NEW LIFE:OH TO BE surrounded by books in your own bookstore. More comfortable than an eiderdown of eiderdowns or daydreaming on the tallest psychiatrist's chair that only Evel Knieval would have wanted to jump over, writes Paul O'Doherty
Louisa Cameron gave up a successful career in IT, fell in love with books and began a journey to opening Raven Books on Carysfort Avenue in Blackrock, Dublin, just a few months back.
She had been working for Fujitsu - the Japanese firm which specialises in semiconductors, air conditioners, computers and telecommunications - and working on a number of different projects including a couple for the British and Irish governments, and others for international pharmaceutical companies and also on the Oyster card, that can be used on most modes of travel on the integrated London transportation system.
"There were mostly quite large projects, where my job title varied from the very techy to building very big server racks. I also did some of the business end of things, working sometimes as a consultant and other times as part of a team on server-client interfaces."
Having taken a few months off, and "gone looking for something different to do" Cameron found herself in America. Montpelier, the state capital of Vermont. And, with a population of about 8,000 people, the smallest state capital in the United States.
"When you say America, most people think Sex in the City or CSI but this is more like Northern Exposure. Not quite a moose on the main avenue, although I have seen deer on Main Street. It's that sort of wonderful place with a unique community."
The road to a new career and way of life began when, in Montpelier, Cameron walked into a bookstore, Rivendell Books - a Tolkien reference from The Lord of the Rings - to buy a journal and walked out with a job
"The owner was talking to his assistant behind the counter discussing whether Dostoevsky 'was light summer reading or not?' I couldn't help joining in and it just went from there."
While Cameron was in the throes of a lifestyle change, the movement from IT into the books trade wasn't as obvious to Cameron herself.
"It wasn't as easy as that. And it didn't involve any apocalyptic thunderclaps. It was a lot more gradual. It's one of those things that's very subtle and gets under your skin. And you suddenly realise that the life that you had before is not necessarily something that you'd be comfortable going back to."
Four years later, Cameron returned to Ireland with a plan tentatively to open her own bookshop.
"I had initially left for a few months, so there were quite a few loose ends to tie up in Dublin. It was one of those decisions that if I felt I was going to stay in Ireland, I needed to be more conscious of it.
"I also felt that the type of bookshop that I was used to in Vermont was not replicated here and that it would be something that would enhance the community, and that, business-wise, there was a niche and that it would work."
Realising that her knowledge of the local book market wasn't as good as what it had become in Montpelier, Cameron took a job working with a large "Irish company in retail and wholesale", that she prefers not to mention by name, to gather a bit of experience of what was happening at home.
The next problem was getting her own place which took time. She finally settled on Blackrock, an area close to home that, importantly, didn't require a commute. Cameron, however, makes the point "that despite all the talk, there is not great support for start-ups which surprised me, coming back from a country that is quite supportive of new enterprise".
Hard work and lots of "highs and lows" Raven Books, which specialises in new and old books, opened during the summer. "Every day is now an adventure and is a great challenge catering for the different types of readers who come in from time to time, including children. People, of course, read for very different reasons and it's very noticeable that the people in Blackrock read a lot of crime across a myriad of titles.
"There's also a huge interest in the classics and even in philosophy."
For the moment, Cameron acknowledges that business is "going alright, although I would hope that all the good wishes I've received since opening would be spoken a little more through wallets."
Cameron who, incidentally, lives with her two cats - Verbal and Velcro - and no television - "I'm careful what I let into my brain" - enjoys "escapism", when it comes to her own reading preferences listing her favourite authors as Cormac McCarthy and Ian McEwan.
So, what makes the perfect bookstore? "I suppose it's very subjective. Great books help, but knowledgeable staff really make a different. Books shouldn't be sold merely as products. They are all stories and windows into having your life expanded, changed and transformed in positive ways. I still remember one famous bookseller telling me 'just remember, it's only a product, you could be selling pencils'. 'No', I screamed to myself, 'a pencil is unlikely to change your life as dramatically as a book'."
A line that's particularly apt for Cameron, going back to that summer in Vermont and the wonder whether Dostoevsky 'was light summer reading or not?' As Dostoevsky could so easily have said of books as of the inquisition: "In the end . . . lay their freedom at our feet and [let them] say to us, 'make us your slaves, but feed us'."