Booked to order

We all have our days, good, bad or indifferent. We speak to men and women across the UAE and ask them about their kind of day. What do they do? What do they think? They tell us, in their own words Today: Ruth Kiernan, co-owner/manager, Bookworm book store

One of the children brings me a cup of herbal tea at half past six. I'm not a morning person, my husband is - he does the breakfasts and lunch boxes and things like that. Then, I've got to look at my e-mail, there's usually complications about book orders and things.

We opened the Bookworm store in December, but we've been doing specialist book fairs for schools around the country since four years before that. If I'm going to a book fair, we (myself and two or three other people) usually leave around 7.30 am.

In addition to Dubai, we cover Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Al Ain, and have even been to Fujairah. We take anywhere from 40 to 60 cartons of books normally, depending on what the schools want.

Prices range from Dhs 6 to Dhs 120, and we've got anywhere between 800 to 1,200 titles. There are no textbooks, but it's everything from reference and non-reference to joke books and books on animals.

Hopefully, if we don't get lost, it's around 9 to 9.30am when we get to the school, and we set up as quickly as possible for the classes to come through. It takes about an hour to 90 minutes to get the books out and displayed as nicely as possible - it's a very frantic time.

I think I've always loved books, and having children, you tend to go through the books they bring home and decide which ones you love. I always have been a bookworm. I'll literally read anything now, although for children I'd recommend J.K. Rowling and Anne Fine. Boys are not as well written for as girls, but Philip Ridley's a good choice.

The kids are usually very well behaved and very enthusiastic. They know how to handle books and have a respect for them. They ask hundreds of questions, the UAE national boys always want books on horses, how to look after a horse, how to draw a horse, and the little girls want anything about fairies. Cookery books are also a huge favourite with the girls.

A lot more children these days appreciate poetry, much more so than when I was growing up. There's just so much out there for them, even Shakespeare has been made much easier - there's a book called Shakespeare Without the Boring Bits and another called Horrible History, a fun way to learn about the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians.

It can be as late as 7.30pm by the time we get home, so it's shawarmas or Chinese or whatever.
If I don't have a book fair, I'm in the shop at different times since we're open from 10 in the morning to 8 at night.

My day is very hectic, because as well as doing the book fairs and book shop I have two teenagers who do every activity known to mankind. The bane of my life is trying to do everything, schedule everything and most importantly, making time for the children. I have a boy and a girl, aged 13 and 16.

In the evening, it's nagging people to do piano practice or whatever. I usually make dinner, because everyone moans if mum hasn't made it. It can be anything, curry or Italian or roast beef - the kids haven't been allowed to be picky eaters.

I literally sift through a pile of catalogues to order books for the store. It was scary when we first opened - it's the same things as fairs, you think no one will come or no one will like the books - but we've been doing well since. The range of books that is available now to children is amazing: Books that make math fun, books about snakes. I certainly don't remember any of that from when I was a child.

After dinner, I'll finish doing some e-mailing or do some personal stuff, maybe have some friends over. My husband's a bookworm too, but not for children's books. We discuss books or pass them on to each other.

With my daughter, it's lovely, she'll tell me "Oh, you've got to read this" or "You've got to get this into the shop". My son, unfortunately, doesn't read as much. I'm usually in bed by 10 or 11, unless we're going out. I don't usually read in bed, I'm usually too tired.