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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Pages read 21
Laughs had 0
Reading the 1 star reviews and comments was more compelling.
Laughs had 0
Reading the 1 star reviews and comments was more compelling.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
I had a little peek at other people´s feedback before reading this and I have to admit, I was a bit worried. A number of reviews don´t exactly paint a pretty picture of the author`s character, suggesting ignorance and rudeness towards his customers and employees. Being rude to people is something I don´t appreciate, especially if someone works with customers (I often think that some individuals who work in coffee shops might be better suited in other occupations when they clearly don´t seem to like people very much) so I was unsure how I would feel about this book.
However, I am so glad I read it anyway and I think those reviews might misjudge the author tremendously. His keen interest in books and keeping the book trade alive in times where Amazon squeezes every last bit of life out of independent businesses aside, what I saw in this book is a man who clearly cares about other people. He lets people stay over at his house on numerous occasions, no matter whether they are old friends who leave their shoes laying around for others to trip over, acquaintances that are there for the book festival, or his girlfriend´s friends. He goes out of his way to show his visitors around, even strangers who are visiting Wigtown, takes them to the lake for a swim, or invites them for supper.
He also clearly cares about his staff. Nicky, for example, is a middle-aged lady who works for him. She is consistently late, ignores almost all his instructions because she `couldnae be bothered` (he is her boss!!) and bosses him around instead (she instructs him to produce business cards that she can take to a book festival), brings in food she finds at a Morrison skip, which more often than not, he finds disgusting but eats anyway, and loves creating a mess that she leaves for him to tidy up. At one point he goes to the Co-op to buy her some beer when she´s spending the night in the bookshop (this happens frequently) after she declines his offer to join him and his friend at the pub (I wouldnae done that).
Katie and Laurie, two students who help in the shop during the summer, work for him for several weeks despite him neither needing nor being able to afford two of them, simply because he doesn´t have the heart to send them home, even after they get drunk together and are thus `relatively useless all day` the next day, or when he returns to the shop where, instead of working, they have been spending their time chatting and listening to music. When Katie is not feeling well, he makes her a Lemsip and when Laurie´s cat has an accident he doesn´t hesitate to give her time off (I´m not sure all employers are this understanding).
While I have to admit, his manner towards certain customers could definitely be described as rude, I wonder who wouldn´t want to snap at customers who want an already incredibly cheap book reduced, who spend hours reading books in the store but when walking out tell their partners that they weren't going to buy anything because they didn´t see anything they liked, who ignore the "private" sign and walk into the garden, or who use the shop´s free wifi to order books on Amazon while flicking through the physical copy right there.
I wonder if some of the reviewers who describe him as arrogant and prejudiced missed the section where he says: `Ah, the dangers of making assumptions about people. No doubt I do it on a daily basis with my customers, and dismiss people as key-jangling buffoons when they may have led soldiers onto the beaches of Normandy or pioneered ground-breaking medical research`. Clearly he knows that there is more to his customer than meets the eye...
Another review points out his `snobbishness towards fiction books`, which I clearly missed. I would have thought that him stating his preferred genre to be fiction (on page 87) would be an indicator that he isn´t averse to fiction, but who knows...
Oh, and he doesn´t light a fire after May because `martins nest in the log store` and he doesn´t like to disturb them... Come on people, what more do you want?!
However, I am so glad I read it anyway and I think those reviews might misjudge the author tremendously. His keen interest in books and keeping the book trade alive in times where Amazon squeezes every last bit of life out of independent businesses aside, what I saw in this book is a man who clearly cares about other people. He lets people stay over at his house on numerous occasions, no matter whether they are old friends who leave their shoes laying around for others to trip over, acquaintances that are there for the book festival, or his girlfriend´s friends. He goes out of his way to show his visitors around, even strangers who are visiting Wigtown, takes them to the lake for a swim, or invites them for supper.
He also clearly cares about his staff. Nicky, for example, is a middle-aged lady who works for him. She is consistently late, ignores almost all his instructions because she `couldnae be bothered` (he is her boss!!) and bosses him around instead (she instructs him to produce business cards that she can take to a book festival), brings in food she finds at a Morrison skip, which more often than not, he finds disgusting but eats anyway, and loves creating a mess that she leaves for him to tidy up. At one point he goes to the Co-op to buy her some beer when she´s spending the night in the bookshop (this happens frequently) after she declines his offer to join him and his friend at the pub (I wouldnae done that).
