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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
informative
relaxing
slow-paced
Interesting random insight into the work in a second hand book shop, funny and informative, but also disillusioning. Not a book I would read in one go, but rather spaces out over time
The Diary of a Bookseller was a fun listen. I spent most of my time listening on dog walks and found myself laughing out loud often. In this diary, Shawn Bythell, the owner of The Book Shop in Wigtwon, Scotland tells of the trials and tribulations of running a bookstore in a time dominated by Amazon in an industry increasingly becoming electronic. Each day, he recounts how many books were sold online, how many these orders were actually found in the store, the number of pounds in the till, and total number of walk-in customers. Wigtown Scotland is known today as “Scotland’s National Book Town” due to the number of bookstores and their Book Festival. I’ll be visiting this town next August. Guaranteed. Book it!
Shawn is sarcastic and ornery and has a dry sense of humor. He has a disdain for many of his customers and is constantly annoyed by / entertained by his employees. As time marches on, Shawn tells of his encounters with the many different types of customers, some quirky, some insufferable, and some (not many) delightful. All are memorable. When not dealing with the employees and customers he is on road trips, traveling to private residences and estate sales to look at book collections up for sale in hopes of finding a rare gem or at least something with resale value.
The author also writes about personal trips and vacations he takes in his area in southwestern Scotland, “Scotland’s Forgotten Corner” as he calls it.
Each chapter starts with a quote from George Orwell about bookstores. I did not know that Orwell worked in a bookstore and wrote an essay about his experiences.
I felt that the book got a little repetitive towards the end and my interest started to wane. I think maybe ten hours was a bit too long for this one.
I would still highly recommend, especially for bookstore lovers. It’s fun to learn about the what it's like at a bookstores from the other side of the counter, especially from someone as funny as Shawn Bythell.
Shawn is sarcastic and ornery and has a dry sense of humor. He has a disdain for many of his customers and is constantly annoyed by / entertained by his employees. As time marches on, Shawn tells of his encounters with the many different types of customers, some quirky, some insufferable, and some (not many) delightful. All are memorable. When not dealing with the employees and customers he is on road trips, traveling to private residences and estate sales to look at book collections up for sale in hopes of finding a rare gem or at least something with resale value.
The author also writes about personal trips and vacations he takes in his area in southwestern Scotland, “Scotland’s Forgotten Corner” as he calls it.
Each chapter starts with a quote from George Orwell about bookstores. I did not know that Orwell worked in a bookstore and wrote an essay about his experiences.
I felt that the book got a little repetitive towards the end and my interest started to wane. I think maybe ten hours was a bit too long for this one.
I would still highly recommend, especially for bookstore lovers. It’s fun to learn about the what it's like at a bookstores from the other side of the counter, especially from someone as funny as Shawn Bythell.
Niin tylsää luettavaa! Ihme, että sain tämän edes luettua loppuun. Mitään kiinnostavaa ei tapahtunut vaan pelkkää selostusta. Juuri mikään ei naurattanut, vaikka tätä niin hauskaksi on kuvailtu. Petyin pahasti.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
This is my new favorite book. Please pick it up, you will fall madly in love with it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this Shaun Bythell and for buying a bookshop twenty years ago on a whim. It is laugh out load funny and endearing to anyone who loves bookshops and observing people’s absurdities. I would give it 10 stars if I could.
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
This was a pretty decent listen, although it was kind of dry at times. If you don't know anything about this book, it's basically a running log of a local bookseller's day-to-day activities, which includes working through online monsters like Amazon. It was pretty interesting and there were moments where I found myself laughing out loud over the absurdity of what was going on. This is definitely not a lucrative business, especially with Amazon having its iron grip on anything retail, but it's obvious to me that the bookseller must love at least some of what he does or he wouldn't keep on doing it. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a small fish in a very large pond, this is the book for you!
“Thursday, December 18 - At 10am the first customer came through the door: ‘I’m not really interested in books’ followed by ‘Let me tell you what I think about nuclear power.’ By 10:30am the will to live was but a distant memory....”
The Diary of a Bookseller is a year in the life of Shaun Bythell in 2014, who had owned The Book Shop in Wigtown, Scotland for 14 years during the writing of the daily diary. We get to meet the cast of characters he employs, and also those who live in and around his town, as well as tourists and authors. I found the book charming and eye opening. His humor is dry and a bit sarcastic. I laughed several times. Because we seem to go to Edinburgh approximately once a year, i think it might be time to expand to other areas and make a stop in wigtown.
The Diary of a Bookseller is a year in the life of Shaun Bythell in 2014, who had owned The Book Shop in Wigtown, Scotland for 14 years during the writing of the daily diary. We get to meet the cast of characters he employs, and also those who live in and around his town, as well as tourists and authors. I found the book charming and eye opening. His humor is dry and a bit sarcastic. I laughed several times. Because we seem to go to Edinburgh approximately once a year, i think it might be time to expand to other areas and make a stop in wigtown.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
I think I’m in the minority with this one…
The Diary of a Bookseller gives a raw and fairly cynical glimpse into the life of a second-hand bookseller in Wigtown, Scotland. I like the format and writing style for this particular book, which made the pacing one of the book’s strengths (along with Captain the cat). Captain’s sporadic presence added some lightness to an otherwise bleak account of used book-selling, along with the author including their own periodic reading updates.
Bythell does not shy away from sharing his dislike for Amazon and the challenges posed by them (directly and indirectly), but I was confused by the ‘trophy Kindle’. The effect of Amazon on the book industry is a prominent discussion in the Bookstagram sphere, so it wasn’t a shock to see this appear in this book. However, I didn’t enjoy reading a book about books/booklovers that almost shames those that use e-readers.
Overall, there is some humour in here but the whole way through this book, I kept thinking about how I would be described by this person if I walked into this shop. The book does become repetitive and while it is a quick read, it can start to feel a bit samey chapter after chapter.