Is Baarn a reading village?
‘Yes, of course. Baarn is the perfect place to run a bookshop. Our clientele is generally highly educated, interested and has some money to spend.
‘In addition, we are here in a wooded area with many campsites nearby, such as the Lage Vuursche. In the summer, people who camp there come to the bookstore as an outing. Every day there is someone who marvels at the atmosphere and exclaims: how beautiful it is here! That’s why I prefer to work in the summer, it’s so much fun to experience.’
Do you sell other types of books during the summer season?
‘Oh, no! And besides: I don’t easily turn up my nose at books. We don’t all need to read about the fortunes of the Spanish Inquisition. Just read what you like and enjoy. In the summer people often buy a stack and often there is a John Grisham or Lucinda Riley in between. It is ultimately and above all about reading pleasure. In that sense I agreed with Ilja Gort who placed an advertisement in NRC and wrote: ‘Do you think that with this haughty look down on books, which do not directly have the ambition to win the PC Hooft Prize, you contribute to a better world?’ People who have fun keep reading. I’m not with you at 12 either War and peace started. You grow towards things when you read.
‘I always find it a great responsibility when people ask me for holiday book tips. Then I think: ‘Oh, help I hope they don’t end up cursing me in faraway Dubai.’ Anyway, I do it in good conscience.’
Which books are you selling well this summer?
‘Every bookstore has its favorite books and often also the audience that connects to them, but of course there are also national trends. Of course we participate in the hype surrounding Marcel van Roosmalen. Or Anjet Daanjes The song of stork and dromedary. Those are the usual suspects this summer, we also sell well.
‘But specifically in Baarn, for example, the book by Vita Sackville-West, A left life, very good. Customers love it and now we get the phenomenon of people giving it as gifts. It is a beautifully bound book. A beautiful story of a woman who looks back on her life and her marriage. It has been number 1 in our top 10 for weeks now.
‘By the way, it’s nice to mention that as a bookstore we have a reputation that if something becomes a hit here, it then spreads like wildfire.’
Are there any notable trends in the book trade?
‘Books about nature have always been good in our bookshop, we have many bird-interested people here. But since corona, there has been a bombardment of nature and climate books. For example, Marijn O’Hanlon, the Dutch wife of British travel writer Redmond O’Hanlon, has written a book about her garden in Drenthe, A Year in the Garden of White Stork Farmhouse: Stork Diary. Another example is The book of the little animals by Kirsten Dorrestijn, about the Dutch fauna.
The Hiker’s Happiness, a classic by British travel writer Stephen Graham (1884-1975) has recently been reissued. But also Adam Nicholson, the grandson of Vita Sackville-West, wrote a nature book: The sea is not made of water, about life between the tides on the Scottish rocky coast. And recently appeared Even if everything ends by Jens Liljestrand, a climate thriller, set in a Sweden ravaged by forest fires, which is turning society upside down. Not a very cheerful book, but impressive.’
Do customers specifically ask about books that take place at their holiday destination?
‘Certainly, people like to read books that say something about the local colour. Land of echoes by Mark H. Stokmans, we recommend Spain-goers. A family history against the background of the Spanish Civil War, Franco and the Second World War. My favorite for in the Spanish sun is Native country by Fernando Aramburu, from 2019, an amazing book about two friends and their families. With a victim of ETA in one family and a perpetrator in the other family. In short chapters he strings that story together with small beads. A book you don’t want to put down.
‘And Song of the mistral by Olivier Mak-Bouchard, who won the French bookstore prize last year, is perfect for the French Provence.’
What do you put in your suitcase yourself?
We have already been on holiday, but during the May holiday I read Leonora in the morning light, the debut by Michaela Carter, about the love between two artists: the British Leonora Carrington and the German Max Ernst who met in 1937. Wonderfully well written, with the sun splashing off the page and at the same time telling a heavy history.
‘In addition: The big circle by Maggie Shipstead, a nice story about a young actress who plays Marian Graves, an aviator who lived a hundred years earlier. You keep flying back and forth between their lives. A delicious thick pill that you want to keep reading.
The latter also applies to The Wizard by Irish author Colm Tóibín, who has won numerous literary awards. An epic novel based on the life of Thomas Mann. Splendid!’
Who is Gerda Aukes
Gerda Aukes (62) will become a panel member of the Volkskrant Boekenraad after the summer. ‘I have been working in the book trade for twenty-seven years. I once started at the CPNB, the marketing agency for the book industry. When I became a mother, I switched to this bookshop in Baarn. I have been working here for 25 years now, the last 11 of which as a manager. The core of business leadership is purchasing and sales. And thus guarantee the identity of the bookshop.
‘Den Boer was built in 1887 as a bookshop. An Art Nouveau building inside and out, it is a monument. When customers first come in here they are often overwhelmed. And writers too. Spanish author Jesús Carrasco once signed the bookstore when he was here for a readers afternoon. And British comedian, actor and writer Michael Palin said when he was here: ‘This is what a bookstore should be like when I get to heaven!’