Overview

"A cantankerously funny view of books and the people who love them. It does take all kinds and through the misanthropic eyes of a very grumpy bookseller, we see them all--from the ""Person Who Doesn't Know What They Want (But Thinks It Might Have a Blue Cover)"" to the ""Parents Secretly After Free Childcare."" From behind the counter, Shaun Bythell catalogs the customers who roam his shop in Wigtown, Scotland. There's the Expert (divided into subspecies from the Bore to the Helpful Person), the Young Family (ranging from the Exhausted to the Aspirational), Occultists (from Conspiracy Theorist to Craft Woman). Then there's the Loiterer (including the Erotica Browser and the Self-Published Author), the Bearded Pensioner (including the Lyrca Clad), and the The Not-So-Silent Traveller (the Whistler, Sniffer, Hummer, Farter, and Tutter). Two bonus sections include Staff and, finally, Perfect Customer--all add up to one of the funniest book about books you'll ever find. Shaun Bythell (author of Confessions of a Bookseller) and his mordantly unique observational eye make this perfect for anyone who loves books and bookshops. ""Bythell is having fun and it's infectious.""--Scotsman ""Virtuosic venting ... misanthropy with bursts of sweetness.""―Guardian ""All the ingredients for a gentle human comedy are here, as soothing as a bag of boiled sweets and just as tempting to dip into.""--Literary Review ""Any reader finding this book in their stocking on Christmas morning should feel lucky...contains plenty to amuse--an excellent diversion""--Bookmunch"

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9781567926927

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Reviews

"Praise for Shaun Bythell ""Among the most irascible and amusing bookseller memoirs I've ever read.""--Dwight Garner, New York Times ""...amusing and often cantankerous stories [that] bibliophiles will delight in, and occasionally wince at...""--Publishers Weekly ""Bythell writes with biting humor . . . he is a man on a mission, and year seen through his eyes convinces the reader that is a mission worthy of undertaking.""--Chicago Tribune ""Bythell remains an unwavering correspondent whose daily rambles reminds us of the joy in real bookshops.""--Fine Books & Collections Magazine ""A bookseller in Wigtown, Scotland, recounts a year in his life as a small-town dealer of secondhand books....Irascibly droll and sometimes elegiac, this is an engaging account of bookstore life from the vanishing front lines of the brick-and-mortar retail industry. Bighearted, sobering, and humane.""--Kirkus Reviews ""Bythell's wicked pen and keen eye for the absurd recall what comic Ricky Gervais might say if he ran a bookshop.""--Wall Street Journal ""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.""--Minneapolis Star Tribune"

Praise for Shaun Bythell and his previous book, Confessions of a Bookseller Something of Bythell's curmudgeonly charm may be glimpsed in the slogan he scribbles on his shop's blackboard: 'Avoid social interaction: always carry a book.' --Washington Post Warm, witty and laugh-out-loud funny... --Daily Mail Bythell's wicked pen and keen eye for the absurd recall what comic Ricky Gervais might say if he ran a bookshop. --Wall Street Journal 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. --Minneapolis Star Tribune Among the most irascible and amusing bookseller memoirs I've ever read. --Dwight Garner, New York Times ...amusing and often cantankerous stories [that] bibliophiles will delight in, and occasionally wince at... --Publishers Weekly Bythell writes with biting humor . . . he is a man on a mission, and year seen through his eyes convinces the reader that is a mission worthy of undertaking. --Chicago Tribune An enveloping account from the front lines of an industry in flux. --Foreword Bythell remains an unwavering correspondent whose daily rambles reminds us of the joy in real bookshops. --Fine Books & Collections Magazine A bookseller in Wigtown, Scotland, recounts a year in his life as a small-town dealer of secondhand books....Irascibly droll and sometimes elegiac, this is an engaging account of bookstore life from the vanishing front lines of the brick-and-mortar retail industry. Bighearted, sobering, and humane. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop, the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland. He is the author of Confessions of a Bookseller, also published by Godine. Shaun lives in Wigtown, Scotland.

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