Confessions of a Bookseller: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Product Information

At first we think that she thinks she’s the ‘big I AM’. A new book shop is opening down the street but she has no fears as her shop is far superior, has been there 25 years and she’s an excellent, confident and successful business owner. Or so we are told. This is an absolute delight. Shaun Bythell brings to life the trials, tribulations and thoughts of a independent bookshop owner. After a varied career, Avril worked for many years in management within the charitable sector, with WRVS, NHS (Macmillan Cancer Support) and with Crossroads Caring for Carers. She studied at Lampeter University. Diverted Traffic is her first novel alth … Blythell’s witty descriptions of cheap customers, the drudgery and comfort of his daily routines and the consistent weather manages to create a sense of place strong enough to capture my flittery mind for long enough to feel settled-in near his fire.”

Confessions of a Bookseller: Shaun Bythell: 9781788162302

I n the coastal Scotland community of Wigtown, tourists can pay to operate a bookstore called The Open Book for a week or two and live in an upstairs apartment, fulfilling their dream to run their own bookshop. The rental attraction is typically booked years ahead, proving that running a bookstore is a popular dream for bibliophiles. Overall, Fawn is a unique character that will stay with me for a while, but then I'm rather fond of eccentric older female characters. Four stars and not five because I found the ending a little too convenient and a little too happily-ever-after. Not that I begrudge Fawn a little lightness and optimism for the future, it just didn't fully ring true to me.Fawn is not an altogether likeable character but I admit I got quite fond of her as I got to know her. I am generally intolerant of unsympathetic characters unless they are strong or interesting, and thankfully Fawn is both. In the words of Little Edie of Grey Gardens, Fawn is a "staunch character". When everything around her is collapsing and going to hell in a handbasket, she does not give up and keeps coming up with increasingly absurd ideas to save her business. In the process, she grows as a person and finally develops a sense of perspective in relation to her past, her childhood, and who she is as a person. Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown

Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell review – a

Inside a Georgian townhouse on the Wigtown highroad, jammed with more than 100,000 books and a portly cat named Captain, Shaun Bythell manages the daily ups and downs of running Scotland’s largest used bookshop with a sharp eye and even sharper wit. His account of one year behind the counter is something no book lover should miss. amusing and often cantankerous stories [that] bibliophiles will delight in, and occasionally wince at…” It is endlessly entertaining and genuinely laugh out loud in places. Customers, those oh so wanted people, come in many shapes and sizes and we learn of their foibles, manners and interests. There are descriptions of regular customers, as well as many who drive the author to despair. Shaun drives to distant houses to buy private libraries, meditates on the nature of independent bookstores ( “There really does seem to be a serendipity about bookshops, not just with finding books you never knew existed, or that you’ve been searching for, but with people too.”), and, of course, finds books for himself because he’s a reader, too. Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland's National Book Town, and also one of the organisers of the Wigtown Festival.Unfortunately, Shaun also has to contend with bizarre requests from people who don't understand what a shop is, home invasions during the Wigtown Book Festival and Granny, his neurotic Italian assistant who likes digging for river mud to make poultices.

Confessions of a Bookseller: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER (The Confessions of a Bookseller: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER (The

Bythell is the same sardonic self as he was in his last book, and I guess some people are put off by him, but I think if he was a Mr. Rogers (from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood) the book would be borrrrring. Some of his observations, and some of the stuff that comes out his customer’s mouths, are quite interesting and /or funny. He typically gives us the weather for each day and I like that because I like rainy days to curl up with a book and there certainly were enough of those days where his bookshop was located. He made many a run to different homes to assess books the person at the home wanted to sell, and that was interesting enough. Most novels I’ve read don’t dig quite as deeply into the past as this, and the few that do don’t in …As noted above - similar content to the previous book, but as a diary - a few year of happenings! Just don't go in expecting there to be many new revelations! Her head lived in another reality, where she corresponded as a wealthy lady of leisure, even while she was trying to survive on meager earnings in her dusty and moldy bookstore, in a building that was falling apart around her. I wanted the book to continue, but rather like when the shop closes and Shaun goes off for a pint to read a book from his ever growing TBR, I have to do the same. Next comes her dynamic with Richard, a fellow librarian and her ex boyfriend. She has been very mean to her and has been practically tagging him along with a lie about his father's death.

‘Confessions of a Bookseller’ Review: A Second-Hand Life

Thank you to Goodreads Giveaway and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with a copy of this novel.

Need Help?

Inundated with requests from customers that range from the regular requests for a particular copy of a book, people wanting to take selfies with the kindle to the slightly strange and often the outright bizarre requests from customers who really are not engaging their brains before opening their mouths. He also has to battle with those that think nothing of selecting a number of books off the shelf, coming up to the counter and then offering a paltry sum for the books that they want. No one would think of doing that in any other shop, so why should he be different. Bythell is a skillful writer . . . he creates a full, appealing world populated with colorful characters. The Scottish landscape—geese flying over the salt marsh, the meandering river where he likes to fish—is gorgeous . . . an endearing and thoughtful book.” This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by