#shaun bythell

[godzilla-reads]

📚 Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell

“It’s hard, when you’re a voracious reader, to accept the fact that not everyone else is, but the reality sometimes slaps you in the face when you witness parents dragging their children out of a bookshop, rather than into it.”

This humorous addition to Bythell’s books on working in his bookshop in Scotland adds a bit of eye-rolling and a bit of laughing and a bit of scoffing as you try to figure out what type of bookshop person you are.

As someone who works in retail, I found the anecdotes on customers to be funny, but there was a bit of meanness to the descriptions that made me uncomfortable, thinking of the oblivious people who don’t know they’re being annoying. I will say that some of his observations seem spot on. I say this as someone who has never worked in a bookstore, let alone a second-hand one.

If you’ve got thick skin and want to read something light and funny, I’d suggest picking this book up and flipping through it.

[thedeathofallsocietalnorms]

[tinynavajoreads]

Just One More Page's March Book Photo Challenge

March 2, 2023 - Currently Reading

Another day, another picture so far! This one about what book I'm currently reading and I'm reading Remainders of the Day by Shaun Bythell. I've been reading his books since I got his first book as an advanced reader's copy from ALA 2018. He has a dry, sharp wit that makes me want to keep reading and kind of want to own my own secondhand bookshop.

That, or visit his in Wigtown, Scotland. Don't know which will happen first. I do hope he keeps writing these work diaries, I love knowing more about what the day-to-day life of owning a bookshop is like.

What are you currently reading? Is it a known author you're reading, or a new author?

[missydurdenknowsbest]

Guess this is required reading for the new job 😅

Also, I still cannot believe that I feel so much calmer and safer in this new life. So glad I waited for a great opportunity. So glad I took the chance. So thankful this happened. And so looking forward to living and working with books ❤️

[tudorblogger]

‘Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown’ by Shaun Bythell

‘Remainders of the Day: More Diaries from The Bookshop, Wigtown’ by Shaun Bythell

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction – Literature Published: 2022 Format: Hardback Rating: ★★★★ Another really brilliantly funny year in the life of a second-hand book seller. I didn’t want to finish it too quickly as I wanted to enjoy some of the humour, and I had to look up some of the obscure book titles mentioned that people ordered – one of my favourites was ‘The History and Social Influence of the…

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Diary of a Bookseller | Author: Shaun Bythell | Publisher: Profile Books (2018)

[sesamereviews]

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

This book was delightfully funny at times as Bythell recounts certain customer and employee interactions at The Book Shop using a certain, unfortunately, relatable dry humor that may be cynical at times. I loved reading about his thoughts on the various ways books may connect people from all walks of life, all generations, and their subsequent importance. While this book has partially destroyed my idealized perception of working in a bookstore, the realism and potential of meeting so many different kinds of people also worsens my fascination.

Not all the diary entries were about running The Book Shop; in fact, Bythell leaves the store quite often when one of his employees is in to run the place. His interactions with various friends paint a very idyllic image of Wigtown’s community, which leaves one thinking it may be a wonderful place to live in as long as you can tolerate the people there. 

And of course, his mentions of different books throughout the diary; I’ve since added many more books to my (mental) To Be Read list; the first of which is, of course, George Orwell’s Bookshop Memories, just before A Confederacy of Dunces (previously recommended to me by an English teacher as well).

As always, this review can also be found on Instagram and Goodreads! Follow for more!

[semnebune]

Jurnalul continuă: „Confesiunile unui librar” de Shaun Bythell

Editura Pandora M a publicat recent în cadrul colecției Anansi. World Fiction un nou volum semnat de Shaun Bythell, îndrăgitul librar scoțian cunoscut de cititorii din lumea întreagă ca cel care a împușcat într-o zi un Kindle, după care l-a bătut în cuie pe peretele anticariatului. Confesiunile unui librar, noua lui carte, reprezintă o strălucită continuare a bestsellerului Jurnalul unui librar,…

[bksbksbksbks]

Books listened/read in January 2023:

1.) Horrorstör - Grady Hendrix

This is technically a reread, but I went with the audiobook! Sincerely loved it so much more, especially the in between intros. Made the book all the more creepy.

