I have a new appreciation for booksellers after reading this book.
Several weeks ago I travelled to a secondhand bookstore out of town to sell several pretty much brand new books they had offered to buy. I arrived there and the secondhand book dealer went through the books, offered me some money (enough to buy my lunch and a latte while I was in said city) and I accepted the deal. To be fair the secondhand book dealer had warned me a few days earlier that they wouldn't be able to offer me much.
After reading The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell I understand a bit more where the secondhand book dealer I'd had dealings with was coming from.
I loved this book for a few reasons - 1) I love books written in diary format 2) It's about books 3) It's funny!
Bythell owns The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. It's a secondhand bookstore and his diary covers his day-to-day life from February 2014 to February 2015 - the customers he meets, the employees he has to share food, gathered from the skip, with, his friends and family.
At the start of each day's entry he lists the online orders the bookstore's had and the books he has managed to find to meet those orders. At the end of each day's entry he lists the till total and the customers (the people who have actually bought books) in the shop that day. Each month starts with a piece from George Orwell's Bookshop Memories and Bythell's own views on the topics covered in George Orwell's Bookshop Memories.
Bythell spends a lot of time travelling to people's home to buy books that have been left in a deceased person's estate or by someone wanting to get rid of a collection. I love his interactions with his customers.
You come away from this book knowing there is still a place for the physical book.
I would love to travel to Wigtown one day to check out The Bookshop but also spend a week or two staying at and running the bookshop called The Open Book, which is also in Wigtown.
- Bythell has a great Facebook page called The Bookshop. Here's a link to it https://www.facebook.com/thebookshopwigtown/
- And here's a link to what The Open Book experience is all about too https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/videos/1974842162529912/
