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Finding a Book at a Bookstore

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 257: Finding a Book at a Bookstore.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 257. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

If you visit our website at eslpod.com, you can download a Learning Guide to this episode that contains all of the vocabulary, the definitions, additional sample sentences of the words we use, additional explanations of the words we use, cultural notes, and a complete transcript of this episode. We also have a ESL Podcast Store that has some additional premium courses that you may be interested in.

Our dialogue today is about a customer going into a store, talking to one of the employees at the store, and asking him where certain kinds of books are. He’s in a bookstore, of course! Let’s get started.

[start of story]

Clerk: Can I help you find something?

Adrian: Yes. Can you tell me where the non-fiction books are?

Clerk: Are you looking for hardbacks or paperbacks?

Adrian: I’m not sure. I think hardbacks.

Clerk: Well, the non-fiction new releases are at the front of the store. The nonfiction section is behind the fiction shelves on your right. The hardbacks are on the top shelves and the paperbacks on the bottom ones. Is there a specific book I can help you find?

Adrian: I’m looking for an old book and I’m not sure of the title. It’s something like, “The Literary Crisis.”

Clerk: Do you know the name of the author?

Adrian: No, I don’t. I saw it mentioned online and I actually wrote down the ISBN, but I can’t find it now.

Clerk: Well, if it’s an old book, it may be out-of-print, but let me look it up in our system. If it was a bestseller at one time, there’s a chance that it’s still in print. Let me check…Okay, here it is. It was published in 1982, and unfortunately, it is out-of-print. You may want to try a used bookstore, like Bookwoman’s down the street.

Adrian: Thanks, I’ll give them a try. I’m also looking for a biography. Can you tell me where they are?

Clerk: Sure. The biographies are behind the reference section over there. Let me know if you need any more help.

Adrian: Thanks. I appreciate it.

[end of story]

Our dialogue begins with the clerk, the person who works at the bookstore, asking Adrian, the customer, “Can I help you find something?” And Adrian says, “Yes. Can you tell me where the non-fiction books are?” Notice that he uses the expression “Can you tell me” instead of just saying, “Where are the nonfiction books.” Can you tell me, or could you tell me, are considered more polite - a nicer way to ask a question.

Non-fiction books are books about things that are true. The opposite of nonfiction is fiction, “fiction.” Fiction books are imaginary - they’re invented - they’re not real. Non-fiction are books about things that are real.

The clerk asks Adrian, “Are you looking for hardbacks or paperbacks?” There are two kinds of books that you can get. A hardback, “hardback,” book is a book that has a hard cover, one that does not bend easily, so it is straight and it doesn’t bend; that would be a hardback or a hardback book. A paperback, “paperback,” is a book that has flexible paper on the cover. So, the cover of the book - the outside of the book - is made of a soft, flexible paper; it isn’t hard.

Adrian answers the question by saying, “I’m not sure” - I’m not sure if I am looking for hardbacks or paperbacks. Notice we can use those words as both adjectives and nouns. So, I can say, “I’m looking for a paperback,” or “I’m looking for a paperback book,” it means the same thing.

The clerk then says, “Well, the non-fiction new releases are” in “the front of the store.” New releases, “releases,” are books that have recently been published - they became available very recently, in the last month or maybe two months.

Bookstores usually put new releases in the front of the store because those are the ones that people are probably most interested in buying.

“The non-fiction section,” the clerk goes on, “is behind the fiction shelves on your right.” We’ve already explained what fiction books are. “The hardbacks are on the top shelves and the paperbacks on the bottom ones.” The shelves, “shelves,” are the, usually, pieces of wood that you put the books on to hold the books.

The clerk then asks, “Is there a specific book I can help you find?” Adrian says, “I’m looking for an old book and I’m not sure of the title.” The title, “title,” is the name of a book or a magazine or an article. There are several different meanings to that word, title; take a look at our Learning Guide for today for some more information.

Adrian says, “It’s something like ‘The Literary Crisis.’“ The clerk then asks, “Do you know the name of the author?” The author, “author,” is the person who wrote the book.

