I know the Brits take great pleasure in reading these diaries of different personalities that are serialized in newspapers. And Bythell must have a following because this is not his first book.

But it's dull, very dull. Think about reading your on musings on a daily basis, it's about that exciting,

This is the second book of memoirs / diaries of Shaun Bythell's tales of running a bookshop.
This book is just as good as the first book and has an addictive and comforting quality.
Extremely well written and funny and you can almost see the characters that visit his bookshop.
Fascinating for any book lover and offers inspiration for new books to read from what Shaun writes about books he has read and sold.
I was sad to finish the book and hope there will be another follow up to this collection.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to review this treasure of a book.

I didn't enjoy this as much as Shaun's first book, to be honest. The anecdotes weren't as funny but I can't tell if that's because Nicky features less or because Shaun himself isn't happy (I really get the impression that Shaun isn't happy, and it makes me sad).

Curious to see if the final version has an introduction, because my ARC didn't and I felt the lack. I'd not long finished the first book when I picked this up and had a hard time trying to sort out the timeline in my head between book one's ending, book one's epilogue, and the start of this sequel. Adding the year would have been a small thing, that probably most other people wouldn't have noticed or cared about, but I would have personally appreciated.

I haven't read "Diary of a Bookseller" so I didn't have any expectations of this book.
This is basically a diary about a chap running a reasonably successful second-hand bookshop in the Scottish "book town" of Wigtown.
As the book progressed, there were moments of humour & glimpses of something special (who couldn't love Captain the cat?), amongst the day to day repetitive tasks of the bookseller's job, but the bits that should have made this book special, the interactions between the employees, the quirks of the author & snippets about his life, were not there. Aspects of "granny", the young Italian woman who comes to help in the shop for a few months, are amusing but as for Shaun himself, I found him dull, annoying, arrogant & quite frankly the attitude he has to some of the customers - the people who enable his to make a living from his bookshop - are atrocious. I do sympathise with the struggles he faces with competition from Amazon & the like, but how can he expect people to be sympathetic to the struggles of a small bookshop when he has employees who turn up when they feel like it, write scathing comments on social media and treat the whole thing as a joke, and he himself seems to find customers an inconvenience ...

On a positive, the book has made me want to investigate Galloway more, but I am not at all inclined to visit "The Bookshop" and encounter a man who seems really quite arrogant & unpleasant. I might do so one day, just to see if he as odious as he seems!


Disclosure: I received this book free via NetGalley, but all opinions are my own
(I did read it on a Kindle - I guess Shaun Bythell would also crucify me for that!)

Confession of a Bookseller is the second book from Shaun Bythell about his book shop in Wigtown (you can read my review of the first here The Diary of a Book Seller – Shaun Bythell)  I wish I'd re-read my review of the first on before picking this one up, somehow I remembered the last to be funny and a good passing of time but it seems I was wrong!

It wasn't a terrible book, I think I just have the same complaints again. He is so rude about the customers but it felt he had somewhat softened towards the end of the book. 

A customer asks the sum of some books, while it might seem simple to Shaun for people like me with dyslexia/dyspraxia it isn't. While I am aware Shaun dislikes spending money however kindness is literally free.

Seems to boil down to a guy with a book shop that thinking everything should go his way (including money) but doesn't want to put the effort in the industry requires. He thinks he is in the book trade and that's it, he's not. He's in customer service but lacks any regard for it. I'm not going to say he doesn't know what it is because I am sure he does, he just disregards it as an annoying part.

If it's your sense of humour is being dismissive of people and rude then definitely pick it up, if not perhaps give it a miss. I think I'd read another one from him as I am now hooked on seeing what the people of Wigtown and the bookshop achieves. 

I'd love to know more about what happened to Nikki and Anna, they both just drop out and I get the feeling we won't hear from them again.

Absolutely loved this!! I had no idea when I requested this it was a biography. That made me love it even more! I really liked the format of the book as a "diary or journal" entry. This was a charming, funny book about the hilarious customers and people Shaun has deal with throughout his day as a bookshop owner in Scotland. Bookworms will LOVE this book, but you certainly do not need to be a bookworm to enjoy it. Definitely recommend.

(Side Note: Just saw under the description this is being made into a tv show! Can't wait!)

I loved the author's first book The Diary Of A Bookseller and this was equally entertaining for a book lover :)
This book is the author's memoirs about running a second-hand bookshop in Wigtown. The writing styles of 2 books are very similar, so if you liked the first one, you'd like this one. Or vice versa.
His sense of humor is very enjoyable to read. The addition of another entertaining character was very fun as well. Emanuela, an Italian intern who has a poor eyesight.
I enjoyed . this book massively, and I'd recommend to any book lover.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and publisher for this copy in . exchange for an honest review.

