I am grateful to NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The subtitle of this book is “A Life in the Rare Book Trade”. This is the non-fiction story of the used book business, the owners, buyers, collectors and others involved in this work. The book is largely about the author’s purchase of a bookstore in Minnesota in the early 1980s, his adventures and stories in the trade and the changes brought about by the internet in the last two or three decades.

Alongside this background, the author takes us on several side journeys, covering the history of books over the last 100 year since the rise of public libraries and readership. In parallel to the rise in readership and ownership, books became a business with private owners building extensive often excessive collections. Criminals naturally became involved with theft, forgeries or other nefarious activities. Colourful characters are portrayed with warmth, respect and honesty. Even those quirky, sad and lonely individuals, often obsessive or deluded, living with too many books in decaying mansions. Although largely based in the Minnesota and the US, some United Kingdom book stores, book events and characters populate these stories.

Larry McMurtry, a successful author and keen book collector himself makes a few appearances throughout the book. Even his success, prestige and influence cannot turn back the tide of firstly the big book stores and then later the likes of eBay and Amazon.

After recently reading about the shenanigans of companies such as WeWork, Theranos and Purdue, it is refreshing and heart-warming to learn a little about a very different business model, involving the love of a product, the hard work and usually honest labour of bookstore owners.

The author documents his love for this hardscrabble business and his sadness at the decline he has witnessed over the years. The book is his efforts to “…describe a life before is is gone.” He is for the most part successful. It is a relatively small book or some 200 pages. Readership is probably limited to an older age group of people who remember fondly the joys of browsing a used book store or perhaps a book fair in their youth. For those from the twin-cities areas of St Paul and Minneapolis, there may be the additional pleasure of reading about local shops and individuals, mostly no longer in business or alive.

It is a very personal book; a lifestyle of travelling, buying and selling books, seeking out value amongst large numbers of unloved and ultimately unwanted physical books. In some ways it is a sad tale of decay and decline, both the book trade itself and many of the individuals involved. For the author, it was often a challenge for himself, his family and his colleagues. Nevertheless, there seem to be few regrets in his life choices, despite the hardships, both financial and physical. He has produced in this book, a Labour of Love. I wish him well with the book’s publication. It is probably destined for e-book readers via the internet. Ironically, the main cause of the palpable decay and decline that is evident throughout the book.

Enjoyable read! I appreciated the author’s knowledge of the history of booksellers and the intrigue of the dishonest characters who’d been around in the book selling / stealing industry. It was interesting to read about the underworld characters. I enjoyed and yet was saddened by the by-gone memories of brick and mortar stores closed down and rare book sellers out of business. His full knowledge of the industry was a nice adjunct to my love of book reading.

Secondhand book selling was a "business that had functioned almost unchanged for 600 years...the saturation and instant gratification [of] online selling platforms began to exert a profound influence...dampening the enthusiasm of 'hunter-gatherers' on a quest to save books that otherwise might be lost." Gary Goodman was an antiquarian book seller, an occupation he embraced purely by accident.

A going out of business sign in a run-down, used bookshop in East-St. Paul, Minnesota caught his eye. The year was 1982. It was a closet-sized bookstore, housing unlikely to be sold books, and was in a bad location. Too late, Gary had signed on as the new owner. Placing a box of one dollar books in front of the store, a passing dog peed on the books in the carton! Gary needed to fast track his knowledge of running a bookstore. A trade publication called Antiquarian Bookman's Weekly provided insight into a "high adventure, the excitement and anxiety of the chase, and the opportunity to unearth unpublished documents and original manuscripts.

As a journeyman bookseller, Gary could acquire books from library sales, thrift shops, estate sales, and abandoned storage lockers. "A successful book scout knew a good book...that the book had a market...Larry McMurtry, author of "Lonesome Dove", started as a book scout."

The market value of a rare book was based upon supply and demand. A first printing of Action Comics #1 with a first appearance by Superman was a most valuable acquisition. "Some of the most notorious criminals in history happened to be book sellers or book collectors. Stephen Blumberg aka the Book Bandit, was arrested in St. Paul Minnesota in 1990 for "liberating books from libraries, museums, and bookstores, stolen to 'protect' them."

