One of my favorite customers came in yesterday. She's a little challenging to deal with due to having some health issues that make it hard for her to speak clearly. When she calls, it's hard to understand her, though she's cheerful and pleasant to deal with. Here is the blog post about an interaction I had with her...
http://notthenewyorktimesbookreview.blogspot.com/2011/05/customers-22.html
Yesterday when she came in I greeted her warmly. She smiled and seemed glad to see me as well.
Then she noticed the book I had next to my register. We are doing a holiday book drive for a local elementary school and they specifically requested bilingual books. I had La Telerana de Carlota (CHARLOTTE'S WEB in Spanish) on a plexi display easel.
"That's an insult, is what that is," she said, her smile now gone. "Unbelievable. Why would they DO that? I wonder what he would have thought about seeing his book in Spanish," she said, pointing at the author's name.
"Maybe he would have been glad that more kids could read his story," I said. She didn't seem to hear me.
"There's no benefit to being English any more." She shook her head. "It's an insult."
I finished her transaction and thanked her for shopping with us.
wow.
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Wow. That's... well, I'll stick with baffling. And sad. I really admire the aplomb and tact you showed in responding to her.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for White, but I think I would be flattered if I wrote a book and someone wanted to publish it in another language. (I'd also welcome the income for copies sold in that language. Silly me, I know.)
The author whose blog I follow is always excited to announce a new translation or international cover and recently went on a tour to promote a foreign language edition of one of his books. He doesn't speak for all authors, either, as I'm sure he'd be quick to say, but that seems more in line with how I'd expect an author to feel.
SherryH