If you enjoyed ‘The Diary of a Bookseller’, then the second volume of Shaun Bythell’s account of running a large second-hand bookshop in Wigtown will definitely appeal as it is very much more of the same in terms of content and style. Bizarre customer queries and the trials and tribulations of book dealing provide the main focus of his diary entries from 2015 which are written with a pleasingly dry sense of humour. The arrival of Emanuela, the Italian intern nicknamed Granny due to her many ailments and poor eyesight, provides much entertainment during her three month stay over the summer. Highly recommended for all bibliophiles.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book, the topic, the setting, and the author! The first several diary style entries were endearing and painted a picture of Shaun Bythell's life inside and outside of his store. This is a man who I would love to meet and visit his shop! Unfortunately, the format of the book began to drag down the material and I found myself wishing for more continuity within the stories of customers and family members. The thought of reading each entry for the year was too much for me and this book was added to my DNF pile.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Profile Books for a free copy for an honest review.
I was excited to read this book as I love books about books and bookstores. I enjoyed the first part of the book and all the interesting characters and the books that were mentioned. Then I found it very redundant and started to feel bored. I think the author needed something more to be happening in order to make the book more exciting. I finished the book but it seemed more like a chore. I did not read the author's first book so I didn't know what to expect. All in all, I would have to say that this book is just not for me.

After enjoying the first novel, Diary of a Bookseller, I was excited to read more diary installments from Shaun Bythell's life as a second hand book seller in Wigtown. I wasn't disappointed. This is full of the charm of the original book, with Bythell's usual introspective views on life, love and buying and selling books to various oddball customers.

Although misanthropic, Bythell still manages to come across as genuinely witty and down to earth. His interactions with staff members are a particular highlight, as he affectionately records what Nicky has brought in from the Morrison's dumpsters on a Friday and the amount of food that Granny can pack away. It's also the people of Wigtown, from Fiona next door to the grumpy postmaster, that seem to make Shaun more grounded and relatable to the reader. There are a few rather poignant moments scattered throughout the documented year that managed to elicit emotion from Shaun that may otherwise have been lost among the more lighthearted chapters and offhand comments if it weren't for his neighbors. I also really enjoyed the interactions with customers and sellers, and found it fascinating to read about the types of people who have large book collections to sell on various, often rather niche, topics.

I also enjoyed the starting chapters for each month, which include an extract from an parody novel about booksellers, followed by Shaun's own interpretation on the subject matter and various insights into the trade itself. The paragraphs on book binding and book plates I found particularly interesting. Bythell''s writing style is also always fun, and the chapters are quick and easy to read, flowing well. This made it easy to put down and pick up, and I finished it quickly.

As the previous novel, this is a fun and insightful look into life as a second hand bookseller that will interest anyone with a love of books.

As I've read Diary of a Bookseller, I couldn't resist this Confessions of a Bookseller. Confessions of a Bookseller is just as laugh out loud as the first, especially if one has experience with secondhand bookstores and quirky customers. As the setting is in Wigtown, Scotland, it's even more charming.

Absolutely charming and delightful book comprised of diary entries by the owner of the second largest bookshop in Scotland. I wasn’t aware there was an earlier book by the same author, but it’s now on my to-read list. Great cast of true characters - I particularly enjoyed Granny and Mole-Man, and hope that someday I’ll be able to make my way to Wigtown and patronize The Bookshop!

I received a free review copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

As slight as this might appear, as lacking in narrative as it may be, this is still a wonderful book for those who love books and have a trivial bent. Our author, a shopseller in Scotland's Book Town, Wigtown, tells us of each and every till reckoning, and his success at finding things people have bought from him online, and the daily lot of a trader – people coming in asking for things that are right in their face, people contacting him online with requests for impossible to identify volumes, and generally people trying to fleece him of his meagre profit margin. I can see why people quibble at this being repetitive, but the approach to the drudgery is what makes our host so warmly appreciated.

And on that note, the proceedings have a very soapy aspect as well, for those that way inclined. In amongst all the data of profit and loss we get the gnomic comment "--- stayed the night" (or words to that effect), and with his partner – no, girlfriend, no, border authorities-pleasing wife – out of the picture, there is a lot that kind of forces itself in between the lines when reading. Which brings me on to my next point – as much as this is a warm-hearted portrayal of a community, an insular resort town where all are friends to all and where people can double-park outside the Co-op for days and be treated like a roundabout and not a bloody nuisance – this is also one aspect of a plug. The bookshop has a large online presence (partly due to a prescient web address), has a large social following, and a very slow trade in anti-amazon mugs, and this also is one prong of the publicity trident. Many people go online, and see our author or his lackadaisical staff in the flesh, and fail to accept they're the same people they imagined when reading these pages. That might be a fault of the book, but I don't think it's a major one – the balance of the book being a moral guide to the humble book dealer, as well as a dressed-up PR stunt, still works, and the lesson that "hey, booksellers are human too" is still to the fore here. Humbly charming, and quirkily droll, this is well worth a look. Even if the author thinks Terry Pratchett was sci-fi.

This is book is written in a diary format.
I did not read the previous book but I doubt it would change my opinion of this one.
As a former bookseller I was looking forward to this, however this book just didn’t grab me.

