Confessions of a Bookseller

I thought this was a novel when I requested it from the library. Turns out it's a memoir in the form of a diary of one year in a second-hand bookseller's life (2015). It was interesting to see what that life –one that has often tempted me – is like, how they were dealing with the monster that is Amazon and the havoc it has wrought on in-person bookstores – and his dealings with customers and employees and the daily life of a small town in Scotland. But, it did not engross me and was not what I had expected and had I thumbed through it before putting it on hold I probably should have skipped it but all of that said if you know what you're expecting and enjoy diary-type memoirs and booksellers, pick it up!

This falls strictly in the ‘more of the same' category. Those who have read Bythell's previous book The Diary of a Bookseller will find Bythell offers up the same diary format with the same catalogue of interactions - his customers, his staff, his friends and acquaintances, the Wigtown community in general. (Wigtown is in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland, and is known as “Scotland's National Book Town” with a high concentration of second-hand book shops and an annual book festival.)

The good news, for those who liked his first book, myself included, is this one offers another whole year of his trials and tribulations. Others have identified the year as 2015, but my edition either doesn't impart that information, or (more likely) I missed it!

We are also provided details of the second-hand book trade, and the inevitable impact that Amazon has on high street retailers (through their Amazon sales site, but also the Amazon owned Abe Books site), and the way the wider accessibility drives prices (and margins) even lower. Throughout the book there are frustrations with Amazon and with the backend cataloguing software called monsoon, but at least Shaun can be reassured he gets better support that that other Amazon owned book related website, which stutters its way into history with pointless cosmetic updates and functionality downgrades instead of updating technology to improve it... you know the one.

In this book, Bythell starts each month with an excerpt from a book called The Intimate Thoughts of John Baxter, Bookseller by Augustus Muir, a spoof diary (published 1942) in which a fictional John Baxter comments on the equally fictional Mr Pumpherston, and his interactions in his second hand bookshop of the era. Very relevant selections made. No doubt the value of this somewhat obscure book has increased.

As noted above - similar content to the previous book, but as a diary - a few year of happenings! Just don't go in expecting there to be many new revelations!

For me, I am happy to roll out the same star rating as last time - 4 stars.