Katie and Laurie, two students who help in the shop during the summer, work for him for several weeks despite him neither needing nor being able to afford two of them, simply because he doesn´t have the heart to send them home, even after they get drunk together and are thus `relatively useless all day` the next day, or when he returns to the shop where, instead of working, they have been spending their time chatting and listening to music. When Katie is not feeling well, he makes her a Lemsip and when Laurie´s cat has an accident he doesn´t hesitate to give her time off (I´m not sure all employers are this understanding).
While I have to admit, his manner towards certain customers could definitely be described as rude, I wonder who wouldn´t want to snap at customers who want an already incredibly cheap book reduced, who spend hours reading books in the store but when walking out tell their partners that they weren't going to buy anything because they didn´t see anything they liked, who ignore the "private" sign and walk into the garden, or who use the shop´s free wifi to order books on Amazon while flicking through the physical copy right there.
I wonder if some of the reviewers who describe him as arrogant and prejudiced missed the section where he says: `Ah, the dangers of making assumptions about people. No doubt I do it on a daily basis with my customers, and dismiss people as key-jangling buffoons when they may have led soldiers onto the beaches of Normandy or pioneered ground-breaking medical research`. Clearly he knows that there is more to his customer than meets the eye...
Another review points out his `snobbishness towards fiction books`, which I clearly missed. I would have thought that him stating his preferred genre to be fiction (on page 87) would be an indicator that he isn´t averse to fiction, but who knows...
Oh, and he doesn´t light a fire after May because `martins nest in the log store` and he doesn´t like to disturb them... Come on people, what more do you want?!
A witty, amusing and insightful snapshot of a year in the life of 'The Book Shop, Wigtown. Anyone working in the industry (which I do) will spend the entire book chuckling knowingly to themselves and occasionally shouting out 'yes!' Anyone not working in the industry will find much to delight and entertain them in these pages and it will perhaps make them think twice before purchasing a book from a 'not on the high street' bookseller. Comparisons to the TV series 'Black Books' are warranted, and Mr Bythell will not be winning any customer services awards but amongst all his grumbling and grouching it is clear to see his genuine love of books and his passion for his shop and the industry. High recommended for anyone who loves bookshops, or books, or reading or books about bookshops!
Diario di un anno per lo più lavorativo di Shaun Bythell, proprietario di una libreria dell'usato a Wigtown, in Scozia.
Giorno dopo giorno assistiamo alla vita della libreria: i clienti più o meno particolari che vi capitano, le assurdità che vengono richieste, l'ironia dell'autore ma anche di chi gli sta intorno, i problemi della libreria, del settore e della città.
Le particolarità legate ai festival librari della città, le trasferte per recuperare nuovi libri usati da vendere, la coesistenza con le vendite online e con il gigantesco Amazon.
Il tutto impreziosito da dati giornalieri (quanti ordini sono arrivati online, e quanti di questi sono stati effettivamente evasi, senza che il libro richiesto sia sparito perché magari catalogato male; quanti clienti sono entrati e quanto hanno speso in totale) e da una citazione mensile di Orwell relativa al suo periodo come libraio, che funge da spunto per una breve divagazione dell'autore sulla tematica della citazione.
Mi ha messo voglia di visitare Wigtown!
Giorno dopo giorno assistiamo alla vita della libreria: i clienti più o meno particolari che vi capitano, le assurdità che vengono richieste, l'ironia dell'autore ma anche di chi gli sta intorno, i problemi della libreria, del settore e della città.
Le particolarità legate ai festival librari della città, le trasferte per recuperare nuovi libri usati da vendere, la coesistenza con le vendite online e con il gigantesco Amazon.
Il tutto impreziosito da dati giornalieri (quanti ordini sono arrivati online, e quanti di questi sono stati effettivamente evasi, senza che il libro richiesto sia sparito perché magari catalogato male; quanti clienti sono entrati e quanto hanno speso in totale) e da una citazione mensile di Orwell relativa al suo periodo come libraio, che funge da spunto per una breve divagazione dell'autore sulla tematica della citazione.
Mi ha messo voglia di visitare Wigtown!
The diary format gets a bit monotonous after while, but the book is often funny and provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of bookselling. The author is snarky, but listening to what he sees and hears every day, I guess that's a required defense mechanism. If not for the comments on people's looks and the weird attitude towards plastic bag reduction and windpower, I would have liked it even more. The audiobook reading is brilliant, highly recommend you get the audio version.
I felt so guilty for reading this as an ebook borrowed from my library that I went to Wigtown and bought the sequel from his shop. Enough said.
“Anna and I have gone our separate ways, but remain good friends. The shop is still open.”
The very end kinda made me sad knowing Anna is gone but it was a very decent and very humane ordinary read.
The very end kinda made me sad knowing Anna is gone but it was a very decent and very humane ordinary read.
