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
Hodder Studios has pre-empted two books from Sarah Bonner, including her debut novel Her Perfect Twin, described as an "original, compelling and propulsive" thriller. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-01 10:16:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#debut thriller
#debut novel
#hodder
The Bookseller magazine is to bring in a guest editor for the first time, with Marianne Tatepo, the founder of the Black Agents & Editors' Group (BAE), to take the reins for the 9th April issue. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-28 21:30:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookseller magazine
#guest editor
#group bae
#bookseller
In “The Committed,” a follow-up to “The Sympathizer,” Viet Thanh Nguyen’s nameless spy navigates a Paris underworld rife with drug deals, violence and colonialism’s ghosts. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-26 10:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#debut novel
The American Booksellers Association’s virtual Winter Institute attracted 1,971 participants last month, up from the 1,500 people who attended last year’s live meeting in Baltimore. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-26 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Author Brené Brown offered the keynote talk on the final day of the ABA's Winter Institute and urged booksellers to improve their communication skills and not to anticipate a return to normalcy, but to prepare for a future of constant disruption. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-22 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#final day
#winter institute
Barack Obama kicked off the American Booksellers Association (ABA) Winter Institute yesterday (18th February) by thanking bookstores for their work in passing on knowledge. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-19 01:43:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#american booksellers association
In 'Between Two Kingdoms,' young cancer survivor Suleika Jaouad writes with fierce honesty about the false divide between the sick and the well. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-02-15 15:00:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#memoir
In “Under a White Sky,” the Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Kolbert meets people who are trying to reverse the course of man-made environmental disaster. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-10 10:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
#white sky
#elizabeth kolbert
#pulitzer prize
At Philadelphia’s Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books, bookstore manager Evisa Gallman sees a long future for herself in bookselling. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookselling spotlight
#bookstore
The BBC boost enjoyed by Sally Rooney’s Normal People helped Faber to post strong sales of both the young author’s titles, while Matt Haig’s books claimed three of the top six chart positions for Canongate. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-04 22:44:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#independent publishers
#sally rooney
#young author
#matt haig
Indie booksellers remain generally optimistic they can “weather the storm” of the latest lockdowns, despite fears England's shop closures could last until April. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-04 06:44:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#indie booksellers
The recycled gossip is tiresome, but what’s most irritating about “A Bright Ray of Darkness” is that it’s really good. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-02-02 14:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#brilliant fiction
#bright ray
Anne Irish, a leading figure in children's bookselling in America, died on January 26 at age 78; she was among a cadre of women who opened and purchased bookstores in the 1970s and 1980s. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-02-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#leading figure
#bookseller
Mary-Kay Wilmers is stepping down as editor of the London Review of Books after nearly three decades in the post. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-29 16:45:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#books editor
#london review
#mary-kay wilmers
#thelondon review
Influential editor and co-founder of the literary magazine to be succeeded by senior staffMary-Kay Wilmers is stepping down from her role as editor of the London Review of Books, a position she has held for almost 30 years.Wilmers was one of the founders of the literary magazine in 1979, along... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-29 15:28:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#london review
#40th anniversary
#literary magazine
#books editor
A bookseller in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, has launched a crowdfund to donate books to children who receive free school meals. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-28 17:56:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#west yorkshire
#donate books
#bookseller
#children's book
To celebrate the Book Review’s 125th anniversary, we’re dipping into the archives to revisit our most thrilling, memorable and thought-provoking coverage. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-25 16:00:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book review
#125th anniversary
#great book
Headline Review has acquired Honey & Spice plus one more novel by Bolu Babalola, author of story collection Love in Colour (Headline, 2020). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-25 14:45:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bolu babalola
#headline review
#story collectionlove
How one bookseller found herself idiotsplaining a certain bookstore bathroom predicament to the legendary musician Lou Reed. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-01-25 11:34:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bookseller found
#lou reed
#bookstore
#bookseller
Charles Wheelan's "We Came, We Saw, We Left" charts the Wheelan family's frantic global "gap year" — infections, iffy street food, tantrums and all. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-01-22 18:26:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#memoir