Nice ta Meetcha-- Monday, October 22nd: Nicole, Madeleine, & Ashanti

The holiday season is coming up quicker than you can imagine here in the book world (and, really, any retail environment). We've also had a lot of turnover the last 6 months or so, which you've probably noticed. In order to better acquaint you with all the new faces (and some of the more familiar ones), and so you know just whom to speak with about that uncle of yours who is very particular about the type of science fiction he likes or that cousin who only likes historical romances set in Napoleonic France, I'm taking the next few weeks to feature some of our staff members. 

This week we have three (mostly) lovely ladies Nicole, Madeleine, and Ashanti:

Madeleine--

• When did you start working at BBS?
• May-ish 2009
• What is your role on the floor? 
• Bookseller, Spo-enterer, Calendar Wrangler
• Where are you from originally and what brought you to Boulder?
• A (very) small town in Oregon. My family came here for business and then suddenly college happened.
• What are some of your favorite genres/specific titles?
• I will read (almost) anything, but i love... The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, A Natural History of the Piano by Stuart Isacoff, Postcards from the Brain Museum by Brian Burrell, and all the Sandman Graphic Novels
• What is your favorite thing about working at BBS?
• I love the layout of it -- cozy but not (too) cluttered. Also, it smells like brownies sometimes.
• What is one unique/interesting fact about you that one wouldn't necessarily learn in ordinary conversation?
• When I was six, I used to hide in my school's library and read books about various historical figures and how they died. Also, I like The Ramones, which always surprises people for some reason.

Nicole--

• When did you start working at BBS?
• September of 2011
• What is your role on the floor?
•  I primarily work in the Used Book Department but I also help out with bookselling, the store's Pinterest
• Where are you from originally and what brought you to Boulder?
• I am from the exotic and not-so-distant land of Longmont. I have left this region many times, only to return because it appears to be one of the greatest places on the planet.
• What are some of your favorite genres/specific titles?
• My favorite genre hands down is magical realism. I love falling into a world that appears solid but eventually cracks and gives way to magic. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and any Haruki Murakami are my favorites. I am currently reading Cloud Atlas and enjoying it a lot.
• What is your favorite thing about working at BBS?
• Every day I am exposed to whole books full of new ideas. While shelving or processing books I can take a couple of seconds to get a grasp on what the book stands for and the message that the person writing it was trying to get across. I feel that I have learned more than you would expect by these fly-by encounters with books I would have not otherwise ever laid hands on.
• What is one unique/interesting fact about you that one wouldn't necessarily learn in ordinary conversation?
• I live on a farm.

Ashanti--

• When did you start working at BBS?
• July, 2008 (yes, over four years ago).
• What is your role on the floor?
• I am Princess DOS, which means I benevolently rule over the people of DiskOperatingSystemia. Or rather, that I am one of the Supervisors who fixes things when they are broken, like all the Supervisors do. I also write the schedule for the staff and buy used books for the store.
• Where are you from originally and what brought you to Boulder?
• Birth brought me to Boulder. I graduated from the same High School as Jello Biafra. Yup.
• What are some of your favorite genres/specific titles?
• I want to expound undying, nerdgirly love for Glen Duncan, who has written I Lucifer, and The Last Werewolf. I have read nearly everything by Chuck Palahniuk, (Haunted and Invisible Monsters were my favorites) and as far as genres, I adore sci-fi (The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch or Hamlet in high Klingon) and contemporary literature that doesn't shy away from blending high and low art. I also really like art criticism and history (like The Art of Cruelty by Maggie Nelson) and any graphic novels I can get my hands on (Killing Joke by Alan Moore or Habibi by Craig Thompson)
• What is your favorite thing about working at BBS?
• Taking large steps up and down the stairs. Not having to resort to lifting some lead off the roof of the Holy Name church for cash.
• What is one unique/interesting fact about you that one wouldn't necessarily learn in ordinary conversation?
• Most of my life I've hated mayonnaise, but when I went to Osaka, I ate a ton of onigiri out of convenience stores, which usually have a bit of mayonnaise in the middle and love it! I still make special trips to the Asian Seafood market to get Kewpie Mayonnaise, and my mother cannot stand it.

Keep checking in to meet more booksellers over the weeks to come -- I'm hoping to post these on Mondays (when I have time). Stop in and say hi and meet these lovely folks in person next time you're looking for something to read!