Confessions of a Bookseller - by Shaun Bythell

About the Book

"In 2018, Shaun Bythell's The Diary of a Bookseller (soon to be a major U.K. TV series) introduced readers to the joys and frustrations of his life as the owner of The Bookshop, the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland. Now, Confessions of a Bookseller, sardonic and sympathetic in equal measure, returns to chart the highs and lows of another year in the life of a cantankerous-yet-lovable man passionate about books"--

Book Synopsis

A very funny year in the life of a curmudgeonly bookshop owner in Wigtown, Scotland.

Review Quotes

Praise for Confessions of a Bookseller and Shaun Bythell

"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

"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 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 a 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

"Bythell'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."
-Portland Herald Press