I Used to Understand How Bookstores Worked, Not Anymore

Even before I approached the help desk, which they call "Customer Service", I was hesitant, feeling that I was going to waste my time asking where I could find a copy of Binyavanga Wainaina's memoir, but before I changed my direction and walk away from customer service, the clerk noticed me and said, "How can I help you?" 
"I don't know if you guys have a book entitled 'One Day I Will Write about this Place'.  It's brand new, just came out."

She hesitated, which gave me the chance to think that maybe I had got the title wrong, so I was already entering the Africa-is-a-continent debate within myself. '"One Day I will Write about this Continent'", I say, but before she reponds, I correct myself, "'...about this Country.'" I should know the title of this book, of course. But there is a feeling I get when I am in this bookstore, the only big one remaining in my immediate vicinity. It has all these books by the usual names (the famous, bestselling, succesful), but it never seems to stock the books I look for, books by (mostly) African writers, some of which were even published in the United States. It's frustrating.

"Ok, I'm pretty certain it's entitled 'One Day I will Write about this Place'," I say, more confidently. My hand has also already reached for my smartphone, to double check on Google, just in case I got the title wrong, but why even second guess myself? I know this book; I have been following news about it since it came out; I have seen updates on the author's facebook wall; I have read reviews.

The bookseller is now typing things and is looking on the computer screen, concentrating, trying the three possibilities I gave her.."place, country, continent".
    "Who's the author?" she asks.
    "It's a long name," I say. "The last name is Wainaina."
    She looks at me, but she doesn't seem to want me to spell it out, so I don't.
    "Kenyan writer," I add, with a smile.
     The thing is, I have already made up my mind on the fact that I am wasting my time.  I know they don't have it in stock. I already looked in the new book section. I have done something like this many times before. I did it with 'On Black Sister Street' by Chika Unigwe, "An Elegy for Easterly' by Petina Gappah' and many others.  When an African book has won an award, or if it was being talked about in the media, I have come here to find the it, only to be greeted by the reminder that it's not likely to be in stock. While I care about the writers, and while I know them as good writers, and while some are even my friends, that does not necessarily mean that their books will be easy to find in this place. I know I can order it online and locate it easily, but sometimes I want to walk into the only major bookstore in my area and look for these writers--Petina Gappah, Chika Unigwe, Tricia Adoabi Nwaubani, Brian Chikwava, Paul Williams, Seffi Atta, Ama Ata Aidoo--and be able to find them. Not to be told that they are available for online ordering--that I can do from home.

  "It's 'One Day I will Write about this Place'", says the bookseller, but I can already tell by the look on her face that she will tell me that it's not in stock. "I don't have it in stock," she says. "But I can order it for you. It's a hard cover, usually going for $24.00, but if I order it online and have it shipped to your home, you will only pay $13.99".

 My mind is already on why they never seem to stock the books that matter; do they just matter to me? Do they know that they can actually make money on these books, that some of them are the hottest items out there?   I thank the representative for her offer (that's the kind of stuff that earn good customer commendations), but I prefer making my own online orders, etc.

Bookstores never seem to get it right; often I wonder if they are still in the business of selling books. But again, they have plenty on book in their new book sections. There are African writers you are guaranteed to find on the shelves, if they have received some serious publicity, perhaps on CNN, or have appeared in the New York Times, but....the ones I have looked for have been talked about in the New York Times, sometimes have appeared on CNN. So, really, I don't even have the time to figure out how bookstores operate, what makes them carry some books and not others, which are equally popular.

I told the representative that her offer was hard to resist, that I was still browsing, and would think about whether I wanted to have the order processed in the store, or from home.
  "If you are a member (which I used to be, for $25.00 per year), we will waive the $3.99 for shipping to your home.

"That's a good deal," I say, getting ready to walk away.

"But even if you are not, you still would pay only $17.99," she says.

"That's a great deal," I say.

"Way better than paying $24.00," she says.

"Definitely," I say. "I'll think about it."

 I walk back to the new fiction section and immediately notice '1Q84' by Haruki Mukarami and, further down, 'Last Man in Tower' by Aravind Adiga. On the "Newly Arrived" table I find the book about Steve Jobs, and, on the other side of the book island, Alexandra Fuller's 'Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness'. And as I walked to the cafe with these copies, total four, I couldn't help thinking about the irony that I couldn't even find one of Alexandra Fuller's favorite memoirs of all time, 'One Day I will Write about this Place', on the same table I found hers. I don't understand how bookstores work; I used to, but not anymore.