For Old Times’ Sake
It’s one of the rare sunny afternoons in Klaipeda, Lithuania. The old-fashioned ticking clock of local manufacturing shows 3:04 pm. Larisa Šarafutdinova’s official working day finishes at 4, but she does not hope to enjoy the weather any soon. In front of her, there is a pile of newly-arrived books in need: of indexing, pricing, repairs. And attention. Most of them do not receive enough.
“I simply value books,” explains Šarafutdinova. “People come, and I’m sitting here swarming with an old book left by someone negligently. It was torn, and I am glueing it, sticking it up… They ask, ‘Why are you messing around with it? Isn’t it easier to throw it away?’ And then they notice, ‘Oh, Pushkin! Oh, the year of publishing! Oh, that illustrator! Indeed!’ “
Larisa Šarafutdinova shares about her love for the books while looking outside the window: at the city whose people she is hoping to serve. Photo by Anastasiya Pantsialei.
Šarafutdinova works in “Retro Knygos,” the only secondhand bookshop in Klaipeda. Not only the owner but also the accountant, cleaner, programmer and sales assistant, Šarafutdinova can’t afford to hire more help. “With the Internet and electronic books’ growing popularity, [the shop] is not a business anymore. It is a hobby,” says Šarafutdinova. However, she cannot imagine shutting it down.
“The goal of this shop is to give the second, third, fourth, and fifth life to a book.”
In “Retro Knygos,” customers can choose from a few hundreds books, the oldest of which date back to the 19th century. Photo by Anastasiya Pantsialei
Larisa Šarafutdinova’s big part of the job is to fill in the Internet catalog of her shop. Photo by Anastasiya Pantsialei.
She loves antiques and believes in their unique aura and energy. “For example, behind my back, there is a painting of the view on Red Square in Moscow. When I hung it there, it changed how I felt sitting, even though it is behind me.” She laughs, “Customers tell me not to sell it, that’s how much it fits here.”
Šarafutdinova values old books: children’s – for promoting kindness and having good illustrations; Soviet technical literature – for clarity. “New books can be amazing, too. It depends! In Klaipeda, we have Kęstutis Demereckas’ publishing,” she says. These books are published in small circulations and sold quickly, for example, Afterwar Klaipeda. Šarafutdinova says, “I sold the last copy of it, my personal one, to one Japanese. Even they are interested in the history of Klaipeda.”
Šarafutdinova learnt to read when she was five. Since then, she has been in love with books. “I have been wearing the glasses from the 3rd grade,” she remembers. “My mom did not allow me to read as much [as I wanted to], and I was reading with a flashlight under the blanket. I was carrying the books in full bags from the library and bringing them back the next day.” Šarafutdinova’s mom only wondered when she managed to read them all?
In “Retro Knygos,” there are books on many topics and in several languages. On the top of the pile, you can see “Walking in sunny Odessa,” in Russian. Photo by Anastasiya Pantsialei.
25 years ago, Šarafutdinova discovered Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Surprisingly for her, recently her daughter asked her to read the book. Šarafutdinova says, “I understood that something happened. She needed support. She doesn’t like complaining, and she never shared with me about what happened. In every person’s life, there is something theirs. They carry it all their lives with them. In my life, it was this book,” says Šarafutdinova. “It taught me not to give up.”
Growing up in the family of a nurse and a mariner in Klaipeda, Šarafutdinova had many things in her life to give up upon. She never did. As a kid, she loved ballet, music, and art. Her pursuits led her to apply to the Art Academy in Minsk, Belarus. She was rejected by the admissions’ committee and decided to study perspective at the time Road Transport Operation in Riga, Latvia. At that time, her father died, and she worked in sales to provide for herself. Eventually, in 2007, she decided to open “Retro Knygos,” already having some experience in book selling.
The oldest book Šarafutdinova keeps in her shop is this Bible from the 19th century. She is not ready to sell it or even exhibit it to customers yet. Photo by Anastasiya Pantsialei
Šarafutdinova is now a mother of two and a grandmother of four. She advises her children to find the job they love, not the one that pays well. “Every person should have something they love doing. Without a partner, a person feels lonely. Without a passion, a person feels unhappy,” she says. “These diplomas gather dust in the tables. They are not the most important. You have to develop in something that you fall in love with, your stream of life.”
Šarafutdinova dreams about good future for her children and grandchildren, and people around her give her hope for it. “The youth now tries to read in Russian,” she says. “They read Dostoevsky, Chehov, Bulgakov. They all have their interests. Not everyone reads. Some of them do photography, something else. They are sapid and interesting. That’s how I see the youth and people here. Yes, what a good public.”