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 classics to sell to Dylan Moran’s crosspatch bookseller Bernard. Barely looking at them, Bernard offers him £40. But they’re worth more than that, the man says. “I know, I know,” Bernard concedes. “But I don’t want them. I’ll have to price them, then, and put them up on the shelves, and store them, and people will come in and ask about them, and buy them, and read them, and come back and sell them and the whole hideous cycle will just go on and on and on ...” He gives the man £40 to take the books away.Shaun Bythell’s dispatches from the Wigtown Bookshop, which he has run for nearly 20 years, read like a knowing riff on the persona of Bernard Black. He started out grousing about his life, pillorying his eccentric staff and venting about his noisome customers on a Facebook page. Then he did the same in his hit Diary of a Bookseller, continued with Confessions of a Bookseller, and here he is – an actual franchise – with a slim little listicle-titled till-point follow-up for the Christmas market. His inner Bernard Black will be heaving a world-weary sigh. The more he parades his contemptus mundi, the more the world loves him.Much steam is enjoyably vented over customers who whistle... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-11-11 09:00:33 UTC ]
News tagged with: #shaun bythell #christmas market #bookseller

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell review – virtuosic venting'

Bookshops bypassed by academic publishers

Tensions between academic booksellers and publishers are likely to heighten following the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #academic publishers #academic booksellers

Survey Finds 60% of Publishers Agree that Print Publishing’s Time is Limited

Almost two-thirds of industry leaders from the publishing industry foresee that newspapers and other print publishers will end up as digital-only enterprises by 2020, according to a survey conducted by MPP Global Solutions. Conducted during two web ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #survey conducted #publishers agree #print publishing #industry leaders #print publishers

Book review: 'Half-Blood Blues' by Esi Edugyan

In the 2011 Man Booker Prize finalist, the author has pitch-perfect voice and her jazz musician characters have rhythmic conversations.Not unlike its counterpart rock 'n' roll, memorable jazz novels occupy a pretty slim shelf at the local bookstore. Though the music has been gracefully spun into... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #half-blood blues #esi edugyan #local bookstore #roddy doyle #michael ondaatje

Slate to Begin a Monthly Review of Books

The Web magazine will publish an expanded look at books on the first Saturday of each month, as stand-alone book review sections in newspapers have dwindled. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Book review: 'Zona' by Geoff Dyer

With care and craft, the novelist and essayist seeks to summarize Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 art film 'Stalker,' finding elements that will keep the non- cinéaste onboard.Zona Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #geoff dyer

Book review: 'By Blood' by Ellen Ullman

A creepy professor eavesdrops on a woman's therapy sessions and becomes obsessed with her.By Blood Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review

Book review: 'The Flame Alphabet' by Ben Marcus

The death of language is explored via plague-carrying children and their horror-struck parents in a wildly inventive tale by Ben Marcus.Spend too much time with 24-hour news networks and it's easy to feel that exposure to that much talk can make you sick. Taking the idea a few steps further,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #flame alphabet #ben marcus

Book review: 'Enemies: A History of the FBI' by Tim Weiner

In 'Enemies: A History of the FBI,' Tim Weiner ('Legacy of Ashes') offers a scathing indictment of the FBI, before J. Edgar Hoover and since.Each week, the FBI sends reporters an email of "top ten news stories" that it hopes will hit the headlines. The press releases usually highlight crooks... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #press releases

Brent terminates Willesden Bookshop lease

Willesden Bookshop is searching for new premises after Brent council plans to develop the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Book review: 'The American Way of Eating' by Tracie McMillan

Tracie McMillan takes us to agricultural fields, Wal-Mart and Applebee's, where she works short stints and tries to eat healthfully on meager pay.The American Way of Eating Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review

Book review: 'Watergate'

Thomas Mallon's novel deftly paints a picture of 1970s America and adds an imaginative back story to the characters.Watergate Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review

Book review: 'Monstress' by Lysley Tenorio

The author's short stories paint vivid pictures of growing up Filipino American.In a smoke-stained San Francisco hotel room, Felix Starro is making fake blood. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review

Book review: 'Killing the Messenger' by Thomas Peele

The murder of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey and a family's violent rise to prominence is given gripping life.On a morning in August 2007, a slender masked man ran up to Chauncey Bailey on an Oakland sidewalk and fired two shotgun blasts at the journalist. The first slug tore through Bailey... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review

Bulk of Wesley Owen bookshops to close

Wesley Owen has announced it may close all but one of its chain of Christian bookshops, saying... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Waterstones to open Russian "bookshop"

Waterstones is to open a Russian-language "bookshop" within its flagship London... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

Short story 'newspaper' hits bookshops

The team behind the successful book Change the World for a Fiver has launched a free newspaper... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #short story

HUP Finds Logo for New Line Via Contest

In September, Harvard University Press tried something a little different. That month the scholarly press announced it was holding an open search for the design of its forthcoming book series featuring English translations of works in various Indian languages. HUP has now found a logo and look... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #indian languages