Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
“With wit and humility, Bythell, owner of a
used bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland, chronicles a year in the life of a
bookseller… .Bythell’s narrative is lively and intelligent.” Publishers Weekly
Review
“Sure to bring book lovers chuckles, nods of recognition and a surge of hope for bookshops everywhere.” Shelf Awareness
Review
“Excruciatingly funny.” Booklist
Synopsis
A WRY AND HILARIOUS ACCOUNT OF LIFE AT A BOOKSHOP IN A REMOTE SCOTTISH VILLAGE Among the most irascible and amusing bookseller memoirs I've read. --Dwight Garner, The New York Times
Warm, witty and laugh-out-loud funny... --The Daily Mail
The Diary of a Bookseller is Shaun Bythell's funny and fascinating memoir of a year in the life at the helm of The Bookshop, in the small village of Wigtown, Scotland--and of the delightfully odd locals, unusual staff, eccentric customers, and surreal buying trips that make up his life there as he struggles to build his business . . . and be polite . . .
In this wry and hilarious diary, he tells us the trials and tribulations of being a small businessman; of learning that customers can be, um, eccentric; and of wrangling with his own staff of oddballs. And perhaps none are quirkier than the charmingly cantankerous bookseller Bythell himself turns out to be.
Slowly, with a mordant wit and keen eye, Bythell is seduced by the growing charm of small-town life, despite--or maybe because of--all the peculiar characters there.
About the Author
Shaun Bythell is the owner of
The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland's National Book Town, and also one of
the organisers of the Wigtown Festival.
When not working amongst
The Bookshop’s mile of shelving, Shaun’s hobbies include eavesdropping
on customers, uploading book-themed re-workings of Sugarhill Gang songs
to YouTube and shooting Amazon Kindles in the wild.