Books Read

The Diary of a Bookseller

June 27, 2018 /

The Diary of a BooksellerThe Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Published: 2017
Narrated by: Robin Laing
Length: 09:41 (310 pages)

I’m sure nearly every bookish person has daydreamed of owning a bookshop at one time or another, and this is a very funny and cynical account of that process. Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop, located in the south-western town of Wigtown. This is a journal he kept throughout 2014, and it details the day-to-day interactions and struggles that come up in the store.

Shaun Bythell is hilarious. He mentions he’s been compared to Bernard Black from Black Books, and you can really see why. You can feel the slight disdain for customers bubbling under (and often over) the surface in each journal entry, but he very obviously loves the life as well. He is deeply annoyed by ridiculous customers, the sort of customers that seem completely exaggerated unless you’ve worked in customer service and have seen how people can act, but he also seems to take a certain amount of pleasure in their quirky behaviour and bizarre requests. He only truly rages against Amazon in this, which is fair enough.

I could see some people finding this a bit dull, but I loved it. I loved the mundane details of owning and stocking the shop, and I loved his descriptions on his customers and staff. He can be ruthless in these descriptions, which apparently garnered him quite a following on Facebook. I thought I had bookmarked a few passages in the audiobook to quote here, but they didn’t seem to take, which is a shame. Scottish Review of Books has a few entries available to read, although they don’t include any of my favourite bits.

I will make an effort to visit The Bookshop next time I find myself in Scotland. Here’s hoping I won’t do something silly enough to be mentioned on his Facebook page. Interestingly, he’s actually opened a vacation rental in Wigtown called The Open Book, where you rent out the home above another bookshop and run it while you’re there, to give people a taste of owning their own shop. It’s a neat idea, although I’m not actually sure whether I’d want to spend my holiday doing that, even if a lot of my holiday time does usually end up in bookshops.

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12 Comments

    • Rob

      June 27, 2018 at 6:14 pm Reply

      It is a bit of a quirky idea. It’s a separate bookshop, though, and you can close it and open it whenever you like, so there’s still time for some sightseeing at least.

    • Rob

      June 29, 2018 at 10:54 am Reply

      That link to the Scottish Review of Books is an excerpt that gives a good indication of how the book is written. I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite bits, but it’s a good taster. Hope you enjoy it if you do pick it up!

  • Geoff W

    June 29, 2018 at 8:24 am Reply

    We’re actually heading to Scotland a week from tonight. Unfortunately it’s a little too far out of the way of our driving from Glasgow south or I’d totally make a detour to visit him 😀

    • Rob

      June 29, 2018 at 10:58 am Reply

      If you mean you’re driving south from Glasgow, it’s right on the way actually! Probably a couple of hours down.

      Scotland is beautiful. I’m sure you’ll have a great time! Looking forward to reading a recap on your blog when you’re back. I’ve only spent a week there, a decade ago, so I really need to make my way back again.

      • Geoff W

        June 29, 2018 at 11:00 am Reply

        We’re only there for two days and the drive down from Glasgow is our longest drive day so I’m trying not to add extra stuff. Plus we’ll go by that diversion hopefully before 8am 🙁 I’m very excited though to see Glasgow as I’ve only ever done Edinburgh.

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