獨立書店經營者
他租下老公寓改裝成書店,書多,但他認得每一本。
客人問:「這種書店能活嗎?」
他說:「我先讓它活著,我再想辦法活。」
愛書的人,不見得賣得好,但留得住熱情。
.𖥔 ݁ ˖
Some places exist not for profit but for pulse.
.
開店的第一天
書櫃排列完畢,招牌還帶點手抖的筆跡
第一位顧客只是走進來看看又走了。
我回說:「我不知道這算不算開始,但我在。」
Shelves set, sign handwritten and shaky.
The first customer came and left.
“I don’t know if that counts as a beginning,”
I said. “But I’m here.”
選書時的猶豫
站在書架前,一本本翻過封底、序言。
不是為了賣,而是為了確定自己想推薦。
「不是書有沒有賣,是我認不認識它。」
I flipped through blurbs and prefaces.
Not for sales,
but to be sure I believed in the book.
“It’s not about what sells,”
I said,
“but what I know.”
第一本被買走的書
是一位陌生人買了詩集。
我說那天不是大賣,但那位客人說了一句「這裡很安靜,我喜歡」。
我記很久。
A stranger bought a book of poems.
Not a big day for sales.
But he said, “It’s quiet here. I like it.”
I remembered that for a long time.
第一次辦讀書會的忐忑
只來了三個人,其中一位是我朋友。
但那天有好好聊一本書,我說:「比起人數,我更想知道有人真的讀了。」
Only three came, one was my friend.
But they talked, really talked, about a book.
“More than numbers, I wanted someone to have read it.”
發現書沒賣也不等於失敗
有本書放了半年沒人動,
直到有天一位高中生翻開第一頁就買下。
也許它只是等對的人,就像我等客人。
A book sat untouched for six months.
One day, a student bought it after one page.
Maybe it was waiting, like I wait for readers.
與快遞司機變熟的時候
每天簽收書、寄出訂單,我開始記得快遞員的名字與鄰居兒子喜歡看的漫畫。
這裡的流動,不是只有書。
I signed deliveries daily, learned the courier’s name,
and what my neighbor's kid liked to read.
The movement here isn’t just books.
面對第一次退書
有顧客說內容看不懂想退,照程序處理,沒有為難。
「每個人都該有改變想法的自由。」
“People should be free, to change their mind.”
生意差的那個月
每天記帳時都皺眉,
想著是不是該辦活動或改書單。
最後只是多擺幾本童書在櫃台,
「要活下來,但不要太違背本意。」
“Survival matters, but not at the cost of purpose.”
被客人問「為什麼開這種店」時
想了一下才回答:「因為我想讓翻書的人,有一個不被打擾的地方。」
“Because readers, deserve a space where no one interrupts them.”
他越來越少用社群平台
不是反感,而是發現那些節奏太快。
他說:「我開的是書店,不是時事廣播。」
He logs on less now.
Not out of dislike, just mismatch.
“I run a bookstore, not a newsfeed.”
他開始在店裡放音樂
剛開店時什麼聲音都沒有,
後來他會播些輕爵士或電影配樂,
不是為了氣氛,是給自己多一點節奏。
「書店也要有呼吸。」
At first, the store was silent.
Then he played soft jazz, film scores.
Not for ambience,
just to help himself breathe.
“Even bookstores need rhythm,” he said.
一開始店裡只有空調的風聲,
還有巷弄裡來往的車聲和人聲⋯
後來我帶了喇叭來,播一些古典樂和純演奏音樂🎺🎻
但心裡其實偷偷幻想,
有那麼一間店,絕然寂靜——
什麼聲音都沒有,像外太空那樣🪐🤤
At first, there was only the sound of the air conditioner breathing,
along with the occasional cars and voices passing through the alley.
Then I brought speaker and started playing classical music and instrumental sessions. 🎺🎻
But deep down, I secretly wished for a store in absolute silence—
where no sound exists at all,
like outer space. 🪐🤤
他搬了一張舊沙發進店裡
有人笑說那看起來像在家裡。
他說:「我想讓人覺得可以
坐著、停一下,是心可以停頓的地方。」
A customer joked it looked like his living room.
“I want people to sit, this is for pausing.”
書店工讀生
她輪的是平日下午班,顧客很少,
所以有空偷偷翻兩頁自己喜歡的書。
有一次她看到一句話:「溫柔不是個性,是選擇。」
那天下班,她回頭對那個總不打招呼的主管點了個頭。
主管沒回,但她還是覺得值得。
.
