This book, as it says in the title, is a diary, a day-to-day record of one year in a bookshop written by the owner Shaun Bythell who runs a second-hand bookshop in Wigtown which is Scotland’s book town. His shop is called, very simply, The Bookshop.
He has a hundred thousand books, some of which he bought from the previous owner of the shop, and others that he acquires from people selling off their books or those of deceased family members.
He chronicles some of these book buying trips, and they make for interesting reading, in between accounts of his daily dealings with his assistant, Nicky, who’s eccentric to say the least, and customers who range from dedicated book lovers to strange characters of many stripes.
Some of the customers are regulars while others are tourists. There are customers calling to inquire about this or that book, and there’s the random book club for which Bythell chooses books that he sends off by post every month.
In the background of the bookshop is life in a small town in Scotland. We read about an old friend dropping in, his mother coming in to have a chat, an afternoon spent swimming or hiking with another friend, preparations for their annual book festival and everything that goes into that, and of course, there’s the cat. What’s a second-hand bookshop without a cat? This particular cat is called Captain, and he features quite prominently in the narrative.
This is an honest account of the realities of running a second-hand bookshop in a world in which the shadow of Amazon looms large. Like most booksellers, Bythell does not like Amazon, but knows that he has to live with it. It’s clear from the narrative that he loves what he does, despite all the difficulties involved. He is quite a grumpy character, and while that is not endearing, it is not off-putting either.
The year over which this book was written spans 2014 and 2015, which was a crucial time in Scotland with all the debate around independence and the referendum, which he writes about. While this book is about a bookshop, it is also about Scotland, and life in a small town, in this case, a book town, that draws a lot of tourists and other interesting characters.
The diary format really works for this book. It makes the narrative engaging, and gives it an immediacy that I liked. This book will appeal to most people who love books and bookshops.
between the pages 