2.) Little Pa - Hemley Boum

The story really stuck out to me, I really enjoyed learning more about this character and his journey.

3.) Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops - Shaun Bythell

As a previous bookseller… how could I NOT love this?? Definitely going to be devouring more of this author if I can.

4.) Queer Heroes of Myth and Legend - Dan Jones

Very fun!! Narration made this a lot more enjoyable too.

5.) Galatea - Madeline Miller

I’m a sucker for Miller’s work, so this story of Galatea?? 🤌✨✨✨

6.) Lot - Bryan Washington

I had been meaning to start this since the collection of stories came OUT. I’m glad I finally dedicated time to enjoy it, so far this has been sticking in my head the MOST. I need to dive into Washington’s stories more. Sad it took me this long to start it.

[oldcuriosityshop]

FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) is a service Amazon provides where booksellers can store their stock in one of Amazon's warehouses (euphemistically named 'fulfilment centres'). When orders come in for the books, they will package and send them out to customers. Although it solves the problem of not having enough space for books in the shop—as with almost every service that Amazon provides to third-party sellers, it comes at a cost which always leaves you on the brink of wondering whether it is worthwhile. Inevitably their 'charges' will multiply and keep creeping up to the point at which your margin is so tight that it's almost suffocating. But not quite. Parasites prefer to keep their hosts alive.

—Confessions of a Bookseller (2020) by Shaun Bythell (buy at Bookshop.org; borrow through Hoopla or Libby)

[owlsinathens]

13 Books!

Tagged by @ferrame thank youu 🥰

1) The Last book I read:

The Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi

2) A book I recommend:

December by Phil Rickman

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

5) A book on my TBR:

The Indifferent Stars above by Daniel James Brown

6) A book I’ve put down:

That one by Marie Kondo about throwing things away that give you no joy. The book gave me no joy.

7) A book on my wish list:

Erebus by Michael Palin

8) A favorite book from childhood:

Trail Boss in Pigtails by Marjorie Filley Stover

9) A book you would give to a friend:

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

10) A book of Poetry or Lyrics you own:

Thomas Traherne: Poetry and Prose

11) A nonfiction book you own:

The Great Mortality by John Kelly

12) What are you currently reading:

The Queen: Nofretete's Global Career by Sebastian Conrad (in German)

13) What are you planning on reading next?

Where the Crawdads sing by Delia Owens

Bonus Round Shelfie?

My little library ♥️

Tagging @november-rising, @st-clements-steps, @sethmacenzie, @salty-wench and whoever wishes to do this!

[the-forest-library]

February 2023 Reads

The Reunion - Kayla Olson

Behind the Scenes - Karelia Stetz-Waters

Sorry, Bro - Taleen Voskuni

Exes and O’s - Amy Lea

Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year - Rochelle Billow

Make a Wish - Helena Hunting

Knit One, Girl Two - Shira Glassman

You Should Smile More - Anastasia Ryan

A Rival Most Vial - R.K. Ashwick

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun - Elle Cosimano

Nine Liars - Maureen Johnson

Pretty Dead Queens - Alexa Donne

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute - Talia Hibbert

Margot Mertz for the Win - Carrie McCrossen

Winterkeep - Kristin Cashore

Tears Waiting to Be Diamonds - Sarah Rees Brennan

Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones

Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables - Kathleen Gros

Evergreen - Matthew Cordell

I’ll Show Myself Out - Jessi Klein

Remainders of the Day - Shaun Bythell

B.F.F. - Christie Tate

The Good Life - Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz

The Brain Fog Fix - Mike Dow 

Stolen Focus - Johann Hari

The Chaos Machine - Max Fisher

Cook As You Are - Ruby Tandoh

Foodwise - Mia Rigden

Plant-Based on a Budget - Toni Okamoto

One: Simple One-Pan Wonders - Jamie Oliver

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts:

Another really good reading month. I hope there are 20 more Truly Devious books. Let Stevie solve all of the mysteries.

