyes smiled. She still wanted to browse.

“Do you have any sheet music?”

Although she said she played the piano, and even recommended a teacher, she wanted the “note paper” to make flowers.

This request was a longshot. Luckily, I found several songbooks, including one with TV shows, and another with classical works by French composers.  She seemed pleased and tucked the French songbook under her arm.

Then she frowned. Another text message. She decided not to respond. Instead, she chose book therapy.

Two hours of book therapy later, she left with a grocery bag filled with freebies and purchases. Afterwards, I thought about our exchange. She planned to create art from old, discarded books. Like the books she had saved, she needed to create a new identity, too. She needed to shed the work which had defined her and find her happiness and purpose — as an artist.   

 ***

Musical Notes

Speaking of artists, Billy Joel released a new song, “Turn the Lights Back on.” It’s his first release in 17 years. Joel delivers beautiful piano flourishes that accompany a compelling story. Lyrics that speak to me are: “Did I wait too long/To turn the lights back on?” As I drive along, his voice and questions haunt me.

What if I waited too long to start writing again, so long that I no longer recognize my voice as a writer? Had it disappeared? Not completely but my words are tilted toward corporate messaging. A holdover from my former writing role. I am a recovering writer, striving to hear my voice. Writing and struggling as I write what I want.

As a songwriter, Joel knows these demons. He tells us how the music industry works and the struggle to compromise, conform, and concede to make it as a star. In fact, that’s the topic of “The Entertainer,” one of my favorites way back in 1974.  

Dolly Parton’s recent rendition of “The Entertainer” honors the song. It’s superb. She adds Joel’s song as one of the bonus tracks following “Rock Star,” which, according to the NY Times, is the highest-charting album of the 78-year-old singer’s career.  

While Parton has a long-established career, I’m also listening to new artists. Of those listed in this column, I vote for The War and Treaty for the soulful songs, which is the type of music I will always love. For stellar hard-hitting lyrics, it’s Jellyroll winning the day.

The smooth sound of Coco Jones fit her music. She’s one to watch. And I felt myself doing new moves on the treadmill to the music of Fred again. These artists are outstanding, and it is hard to single out a few.

Then, I’m also listening to the comfort tracks of my playlist that my partner and I are building. It’s a wonderful mashup of blues, jazz, soul, country, rock, indie, zydeco, and plenty of genre-bending music to my ears. We started our playlist, and I am loving it.

Here’s the NY Times column gifted to you. Selections cited above and others are available on Spotify or Apple Music. Enjoy!