In The Diary of a Bookseller, author Shaun Bythell shares a year in his life as a bookseller through a series of journal entries written between 2014-15. Since 2001, Shaun Bythell owns and operates 'The Bookshop' in Wigtown , the Book Town of Galloway. His store is the largest second-hand bookstore in Scotland. His daily life consists of time in his shop with his part-time employees including students from nearby universities, the eccentric Nicky whose antics will have you in splits and, of course, the shop cat, Captain. He shares his experiences in estate sales and valuations and organizing local book festivals and also shares anecdotes from his experiences with the variety of customers who visit his shop both his regulars and tourists- browsers, buyers and sellers. He posts some of the more entertaining interactions on his Facebook page along with pictures and videos of his store. Some of the encounters are laugh-out-loud funny. He is not too fond of ebooks and once he expressed his distaste towards Kindles by shooting through a damaged Kindle and mounting it on a wall in his shop- which he claims is one of the most popular displays in his shop (the video of which I promptly looked up!)

The author sheds a light on both the appealing and the mundane aspects of the profession of bookselling. He charts his sales, acquisitions and even mentions how much money is left in the till at the close of that particular day. Besides direct sales, the shop also sells through Amazon and AbeBooks. The author also discusses the challenges faced in selling books from brick-and-mortar stores in the era of Amazon, Waterstones and the popularity of ebooks over physical books.

I enjoy fictional stories set in bookstores and libraries. Therefore when I found out about this memoir that gives us a true picture of life as a bookseller and the different aspects of the business, I was genuinely interested. I enjoyed the extracts from George Orwell’s “Bookshop Memories” at the beginning of each chapter and the ensuing discussion on Orwell’s experiences working part-time in a bookstore (1934-36) and the author’s perspective on the profession in the modern-day. I found myself looking up the shop’s Facebook page and enjoyed the pictures of the shop and Captain. Overall, this is a slow-paced, light and entertaining memoir that I thoroughly enjoyed and I look forward to reading the follow-up books in his series. ( )

I'll be looking for more of these. Very fun! I love the diary format. At first I thought he was too much of a curmudgeon for me, but he lightened up. I was glad of the epilogue to hear what is happening a couple of years later. I did wonder how he put up with Nicky for so long. I really enjoyed some of his great crazy customer stories. Don't we all have them. I also enjoyed tracking down some of the titles he mentioned. There were some great ones in his list. I hope I'll be able to visit The Bookshop one day. ( )

I was a manager of an independent bookstore (not used books, though) for 15 years and so this book was perfect for me! I loved the crazy characters throughout the book, both the customers and the staff, and ran into similar people while running my store. Bythell's comments about them are great. I think that bookstores seem to attract idiosyncratic people (especially the staff!), more so than other types of stores. And I didn't want the book to end! I wanted to go on reading what was going on with that store and the town (the last page or so made me kinda sad though...) and I wish my area had some interesting bookstores (only have a couple chain stores). What a great town, especially with so many bookstores! I will certainly read Bythell's other books. If only his store was closer... ( )

This highly entertaining book has made me want to a) give it to every reader I know, and b) make my way to Wigtown, Scotland ASAP, so that I may insert myself into its ongoing history. Shaun Bythell appears to be at once quirky, charming, smart, down to earth, droll, and sarcastic, and while I’d like to think if I walked into his store and pulled some kind of “omg I loved your book!!” fangirl number, he would smile graciously and offer to make me a cup of tea and be my best friend instantly, I suspect he would actually smile politely, maybe inquire where I’d come from, and when I’d finally vacated his wondrous shop, either berate me on Facebook or simply roll his eyes and have some kind of vaguely condescending thought about whatever I did (or didn’t) buy. Especially when he found out I’m a librarian. So, more likely if I ever make my way to Wigtown and The Book Shop, I would probably greet him politely as any tourist should, browse a few sections for a respectable amount of time (being sure to re-shelve any books I didn’t mean to take away with me), purchase something reasonably intelligent without quibbling about the price, and go on my merry way. And I will recommend this book to anyone who is remotely interested in second-hand bookshops, Scotland, interesting people with clever and insightful observations about the world, or diary fiction. Just don’t tell Shaun I borrowed it from the library. ( )

This is exactly what the title says: a day-by-day dairy by Shaun Bythell, owner of the largest secondhand bookstore in Scotland, about his activities and the operation of his shop from early 2014 to early 2015. I honestly do not know why I found this as readable -- indeed, as compelling -- as I did. There are a lot of mundane details. Much of it is very repetitive, with notes along the lines of "Person X worked today" and remarks about the weather, and similar things. There is, interspersed with that, some dryly snarky humor, glimpses into the quirky personalities of the shop's employees and customers and the small town where it's located, and thoughts about the difficulties of selling books in the age of Amazon. Mostly, though, it's not terribly exciting stuff, and you might think that even for an obsessive book-lover, after 300 pages, it would start to get tedious. But, nope. I read this faster and with more absorption than pretty much anything else I've read recently. I think there was something about it that was just really restful for my brain. Like I could just sit on this guy's shoulder while he bought and sold books for a year and relax, without any of the annoyances of my own life distracting me.

Whatever the reason, I enjoyed it and will be reading his other books at some point, perhaps next time my brain needs this kind of a break. ( )