Nice ta Meetcha Monday, 11/26/12

Hullo there everybody. Hope that everyone has settled stomachs after Thanksgiving and that it was an enjoyable holiday. Here's is another weekly installment of Nice ta' Meetcha Mondays. This week, we are only featuring two employees, but they are fantastic: Hayden & the man with the plan, Arsen.

Hayden Griggs --

• When did you start working at BBS? 
  
  •  I started in August of 2012 
• What is your role on the floor?
• To ensure the happiness and well-being of our customers and make sure that those who come into our store keep loving literature as much as I do. Down with Amazon.
• Where are you from originally and what brought you to Boulder?
  
  • I am from Boulder, born and raised.  
• What are some of your favorite genres/specific titles?
  
  • Victorian era fin-de-siecle literature (HG Wells, Oscar Wilde, Jules Verne, Bram Stoker, etc.) and Science Fiction and Fantasy (Orson Scott Card, Neil Gaiman, etc.) My favorite books are Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray and Patrick Suskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. You also can't go wrong with Arthur Conan Doyle.

• What is your favorite thing about working at BBS?
• The booksellers. Everyone who works here works here for a reason. We love literature.
• What is one unique/interesting fact about you that one wouldn't necessarily learn in ordinary conversation?
• Claymation gives me nightmares.

Arsen -- 

• When did you start working at BBS?
•  September of 1992
• What is your role on the floor?
• I am the buyer of all new books in the store. The arbiter of literary newness. I keep the shelves fresh and updated. Also, I answer oddball questions with very little background information, ie: what is that book by that one woman who wrote that other book and I think the cover was green? 
• Where are you from originally and what brought you to Boulder?
• I am from Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, and ironically enough it was brotherly love that brought me here. A good friend lived out here and visiting the area made me love it.
• What are some of your favorite genres/specific titles?
• Literary fiction, confessional poetry, and first-person baseball history books. Jewish American writers such as Philip Roth or Bernard Malamud are some of my favorites because it is serious-themed literature that can incorporate humor. Also, Junot Diaz, Zadie Smith, and Jhumpa Lahiri are fantastic. 
  
• What is your favorite thing about working at BBS?
• There's something new every day! Every 10 seconds for that matter.
• What is one unique/interesting fact about you that one wouldn't necessarily learn in ordinary conversation?
•  I got drunk with Gillian Flynn and at the same party proceeded to lie to Barack Obama about having read his book. Also, I was a sportswriter for a few years when I lived in Maryland, before moving to Colorado.