Once upon a time, there was a book lady in Berlin from whom I ordered a few German books and then some more and then we became friends. Do you remember Helene Hanff's "84 Charing Cross Road"? Not the same but similar.
That was many, many years ago and I haven't ordered any books for a very long time, and not just because the book lady closed her shop and stopped selling books. Instead, she now wrote her own. Her last magnum opus is her autobiography "I - My Life - Until Now".
She sent me a copy and I devoured it in one sitting; after all, I got a mention in it as well: "When the shop sales began to drop off, I started to sell books on the Internet which went well and world-wide. I even received an order from Australia for a copy of Fritz Delfgen's [sic - it was Heinz Helfgen's] 'Ich radle um die Welt'. Through this buyer I also met his brother who lives in Kiel and we are in touch to this day."
Her last words are: "My years are numbered [she turned 85 last month] and I look back over my childhood and over 41 years of marriage. In what little time remains I I shall continue to disappoint my fellow human beings."
Ah, but you didn't disappoint me at all, Renate, as your book makes for exciting reading. Thank you for sending me a copy; also for your previous master piece, "Geschichten aus Püttelkow und Anderswo".