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mansimudgal 's review for:
The Diary of a Bookseller
by Shaun Bythell
As the title says, it’s a diary of a Bookseller; Shaun runs the biggest second hand bookshop in Scotland that goes by the name “The Bookshop” which matches Penelope’s book title in a happy coincidence.
The book is a diary of Shaun’s day to day activities running this shop in Wingtown, Scotland’s Book Town. It’s all you need to know about running a bookshop, the day to day customer interaction with its bargaining and browsing, rare books and first editions which aren’t always priceless.
I loved how he described the constant flurry of acquiring books through estate sales, people selling collections of their dead relatives which always makes the atmosphere a little more solemn and adds a touch of history and life to what is essentially papers and ink.
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Shaun tries to sort of break the idyllic town bookshop fantasy by listing the competition and crassness Amazon presents, the inner workings of this giant E-commerce site and its impact on independent bookstores. I loved knowing the inner workings of it all.
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The book introduces you to a load of characters, the staff, the loyal patron and Nicky, she is Shaun’s employee but makes his life miserable every which way and their back and forth is wonderful.
A quaint memoir, perfect to curl up and read.. as much as Shaun tries to appeal to the pragmatic in me; in the end both the author and I want a bookshop in a beautiful town that barely makes any money but is never low on stories.
A ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 for me! I’d suggest you read it in small doses as it can get repetitive after a while if you don’t take breaks.