The Men in the Bookstore

This week I’m going to tell sort of a fun story. It isn’t a story about the supernatural at all, because nothing happens that isn’t perfectly natural – that is, of this world. Yet I have never been able to explain what happened. I’m hoping someone out there might have some good ideas.

The event took place I believe around the summer of 1979. At the time I was browsing the shelves of the Place Bell Bookstore in Ottawa. I haven’t been there in years, but at the time it specialized in travel books, but it also had a very good collection of classic works of fiction. I couldn’t help noticing two men that were in the store. They seemed to be moving methodically through the fiction section and already had picked up quite a few books. As they got closer I could hear their conversation. Actually, it wasn’t a conversation at all, only one man was speaking. And this is essentially what he said:

“This book is Nineteen Eighty-four. It sold such-and-such million copies. It was written by George Orwell. He is the same author that wrote Animal Farm, which you read last week. You will enjoy it.”

The book was then placed in the arms of the other man along with his other books. The first man would then continue:

“This is A Tale of Two Cities. It sold such-and-such millions of copies. It was written by Charles Dickens. He is the same author that wrote Oliver Twist, which you read last week. You will enjoy it.”

And so this continued until the two men accumulated a mountain of books – let’s say 30 – and then took them to the cash to buy. As I recall I had paid for my books just before them. I had wanted to return afterwards to ask the cashier if he knew what was up with these guys, but then thought better of it for what ever reason. As usual, I now sort of regret that decision as I have never been able to come up with a satisfactory explanation of what happened that day.

The questions that need to be answered to explain this event are:

How is it that a person so keen on reading could have never of heard of any of these famous books and authors before?

If this was a foreign student or immigrant trying to learn English, or even a man recovering from a comma, what was the rush? Why did so many books have to be read each week, and why classic fiction? Wouldn’t the newspaper be just as good and more informative?

Is it even possible to read that many books in a week?

Why was it important to know how many books were sold?

If the man was learning English literature why would he only be told “you will enjoy it?” Wouldn’t some comment on its literary merit be expected?

Why was the other man taking him to the store to buy the books? Couldn’t the reader have got the books by himself? Wouldn’t a reading list and a library card have been good enough?

If they were aliens from another planet doing a crash course on human culture would they be doing this so conspicuously?

Any way folks, if you have an explanation I would love to hear it.