Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell review – a brilliant sequel

A heart-warming love letter to books and bookshops, by an amenable fellow turned antisocial old misanthrope“I was in here two years ago and you had a book by Roger Penrose. Do you know what happened to it?” Shaun Bythell – owner of the Book Shop in Wigtown, Galloway – has 100,000 books in stock, sells 20,000 a year, and has handled nearly 1m second-hand books since he bought the shop in 2001. Unsurprisingly, the Roger Penrose volume had not stuck in his mind.Before he entered the book trade at the tender age of 31, he was “amenable and friendly”. Now, after many years of fielding bizarre questions, constant haggling over prices (why is it “acceptable to try to screw the profit out of struggling small businesses” but not supermarkets?), and struggling to survive despite Amazon’s “icy grip” on bookselling, he has been forced to embrace the stereotype of the “impatient, intolerant, antisocial proprietor”. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-24 10:58:38 UTC ]
News tagged with: #book shop #shaun bythell #tender age #book trade #bookseller

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell review – a brilliant sequel'


Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell review – a brilliant sequel

A heart-warming love letter to books and bookshops, by an amenable fellow turned antisocial old misanthrope“I was in here two years ago and you had a book by Roger Penrose. Do you know what happened to it?” Shaun Bythell – owner of the Book Shop in Wigtown, Galloway – has 100,000 books in stock,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-08-24 10:58:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book shop #shaun bythell #tender age #book trade #bookseller


The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell review – memoir

A proprietor’s journey from ‘amenable and friendly’ to ‘intolerant and antisocial’According to George Orwell, “there are always plenty of not quite certifiable lunatics walking the streets and they tend to gravitate towards bookshops”. Bythell’s diary suggests that not much has changed, in this... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #george orwell #book shop #constant barrage


Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell review – virtuosic venting

Pantomime misanthropy is tempered with bursts of sweetness in the secondhand bookseller’s latest dispatches from WigtownThere’s a moment in the first season of the short-lived but influential sitcom Black Books in which an elderly customer appears with a box of attractive old editions of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-11-11 09:00:33 UTC ]
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Book Review: 'The Future Was Now' is a brilliant look back at the groundbreaking movie summer of '82

In “The Future Was Now,” former Entertainment Weekly film critic Chris Nashawaty explores the significance of the summer of 1982, which featured the release of eight groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy films Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2024-08-01 22:54:26 UTC ]
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Book Club: Read ‘My Brilliant Friend’ With the Book Review

In August, the Book Review Book Club will read and discuss “My Brilliant Friend,” the first book in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-07-31 09:04:25 UTC ]
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Blue Mountains review – brilliant Georgian shaggy-dog satire on the Soviet mindset

A welcome revival of a 1980s comedy prophesying the collapse of the Soviet UnionHere is a revival of a 1983 film from the Georgian director Eldar Shengelaia (still alive at 90) and it is revealed as an intriguing, and perhaps even remarkable creation: a dapper, droll satire on Soviet... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-02-06 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Shelve This In Memoir: Confessions of a Teenage Bookseller

I’d begged my way into this job in the hopes that it might lead me closer to a literary life. And it would. Eventually. The post Shelve This In Memoir: Confessions of a Teenage Bookseller appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2022-09-05 10:00:28 UTC ]
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Review: Geoff Dyer's brilliant new book on 'lateness' is about much more than Roger Federer

Dyer's gloriously shape-shifting literary project — intensely perceptive, essayistic memoir — continues with "The Last Days of Roger Federer." Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-04-28 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Barefoot Bookseller | 'It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it’s an amazing opportunity and a brilliant job'

Back in 2018, an advert for what seemed like the perfect job for book lovers went viral after Sonu Shivdasani, founder of Soneva luxury holiday resorts, and Philip Blackwell, c.e.o. of Ultimate Library—a company that creates bespoke book collections for hotels and private clients—came up with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 23:24:10 UTC ]
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The Bookseller's Tale by Martin Latham review – a literary celebration

Latham, a bookseller for 35 years, has put together a heady mix of history, philosophy, anecdotes and entertaining factsWhat most people know about the American librarian Melvil Dewey is his phenomenal classification technique, the Dewey decimal system, which is still used in 135 countries. Less... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-19 09:00:45 UTC ]
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New Shaun Bythell bookshop title for Profile

Profile Books will publish Shaun Bythell's Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops in November.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-08 23:31:01 UTC ]
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Bookshop Day 'went brilliantly', say booksellers

Bookshops up and down the country say they saw footfall increase on Saturday thanks to the Bookshop Day campaign, organised by Booksellers Association. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shaun Bythell | 'What I object to is the digitisation of everything that's ever been printed'

Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop is the backdrop for a comic diary about the joy, and occasional banality, of bookselling. Caroline Sanderson reports. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Missing bookseller makes tearful 'confession' on China state TV

The Chinese government has broken its silence on the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers widely suspected of being detained by the authorities over the publication of controversial books critical of China's elite. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Fire phone review: a unique device, but you're better off waiting for the sequel

After producing a long line of ebook readers and tablets (not to mention a set-top box), Amazon has its sights set on the smartphone market. But finding success here won't be easy, even for an established tech giant like Amazon. With the Fire phone,... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2014-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Next Generation of Booksellers Is Changing the (Bookselling) World

The bookstore proprietors of today are putting inclusivity first, building communities, and opening up shop in unexpected places. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Heartland Fall Forum 2023: Honoring Booksellers, Celebrating Bookselling

Heartland Fall Forum, the last regional gathering of booksellers this year, kicked off yesterday with what promises to be a high energy show that drew 547 booksellers, authors, and exhibitors to Detroit for networking, education, and an opening night party at Third Man Records. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Review’s Review: Mathematics of Brutality

A novel of revolution, a graphic novel of Portland punk, and a photo book of the mosh pit. Continue reading at The Paris Review

[ The Paris Review | 2022-02-11 15:22:22 UTC ]
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Bookselling Profile: Source Booksellers

Source Booksellers has been transformed from a small business serving its Detroit community to an indie with a global customer base. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-09-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: Larry Elder complained we'd never reviewed his books. So we did, like it or not

David Ulin read four of the recall candidate's books, from the jeremiad "Showdown" to the memoir "A Lot Like Me," and found not a writer but a brand. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-09-08 13:00:05 UTC ]
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