Goodreads Goal: 67/400

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads |

2022 Reads | 2023 Reads

[theopenbookwigtown]

The final post, for real now...

Instead of selling books, we seem to have successfully purchased quite a few, so here's our haul. The challenge will be fitting them into our suitcase...

We made such a great discovery after our shift today, that we wanted to share it with you: At The Sign Of the Dragon is a bookshop selling sci-fi and fantasy books, tucked away from the main streets of Wigtown in an unassuming garage. We missed it at first, and thought it had closed down, but upon closer inspection, we were able to find this hidden gem! Do stop by if you can, it's certainly worth it!

Also, thank you very much to Mr. Shaun Bythell at The Book Shop, who very kindly signed all three of his books that Nami bought and had some lovely words for us.

Thank you for having us, Wigtown! We had a great time.

[ninja-muse]

Well, this was certainly a good start to my reading year! I enjoyed most of what I read, got far enough towards my "Canadian authors" goal that I'm probably going to have to extend it in a few months, I won an ARC giveaway I’d forgotten I’d entered, and I'm excited for my February reading as well! We got a bumper crop of reading copies at work which included a bunch of my most anticipated reads, and I can’t wait to start in on them.

Apart from the ARCs, I officially acquired 4 books this month: Lost in the Moment and Found, because McGuire is an auto-buy; A Man and His Cat, Vol. 3 and 4, which were late Christmas gifts; and Into the Windwracked Wilds, which I did not get as a late Christmas gift so obviously I had to rectify the situation. (McGuire might be an autobuy, but I try to add my less-anticipated books by her to wishlists because I've got to ask for something.) Oh, and I got a cute mini-journal from @lizziethereader, which was a delightful surprise!

On a slightly down note, I bought the anniversary edition of Digger by Ursula Vernon through Kickstarter last year and, probably due to the problems that plague all crowdfunded items at distribution time, have yet to see it shipped to me. Still hopeful that it will mail soon!

Long-time followers will notice some slight changes in my wrap-up format. I decided that I wanted to start up ratings again, because "I'm really glad I read this" and "this was an excellent book" don't always align, and also that I wanted to acknowledge queer rep beyond "this is queer", the way I was acknowledging nationality and heritage more last year. (I'm doing that for characters only, not authors, because often the only info I have is "likes women" or "uses they/them" and I'm not comfortable trawling the web for details, if they're even out there.) There are also more reading goal-type stuff that I want to note, and unlike last year, I'm not counting or ranking picture or board books but I am still acknowledging when I read them.

I am also striking through HarperCollins titles for the duration of the strike. These lists serve partly as reminders to me, so I don’t want to omit them entirely, but I also stand with the strikers and want people to know which books to avoid if they do as well.

And now, without further ado, in order of enjoyment…

When the Angels Left the Old Country - Sacha Lamb When a girl from their shtetl goes missing in America, an angel and a demon decide to track her down. This will be a simple trip… right?

8/10

Jewish cast, 🏳️‍🌈 protagonists (agender), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (lesbian), Jewish author, 🏳️‍🌈 author

warning: anti-Semitic characters

Lost in the Moment and Found - Seanan McGuire When Antsy runs away from the bad man in her mother’s house, she finds the thrift shop of her dreams and infinite worlds to explore. But everything comes at a cost.

7.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 author

warning: grooming of a young child

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries - Heather Fawcett Emily travels to Ljosland to research the Hidden Ones. Unfortunately, the villagers dislike her, the faeries have their fingers deep in the village, and the horribly perfect Wendell Bambleby has invited himself along.

7.5/10

🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (lesbian), 🇨🇦

I Know Who You Are - Barbara Rae-Venter How Rae-Venter got into forensic genealogy and the cases she’s most known for cracking. Out in February.

7.5/10

warnings: kidnap, murder, sexual assault

Remainders of the Day - Shaun Bythell A third year in the life of a Scottish bookseller.

7/10

The House With the Golden Door - Elodie Harper Amara is finally free of the brothel, but her friends aren’t, and her patron is turning out to be less kind than she thought.

