The Diary of a Bookseller

In spite of its raving reviews, I simply refused to buy a hardcopy or a Kindle book of 'The Diary of A Bookseller' (2017) by Shaun Bythell. I know, the irony right? Borrowed it from the library instead. It was randomly sitting on the shelves on the day I went, so it went into the book bag. The author exists in his said occupation, and the bookshop exists in Wigtown, Scotland. (Reviews here, here, here and here.)

I would love to own a bookstore and be a bookseller somewhere. And not worry about making rent, chasing after bestsellers or whatever. The reality, is so different. Unless I own the land the bookstore sits on, possess sizable funds to last for a few years, and I don't quite have to worry about profits and losses, or the bottomline. As much as we love hard copy books, our living spaces don't afford the luxury of possessing a five-thousand book collection unless the entire flat holds nothing else but books. To be honest, I don't particularly care about first edition books or beautiful hardbound limited editions of anything. It's the story I want to know.

Shaun Bythell does indeed own The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. He sells second-hand books and has been doing this for close to two decades. He lives in the space above the shop, and opens the store from 9am to 5pm daily. Wigtown has a population of about 1000, and hosts an annual book festival, which might not be as well known as Hay-on-Wye in Wales, only because this town is more accessible since it borders England and Wales.

The first customer of the day was an Australian woman whose inability to pronounce the letter T left me confused as to whether she was asking for 'Noddy books' or 'naughty books'. It turned out, after I'd shown her to the erotica section, that she was after Enid Blytons. 

It is a strange phenomenon that, when customers visit the shop for the first time, they tend to walk very slowly through it, as though they are expecting someone to tell them they have entered a forbidden zone, and when they decide to stop, it is invariably in a doorway. This, of course, is incredibly frustrating for anyone behind them, and since that person is usually me, I exist in a state of perpetual frustration. 

The diary doesn't do conventional chapters, and is written in chronological order, with dates separating the little snippets that holds the year's stories. Shaun Bythell writes about the day-to-day sales for the period between 2014 to 2015, experiences, friends, family, customers and such. It's quite abbreviated, and rather funny. During that period of keeping the 'diary', he had the assistance (paid wages) of quirky Nicky in the bookshop, and also from part-timers Laurie and Katie. He had a girlfriend, Anna, who's a published writer and lives in London, and takes the train to Dumfries and comes to Wigtown on weekends and whenever she can. He also has a cat, Captain, which appears to be still around now.

AND THE RANDOM BOOK CLUB MEMBERSHIP IS FULL. OMG. No more £59 a year for 12 free not-too-shitty books for new fans. It's a good thing, I suppose.

In an extract from the 'Epilogue' at the end,

The diary was written in 2014, and today is 1 November 2016: fifteen years to the day since I bought the shop. Since I completed the first draft of the diary, almost two years have elapsed, and a few things have changed. 

The distillery has recently re-opened, and an Australian businessman is overhauling it with a view to significantly increasing production. 

The Box of Frogs (the shop next door) changed hands a year ago and is now Curly Tale Books, run by Jayne (Flo's mother). 

The Wigtown Ploughman has changed hands and is now Craft Hotel.
Captain has continued to put on weight, and customers rarely fail to comment on his size. 

In 2015 Waterstones stopped selling Kindles, following poor sales and a resurgence in print book sales. 

..................... 

Anna and I have gone our separate ways, but remain good friends. 

The shop is still open.