Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
The structure of each entry really helps portray the monotony of the work but Bythell's clever and sarcastic observations make it worth reading.
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Scratched a bit of my itch about fantasizing owning a used bookstore. Visions of Dylan Moran and Black Books (he's my secret boyfriend, he just doesn't know it! ;-))... I could picture myself behind the counter and prowling the shelves.
The author is quite the character. A small business owner who has seen his sales and overall business model drastically impacted by Amazon, he displays a shot up Kindle as a form of trophy. Bythell bought the bookshop in Scotland's "book town" in 2001, and still owns it. This book and its sequel grew out of his Facebook and encounters with daily shoppers or browsers. Being in a small town, he seems to know everyone and many of them shop in his store - and he theirs, such as Jessie who owns the picture shop. Only issue is all the people made it sometimes hard to keep track of who was who. But by book's end I felt as if I knew many of them. While some of his daily accounts weren't that interesting, he brought humor to the mundane. I enjoyed his tales of the book deals he did and how he'd value the books and where to sell them. Overall a good read
adventurous
funny
relaxing
slow-paced
Wish I loved it more because I rly enjoyed the diary entry style – super interesting! But apart from some comical parts like the character’s savage inner thoughts, the rest of the book was quite boring and I almost DNF.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
funny
fast-paced
I have very mixed feelings about this book. At first I found the constant criticism/put downs about customers in the shop rather irritating- couldn’t he find anything nice to say about anyone? Then I got about half way and seriously thought of giving up on it (very unlike me) but I persevered and by the end I was sad to hear no more about the cast of characters and their lives and would love to visit the bookshop - and especially the book festival - one day!
I quite enjoyed this book. It had been sitting on my tbr bookcase for a few years when I recently decided I needed to make space, by reading my way through it's loaded shelves. Being a secondhand bookseller myself, I discovered much, and giggled often. For me, it was so relatable that I jumped online and ordered book #2, before I had even finished.
This book has inspired me to overhaul my online only bookstore, and 'freshen-up' my approach to my own style of bookdeslership.
This book has inspired me to overhaul my online only bookstore, and 'freshen-up' my approach to my own style of bookdeslership.