7.5/10

African secondary character, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (sapphic)

warning: rape, misogynist society, slavery, eating disorder

Yeti Left Home - Aaron Rosenberg When a Hunter comes to town on the trail of brutal murders, Wylie leaves his small-town sanctuary for the big city. Unfortunately, the killer and the Hunter seem to have followed.

7/10

A Song for Arbonne - Guy Gavriel Kay Arbonne is known for sunshine, troubadours, and goddess worship; Gorhaut, for wars, rigidity, and a hatred of women. The tension between the two has begun to escalate and Blais of Gorhaut is caught in the middle.

7/10

minor 🏳️‍🌈 characters (gay), 🇨🇦

warning: misogynist characters, rape, mild homophobia, animal death, war

Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner Cassie has a one-night-stand with an older woman. Who turns out to be her friend’s mom. It has to end there—and yet.

6/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonists (bisexual), 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (bisexual, genderqueer), Black secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 author

I Want to Be a Wall, Vol. 1 - Honami Shirono An asexual woman and a gay man enter a marriage of convenience. She loves BL manga. He loves his straight best friend.

6/10

🏳️‍🌈 main characters (ace, gay), Japanese cast, Japanese author

Bad Cree - Jessica Johns Mackenzie’s having nightmares about her dead sister and bringing items back from her dreams. Everything points to going home and being with family, so she does—but the nightmares don’t end.

6/10

Cree protagonist, Cree and Squamish secondary characters, 🏳️‍🌈 secondary characters (nonbinary/two-spirit, bisexual), Cree author, 🇨🇦

warning: grief

Cold Case BC - Eve Lazarus Profiles of notable cold cases from British Columbia—and some that have finally been solved.

7/10

🇨🇦

warning: murder, disappearances, kidnapping, rape, MMIWG

A Killing In Costumes - Zac Bissonnette Jay and Cindy just got an offer that might save their movie memorabilia business. Unfortunately, their competitor has turned up dead and that might sink everything.

5/10

🏳️‍🌈 protagonists (gay, lesbian), 🏳️‍🌈 author

Picture Books

Hats Are Not For Cats! - Jacqueline K. Rayner Cat wants to wear hats, but hats are only for dogs.

When Sally Met Harry - Paulette Bourgeois, illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan Goldendoodle Sally’s family is perfect, until the baby arrives.

🇨🇦

Currently reading:

The Porcelain Moon - Janie Chang Faced with an arranged marriage, Pauline decides to travel to the Western Front to find her cousin. Meanwhile, Camille is caught between an abusive marriage and her secret love for a Chinese man.

Chinese main and secondary characters, Chinese-Canadian author, 🇨🇦

Nocturne - Alyssa Wees

A ballerina in 1930s Chicago acquires a Mysterious Patron. Out in February.

Stats

Monthly total: 13 + 2 pb Yearly total: 13/140 Queer books: 4 Authors of colour: 2 Books by women: 7 Authors outside the binary: 2 Canadian authors: 4/10 Off the TBR shelves: 2 Books hauled: 4 ARCs acquired: 9 ARCs unhauled: 4 DNFs: 0

[tudorblogger]

Monthly Reading Summary – December 2022

Monthly Reading Summary – December 2022

[tinynavajoreads]

Yellow Bookstack

I was tagged by @godzilla-reads to show off all of the yellow books I have and here's what I could come up with!

Sandy's Book by Tamora Pierce

My Hero Academia Vol. 1 by Kohei Horikoshi

The Wander Society by Kerri Smith

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Moreta by Anne McCaffrey

Can't Stop, Won't Stop by Jeff Chang and Dave "Davey D" Cook

World War Z by Max Brooks

Surprisingly, I've read all of these but one; Can't Stop, Won't Stop. Granted, it's been a while since I've read a few of these, but I am glad to say that I've read the majority of the yellow books on my shelves!

Tagging others to play along: @aridotdash @just0nemorepage @books-are-portals @books-and-libraries and @logarithmicpanda