Adrian says, “No. I saw it mentioned online” - on the Internet - “and I wrote down the ISBN, but I can’t find it now.” ISBN (all in capital letters) stands for, or means, International Standard Book Number. This is a number that is given a book when it is published. It is, what we would call, a unique number, meaning it is only for that book - no other book has that same number. This is a number that bookstores and libraries use to identify, and locate, and order books.

The clerk says, “Well, if it’s an old book, it may be out-of-print.” The expression out-of-print, “print,” means that the company that published the book is not making any new copies of the book; it isn’t in print any more. The opposite of out-of-print is in print; that means the company is still making the book and you can still buy it in a bookstore. But when it is out-of-print, that means the company is not printing any more of those books - not making any more of those books.

The clerk says, “let me look it up in our system.” To looks something up means to search for something, usually in a computer, a reference book - a book that gives you information about things. You’re trying to find something, usually a fact or, in this case, a piece of information about the book, on their computer.

“If it was a bestseller at one time,” the clerk says, “there’s a chance that it’s still in print.” A bestseller, “bestseller,” you may know, means a very popular book. “Harry Potter” is a best-selling book - a bestseller - in many countries. The “Harry Potter books, they have been translated into many languages. Those books are “still in print,” meaning the company that makes the book is still making and printing new copies.

The clerk says that she found the book in their computer system. She tells Adrian that the book “was published in 1982.” When we say a book is published, coming from the verb to publish, “publish,” we mean that it was made or produced, and then sold to other people - to the public, we would say, to the people who would want to buy the book. So, a book being published means that the company makes copies, they send them to bookstores, and people can buy them.

Well, the book Adrian is looking for “was published in 1982,” and it’s “out-of-print.” The clerk suggests that Adrian “try a used bookstore.” Used, “used,” means old. We often use the expression secondhand, meaning someone has already bought the book new, and now they are selling that book to someone else; that would be a used book. You can have a used furniture store, or a used musical instrument store; anything that you could sell again that isn’t new would be called used. A used car is a car that is not new that someone else is selling after they bought it new.

Adrian says, “Thanks,” to the clerk. He says, “I’ll give them a try.” To give something a try means to do something to see if it will work - to try to do something - to do something and see if you like it; that’s to give something a try. You can say, “I’m going to give this restaurant a try” - I’m going to go there, it’s my first time and I hope that I will like it - I’m going to give it a try.

Adrian then says that he’s “looking for a biography,” a book about the life of a person. “Can you tell me where they are?” The clerk says that “The biographies are behind the reference section.” The reference, “reference,” section are places where they have books such as dictionaries or encyclopedias. This would be a place where you sell books that have lots of different kinds of information about specific topics.

In a library, they have a reference section where they have dictionaries, encyclopedias, telephone books and, often, books that you can’t take out of the library; you must use them in the library. Those are sometimes called reference books. Reference has a couple of different meanings; once again, take a look at our Learning Guide for this episode for additional explanations.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal rate of speech.

[start of story]

Clerk: Can I help you find something?

Adrian: Yes. Can you tell me where the non-fiction books are?

Clerk: Are you looking for hardbacks or paperbacks?

Adrian: I’m not sure. I think hardbacks.

Clerk: Well, the non-fiction new releases are at the front of the store. The nonfiction section is behind the fiction shelves on your right. The hardbacks are on the top shelves and the paperbacks on the bottom ones. Is there a specific book I can help you find?

Adrian: I’m looking for an old book and I’m not sure of the title. It’s something like, “The Literary Crisis.”

Clerk: Do you know the name of the author?

Adrian: No, I don’t. I saw it mentioned online and I actually wrote down the ISBN, but I can’t find it now.

Clerk: Well, if it’s an old book, it may be out-of-print, but let me look it up in our system. If it was a bestseller at one time, there’s a chance that it’s still in print. Let me check…Okay, here it is. It was published in 1982, and unfortunately, it is out-of-print. You may want to try a used bookstore, like Bookwoman’s down the street.

Adrian: Thanks, I’ll give them a try. I’m also looking for a biography. Can you tell me where they are?

Clerk: Sure. The biographies are behind the reference section over there. Let me know if you need any more help.

Adrian: Thanks. I appreciate it.

[end of story]

The script for today’s podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse.

If you have a question or comment, you can email us. Our email address is eslpod@eslpod.com.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2007.