Bythell, Shaun "The Diary of a Bookseller"

Bythell, Shaun "The Diary of a Bookseller" - 2017

I read the first sentence on the back cover and knew I had to read this book:
"An elderly customer told me that her book club's next book was Dracula, but she couldn't remember what he'd written."

The book was just as hilarious as this remark. I had to laugh out loud a lot of times. Shaun Bythell is so sarcastic and has a great sense of humour. I loved that.

How a salesperson can keep their calm when faced with stupid questions or remarks is beyond me. Customers who think they own the place, rummage through the books and leave the shop after tossing the books they looked at anywhere and without buying anything.

Which book lover doesn't wish to work in a library or a book shop (although the latter can be disastrous to your finances). But do we really consider how much hard work it is? Just the moving, packing and unpacking of boxes with books is terrible for your back. And dealing with customers who don't treat books the way we think they are supposed to be treated?

I could totally relate with his frustrations about people who would browse in his shop but then order the books from amazon. Or those who haggle over the price. Or the frustrations with the Internet when it doesn't do what you think it should e doing (haven't we all been there?) Or with amazon when his sales sank again under a certain limit. And then the troubles with his staff who seem to live in their own world and totally ignore the ideas and wishes of the boss. What kind of world do they live in? If I'd behaved like that in any of the jobs I had, I probably would not have had it very long. Shaun Bythell seems to be a very kind employer.

I especially loved the stories about the books, how he went to people's houses when a loved one had died or they had to downsize. Wish we had second hand bookshops around here. I sort out my books from time to time and donate them to the library and I'm lucky that they are happy to take them. But still. Would be nice to make a little bit of money. And one of my personal highlights was when he shot the Kindle. Can't blame him.

But there are a lot of other funny stories in the book. Like when a customer asks for the restroom. Even though he had an American girlfriend at the time, neither he nor his assistant seemed to know what he meant, or so they claimed. So, the answer given was "There is a comfy seat by the fire if you need a rest." Americans, beware! When you come to Europe and are looking for the toilet, say it like it is, nobody here calls them bathroom or restroom or whatever. I remember a British friend on being asked for her bathroom thinking whether the person wanted to take a bath. LOL

I also loved the idea of the Random Book Club where he sends you just a random used book once a month. Unfortunately, it is full at the moment, otherwise I would have joined right away.

I am sure this is on my list of places to see when we will visit Scotland the next time. There are two things I definitely want to see:the shot and mounted Kindle and the Festival bed. And there is one thing the author doesn't have to be afraid of once I've entered the shop: I will definitely buy something and I will put every book back on its right place that I have touched. I always do that, so it won't make any difference.

One last thing, I appreciated all the books he mentioned, would have loved a list at the end because there were so many that it was impossible to keep track. And there were lots of other things I appreciated like when he mentions that "older Gallovidians refer to [bats] as 'flittermice', probably something that fans of operetta would recognise." Well, in Germany, everyone would recognize it because the German word for bat is "Fledermaus".

This book definitely gets 5 stars from me. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

From the back cover:

"Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye."