Bogormen

Title: The Diary of a Bookseller
Author: Shaun Bythell
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 3/5
# pages: Audiobook ~10hrs
Date read: September, 2019

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.


This was equal parts really charming and really boring... go figure :-P

But honestly - it is exactly what it says - a diary of a bookseller. There's no plot, there's no red thread, it's just a year in the life of a bookseller in Scotland. And just like real life - it's equal parts charming and boring. I did consider giving up on it once or twice, but could never actually make myself do it. I 'read' it as an audiobook, which I think was both good and bad. Good, because the narrator was really good and his voice was very pleasant to listen to. Bad, because it meant I couldn't skim past the more boring entries. At the end of the day, there was more I liked about the book than I didn't, as I grew fond of the people. Also, I want to go visit the bookshop now - it sounds amazing!

I recommend checking out Reader's Delight on youtube. Funnily enough, Nicky looked exactly as I expected her to!