The Diary of a Bookseller
Ratings8
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings8
Average rating4.1
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
Shaun Bythell's psycho charm is funny at first, but it soon becomes annoying. It's almost like there's a division between bookseller and reader (in my case, someone who spends a third of his income on books). And that division is Money.
This was recommended to me by a friend about 6 months ago, and I picked up a copy relatively cheaply the other day, and I am glad I did.This is a very easy read, and an entertaining one too. It is diarised (as you might expect from the title), with each daily entry ranging from a paragraph to a page or two at most. Each day we are told how many online orders are received, and how many of those can be fulfilled (eg books found to fill the order - not always all of the orders!). We then get the explanation of the events of the day, and finally the till total, and number of customers served.So the body of the text is the days events. These will include amusing, foolish or just interesting customer conversations, issues with the staff, Shaun's book buying expeditions, and Shaun's day in general. Each month begins with a quotation from [a:George Orwell 3706 George Orwell https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1450573063p2/3706.jpg]'s [b:Bookshop Memories 20681099 Bookshop Memories George Orwell https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1444423787s/20681099.jpg 39979312], which will now be a book I will look out for.There are of course numerous literary references, the book Shaun is reading is mentioned, there is some coverage of rare or expensive books, and a good deal of explanation about the Amazon behemoth and AbeBooks. Online sales are a large part of the business for a second hand book shop nowdays, and that was probably the most interesting thing I gained understanding from with this book.Other reviewers have not found this book funny, and have accused the author of being sarcastic and rude. I enjoyed his sarcastic rudeness, and it is hard to feel the behavior or ignorance of those on the receiving end didn't provide some justification, so I was fine with it. There is of course, repetition, but this a diary and like most peoples lives, days are often the same. It takes real skill to omit the mundane repetition but leave enough events to frame the day, and there is perhaps a little room for improvement here. I wasn't overly troubled by it.So, an entertaining two day read, for me 4 stars.
Featured Series
3 primary booksThe Diary of a Bookseller is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2017 with contributions by Shaun Bythell.