她每天沒賣幾本書,但有讓自己變得一點點不一樣。
She didn’t sell much,
but she grew, a line at a time.
上架時總偷偷看幾頁,
她說有些書只讀一段也會被安慰。
她每天不確定明天,但書本幫她穩住了今天。
Books can anchor today when tomorrow feels unclear.
《閱讀者群像》
他把第一份薪水拿去買了整套經典小說
沒人送他,他就送自己。
「我養活自己,也餵養自己的閱讀。」
“I feed myself, And my words.”
他買書的速度遠快過他能讀的速度
但每一本他都有理由。
「有些書是為了現在的我,有些是為了還沒來的我。」
“Some for now, some for who I’ll become.”
她總把讀完的書借給別人
想讓它繼續流動。
「一本書不該只陪我一個人。」
“A book should accompany more than one.”
她工作壓力大到失眠
有時凌晨三點醒來,新買的書只能看兩頁。
「怕不看會散掉自己。」
At 3 a.m., she reads two pages.
“Reading, holds me together.”
他每年年底會挑一本書送給自己
紀念還沒放棄過閱讀的自己。
「這是我對那一年說的最後一句話。」
Every year-end, he gifts himself a book.
“This is my last word to the year.”
.
這是一個很多人不敢說出口、卻又真實存在的閱讀者矛盾
我們一邊懷念書店,一邊點擊最低價,
以為之後還能彌補,但有些門一關,就是永遠。
|書店關了以後|
她站在原本有書店的騎樓前。牆還在,字牌拆了。
她忽然想起有一本書,她一直說「有空再去翻翻」。
只是那個「有空」從來沒出現。
She stood in front of what used to be a bookstore.
The walls remained, the name was gone.
She remembered a book,
one she kept saying she’d look at someday.
That “someday” never came.
|她有超過兩百本還沒拆封的書|
每本都是想看的,只是生活太忙、心太亂。
她說:「我只是還沒空打開它們。」
She owns over 200 unread books.
Not unreadable, just untouched.
She said,
“I just haven’t arrived.”
|他很久沒進書店了|
手機滑一滑、按個鍵,書就來了。
他知道那不一樣,但也只能這樣。
He hasn’t stepped into a bookstore in years.
A click is faster, cheaper.
“It’s not the same,” he admits.
“But life isn’t, either.”
|她總是在逛完書店後去網路下單|
對不起的是店,不是書。
她說:「我也想支持他們,但我真的快負擔不起了。」
She browses offline, buys online.
“It’s not the books I betray, it’s the space. But I’m just trying to get by.”
|他一直記得那家書店的木頭味道|
店早關了,但氣味留在記憶裡。
那是他最後一次慢慢翻書的地方。
That bookstore is gone, but the scent of wood and dust remains.
“It was the last place,” he said, “where I had time.”
|她收藏很多獨立出版的小書|
是想守住一點不同。
「我也沒什麼能給這世界的,至少讓這些書多活一點。」
She collects small-press books.
just to preserve.
“I don’t have much to give,” she said,
“but I can help a book live longer.”
|他有時會買書卻不打算讀|
只是想讓某些文字存在他生活裡。
他說:「讀與不讀之間,也有一種陪伴。」
Sometimes he buys books
he doesn’t intend to read.
“Between reading and not, is still presence.”
|她是圖書館的常客|
「書不是我的,所以我能更專心地與它相遇。」
She lives in the library.
“It’s not mine, so I meet it with focus.”
|他曾在書店裡決定離開一段關係|
那本書寫了他一直說不出的話。
他說:「我被書改變,被自己讀懂了。」
In a bookstore, he decided to leave.
A sentence gave him words he didn’t know he had.
He said, “I just finally heard myself.”
|她逛書店的速度很慢|
一小時可能只看三本書。
「不是我挑書,是它們挑我。」
She moves slowly.
Three books in an hour.
“I’m not the one choosing, they pick me.”
|他經常在書店裡發呆|
坐著不看書也不滑手機。
他說:「我來不是找書,是找回一種可以安靜的感覺。」
He doesn’t browse.
Just sits.
“Not for the books, for the silence.”
|她經常在上班時幻想|
她/33歲/從小夢想開一間書店,現在是圖書館約聘人員
她說其實還是每天在書堆裡,只是這些書不屬於她,也不能販售。
有時她幻想,有人問她:「妳會推薦哪一本?」
她便偷偷在書裡夾一張紙條:你今天需要的,剛好是這一本。
She works among books but none are hers.
Sometimes she hides notes inside: “This one is for you, today.”
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