Perhaps the main confession to be had here is how prosaic and unglamorous the world of secondhand bookselling is. Much time is spent unpacking books, listing them on computers and then repacking them, travelling to houses to sort through book collections and negotiating payments, and occasionally selling books to customers (although the ones who are gladly prepared to hand over the marked price seem rare indeed). Yet Shaun Bythell's economical writing style shot through with gentle humour does bring the subject and his world to life. Peopled with eccentric characters you suspect he hasn't embellished much, Bythell himself remains reserved, a bit of a mystery as he somehow resists becoming a character in his own story. This detached perspective perhaps makes for a less exciting read, but there is a lot of pleasure to be had here in the insight he allows us into his world. The book is peppered through with quotations from a book called 'The Intimate Thoughts of John Baxter, Bookseller' by one Augustus Muir, published in 1942. Bythell contrast's Muir's observations about his customers with his own, sometimes amusingly, sometimes with a larger point to make about the general decline of the bookselling trade as it has been decimated by the growth of Amazon. An enjoyable read, then, but also a thought-provoking one, reminding us of something that we should cherish, before it becomes a thing of the past. Anyone who enjoyed The Diary of a Bookseller will love this follow up.

Reader, let's peek inside the mind of Shaun Bythell, owner of The Bookshop located in Wigtown, Scotland in his follow-up book to The Diary of a Bookseller.

Confessions of a Bookseller chronicles a year in the life of Bythell beginning in January 2015 and ending on December 31st of that year. The story focuses on his personal thoughts and reflections throughout the year sometimes elaborating on specific moments and other times only saying what is needed without explanation. Each clip of the day features the thoughts, accounts, and happenings, of which, I felt would be a bit boring about fifteen pages into the book. However, as I kept reading, I noticed that the format of the entries, starting with the online orders and ending with the amount sold in the day, kept a pace and routine for reading.

Likewise, Bythell's sarcasm is infectious as it should be with a book labelled as "Confessions." While some readers may find it off-putting that Bythell comments on the stupidity of some customers in his retail life, I would gently offer them a stint in working retail so they can see why these situations would be nothing less of an eye roll. However, Bythell comes from a unique point of view wherein he has to elate customers by purchasing as well as selling in that he runs a used bookshop of antiquities (a word that has multiple meanings ranging from mundane to high-brow rationality). I especially enjoyed the way Bythell infused his trouble with online platforms and technology as a vein for readers to follow as they experience a year in his life.

One of the most exceptional parts of the story comes in Bythell's journals as a reader. I found myself taking note of the various titles he mentions and searching for copies for myself. Bythell stops periodically to reflect on his own personal readings as he continues the narrative of his life as a bookshop owner often times finding a pathway that connects the two experiences making real-world lasting evaluations.

Along with his main bookshop, Bythell manages The Open Book which he describes "is run as an Airbnb which anyone can rent in order to experience running a bookshop for a week" (loc 101). Many interesting relationships are afforded through this unique opportunity.

Perhaps one of the best relationships (not exactly a part of The Open Book) is that of an Italian woman dubbed "Granny" who is nothing less of entertaining as her neurotic tendencies and infectious demeanor lead her to a longer stint at The Bookshop. There were laugh-out-loud moments with Granny as she becomes better acclimated to the English language and finds an outlet in verbose obscenities.

I found Bythell's account to be real without applying a thick guard against saying what is on the mind perhaps because of my own desire to own a bookstore or the basic nature of living vicariously through the life of someone living in a much different setting than myself. Either way, I would recommend the book for readers who need a reminder that there are other lives out there existing beyond our small bubbles. Additionally, I would throw this book in the hands of anyone who has ever worked or owned retail as a therapy in itself.

Readers, you can pick up your copy of Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell on August 29, 2019.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐3/4

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an advanced reader's copy of this book. Shaun Bythell would probably be disgusted that I had to read it on a Kindle. :-) Can we make a mug for that?

My favorite kind of book- one based on bookstores or libraries! I think any of us who actually work in wither could write our own tales. I enjoy discovering that there are others dealing with the same types of patrons as I do. Quirky ones, to be polite. And then there are other scarier types....But, these journal type books are such a hoot! They give a whole other perspective to our chosen fields! Kudos Shaun Bythell! Fun quick read for summer! Take it to the beach! I'm off to locate book one.

'I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.' So grateful to netgalley for an early copy of this book. I adored Shaun Bythell’s first book “ The diary of a bookseller” and this follow up is just as good. I will be buying a copy as soon as it released to give to my mum to read as she also loved his first book. I hope he keeps producing these diaries as the humour and descriptive detail about the realities of running a book shop allows the reader to feel as though they are there working in the shop too.

A cute read, and my first novel to read by this author. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to review it. I personally feel this would be better read in paper format, as the digital copy was mashed together and did not create a pleasant reading experience. But overall, I'm grateful to be given the opportunity to read this book.