{"id":557,"date":"2012-06-13T10:22:57","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T10:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=557"},"modified":"2012-06-13T11:13:05","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T11:13:05","slug":"for-the-love-of-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2012\/06\/13\/for-the-love-of-books\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Love of Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Tucked away in an upstairs department with a backyard entrance accessible from Klostergade in central \u00c5rhus, a lady and a black cat make a living selling b\u00f8ger<\/strong> (books) in French, Spanish, Italian, English and German. I met them for a chat.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My name is Genevi\u00e8ve Munck, I\u2019m French and came to \u00c5rhus in 1970, as I got married to a Dane. A year later I started working in an academic bookstore. I\u2019ve always had a great interest in books. (An uncle of mine in France is a bookseller too.) I\u2019ve got a daugther, a grandchild and a cat \u2013 that\u2019s my life, I guess!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the name of the cat?<\/strong><\/p>\n

She\u2019s called Hortence with an H!<\/p>\n

How do you experience Danes\u2019 relationship to books?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny \u2013 everybody reads in Denmark, but almost nobody reads a lot<\/em>. In France there are few people reading books, but those who do, read much more than you do here!
\nI think people read less literature now because of all the information they\u2019re forced to relate to at work or school. You keep getting mails till your head starts boiling, and you\u2019ve got such an easy access to all kinds of information that the biggest problem has become how to skip all the superfluous bits. When that\u2019s done, you haven\u2019t got much energy left to read.<\/p>\n

How do you experience Danes\u2019 relationship to foreign languages?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Danes think that the whole world speaks English. But that\u2019s not true! I\u2019ve been to a town in Italy with Danes who were suprised that the locals did not speak English. French, on the other hand, worked just fine.
\nI have no problem with Danes viewing English as the only language worth learning. But it does bother me when Danes constantly use English expressions in their own language. Some people tell me that Danish is a poorer language with fewer words. I just ask them to explain why Ordbog over det danske sprog<\/em> (Dictionary of the Danish Language<\/em>) contains more than 27 tomes! It\u2019s the Danes\u2019 own fault if they don\u2019t use the Danish words.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What do you keep at your bedside table?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t got a bedside table! (She laughs.)<\/em> But I\u2019m always busy reading books in French, so I can tell people what\u2019s worth reading. When you don\u2019t have a lot of time, it is important not to waste it. In my opinion, a bookseller should be a kind of filter.<\/p>\n

Can you recommend a book to people interested in Danish culture?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know a Danish novel that just explains everything. If a book is trying to explain something, it\u2019s just a guide, not a real book. When I came here, I read the things that people were reading back then: Martin A. Hansen, Johannes V. Jensen<\/a>. Unfortunately, I haven\u2019t read any modern Danish literature, since I\u2019ve got to read in French. With 100, 150 books a year there is a limit to what you can achieve.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best thing about being a bookseller?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That you get to read a lot of books!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Tucked away in an upstairs department with a backyard entrance accessible from Klostergade in central \u00c5rhus, a lady and a black cat make a living selling b\u00f8ger (books) in French, Spanish, Italian, English and German. I met them for a chat. What\u2019s your story? My name is Genevi\u00e8ve Munck, I\u2019m French and came to \u00c5rhus…<\/p>\n

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