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Health & Fitness

The Book Lady Admits to Palpitations of the Heart Thanks to Famous Readers

Part of the job working at BookHampton is selling to celebs.

One of the fun and frankly odd things about working at BookHampton is looking up and realizing you're face to face with...well, Paul McCartney or Gwyneth Paltrow or Alec Baldwin, or any number of famous politicians, actors, musicians and other artists that pop into BookHampton while they're visiting the East End. It's a bit of dissonance that rattles one's bookseller sangfroid, struggling to remain cool while hand-selling a beloved book to a beloved actor.

Since I didn't grow up in New York, I don't have the inborn ability to shrug off the famous as if they're just anyone. I can fake it pretty well, but it has taken lots of practice. (I still cringe remembering how kind Fred Schneider of the B-52's was when I squee'd at him the first time I rang his sale.) It was pretty rare to brush up against the famous in Detroit, where I grew up; I'm sure the place was just crawling with them, but you don't necessarily recognize people when they're out of context. This is how George Michael and Madonna could walk around Greektown in mid-80's Detroit unmolested: no one really believed it was them.

We all have our favorites – famous folk I call “Holy Grails.” People that you admire on a screen or through a speaker, people that you never consider meeting...until you look across the room and there they are. What do you do? Make them feel awkward by staring? Just approach them and get it out of the way? Leave all a-fluster? (I won't go into the sociology of fame, why fame matters, etc. Everybody has a couple of people they'd love to see in person. Everybody.)

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If you're a customer, you can react however you'd like. Last summer, Courtney Love was shopping in one of our stores, and when she was approached by a couple of women who claimed fandom, (“Name a song,” Love demanded. They couldn't.) she agreed to take pictures with them. Nice, right? Love picked up one of the women, saying “Take the picture, take the picture,” through gritted teeth. She was very nice to the women, who had interrupted her shopping for a shot at Facebook fame.

When one of the cast of Glee was in shopping last year with his equally-famous girlfriend, no one noticed them at all. It wasn't until he was outside the store and the Hampton Jitney -- wrapped in his show's summer replacement advert -- rolled by, that the cameras started flashing. Bad timing for him, great star-sighting for the group of tweens hanging out at .

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But if you're at work you can only take a deep breath and continue to do your job. No pictures, no autographs, just service with a smile and make them feel comfortable. Oh, and sell them books.

This happened to us on Easter. We booksellers were bustling around, straightening and selling, when I looked across the store and there he was. The actor whose voice is as famous as his face. The one I never thought I'd ever have a chance to thank, to speak to. The one who is in my all-time top 5 actors and this includes women. I won't embarrass him by naming him here, but if I did you'd know him. Your kids would know him. Your parents would know him. How he was able to shop quietly in the Hamptons on Easter Sunday is testament to the utter coolness of the population out here. How I was able to hand-sell him books without passing out is a testament to my own kind of goofy cool: I wanted him to like the books I like and, more importantly, come back to the store!

He bought books: a fashion retrospective, a political book and on my recommendation, . “Oh, I know him,” the actor said quietly. I knew he meant he knew him-knew him, too. I rang the actor up, thanked him (again) and said goodbye.

In a few minutes he was gone, but I've been glowing all week. How exciting to get a favorite book into the hands of someone who has provided me with so much entertainment!

Oh, and he came back the next day, too – my day off.

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