The Diary of a Bookseller
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Love, Nina meets Black Books: a wry and hilarious account of life in Scotland's biggest second-hand bookshop and the band of eccentrics and book-obsessives who work there
'The Diary Of A Bookseller is warm (unlike Bythell's freezing-cold shop) and funny, and deserves to become one of those bestsellers that irritate him so much.' (Mail on Sunday)
'Utterly compelling and Bythell has a Bennett-like eye for the amusing eccentricities of ordinary people ... I urge you to buy this book and please, even at the risk of being insulted or moaned at, buy it from a real live bookseller.' (Charlotte Heathcote Sunday Express)
Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ...
In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With wit and humility, Bythell, owner of a used bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland, chronicles a year 2014, specifically in the life of a bookseller. In addition to describing the routine of managing his books-and-mortar store, he examines the plusses of virtual selling through Amazon (a much wider audience) as well as the minuses (negative reviews from customers with unrealistic expectations). A typical entry annotating his days might read: "Online orders: 6... Books found: 5... Till total: 95.50... 6 customers." He shares amusing stories, such as how his staff creatively categorize books (such as placing a book called Alien Sex: The Body and Desire in Cinema in the shop's theology section), as well as bookstore lore (George Orwell once worked in a bookshop, and immediately knew he didn't want to be a bookseller). Tales of cheap customers abound, such as a couple in their 60s wearing "Lycra cycling gear" who walked out and "left a trail of resentment in their wake" when he wouldn't give them a 25% discount. But there are also anecdotes of the quirky folk who adore books, such as a roving band of musicians who perform in bookstores, singing about books they've read. Bythell's narrative is lively and intelligent, but readers may be disappointed that his book dispells any notions about the romance of owning a bookstore.