In 1990, Gary and partners opened St. Croix Books in Stillwater, Minnesota. Although a venerable secondhand bookshop, its doors closed in 2017. Second hand bookselling was now a vanishing breed. "The Last Bookseller" by Gary Goodman is both a memoir describing a 35 year career as an antiquarian book seller as well as a history of thieves, forgers and book hoarders. In "The Private Papers of a Bankrupt Bookseller" published in 1930, a book hoarder writes, "I don't think I ever parted with any book from all my stock but with a feeling of regret...even though I must sell to live-to lose possession [of a book] wrenches me." A highly recommended read!

Thank you University of Minnesota and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! Devoured it in a matter of two sittings.
It was always my dream to own a small bookstore. The author proved to me that there's truth to the old saying, "Sometimes God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers"!
The author was a guy, much like me, who wandered into a used bookstore in St Paul, MN, and left being the owner. No idea of how to run it, or what he got himself into.
What follow is a great tale of traveling across the country (and England), chasing after used books to fill his store. Eventually, he figures it all out (???) and ends up with a very large bookstore in Stillwater, MN. And develops the area into a mecca for other book lovers, as other people also open bookstores there. I'm extremely lucky to have lived in the Twin Cities during that time, and would often venture up to Stillwater to spend hours and hours (and way too much money) in his store.
There's tales of famous book thieves, of a "King" of his own book town in England, of a famous Western writer who tried to do the same in Texas, and of books found, lost, and sold.
In the end, the author fell victim to the great bookstore killer, the internet. Today it's just way too easy to go on Ebay, or Amazon, to find the book you have been searching for. The thrill of the chase is gone. It's a pity.
If you like books, this is a fantastic read. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

A book for fans of books about books.
Tells the details of one of the last booksellers in America.
Full of history of other people who have made their careers around selling used and valuable books across the world.
Full of humour and tales of the best and the worse characters in the book business.
This book is well researched and easy to read.
Recommended to fans of books.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley in allowing me to read in return for a review.

Interesting introduction into the world of book selling! Reading about the process of acquiring and selling books before the age of Amazon and the internet was fascinating - who knew about the travels and what a relatively small community of folks took part in this business on a large scale. Famous names were dropped which I thought was incredible as I’m a big fan of their novels! The book fell a little flat to me because it reduced books to just business - which I understand but it poked holes in the lovely notion I have about book sellers loving books and stories. One story about finding valuable books in Goodwill and then reselling it bummed me out but I understand the thrill of the hunt and the competitive nature in “flipping” books. I enjoyed the history and stories immensely. This is a quick read; well-researched and one I’d recommend. Thanks to University of Minnesota Press for the advanced copy.

The Last Bookseller: A Life in the Rare Book Trade is an entertaining ramble through the author’s experience as an antiquarian bookseller in Minnesota over the course of thirty-five years. I found the description of book buying trips interesting, especially going to check individual collections, usually after the owner had died leaving behind his treasures (or not). He intersperses side stories of several book thieves and famous forgeries and heists though these made me feel like we bounced around in time. There were a few things that made this book a miss for me. First, I found it interesting that I didn’t get any sense that the author actually enjoyed reading. He described his life and business ventures as a collector or dealer who could have just as easily dealt in coins or guns or vintage quilts if he had happened to buy a different kind of second-hand store. This part was disappointing to me as an avid reader who feels strongly about books, authors and good writing. I liked the few times he made references to his kids and their jobs in the store and wish there had been more about the dynamics on family life; his wife is mentioned only a couple times. The book feels disorganized and I prefer a clearer structure and timeline. Overall, this is a fast read that helped me see into the life of a bookseller and bookstore venture. Thanks to Net Galley and the University of Minnesota Press for the advanced copy to read and review; all opinions are my own.

Bookselling is a dying art. In fact, bookselling as Gary Goodman came to know it over the decades of being in business, is already dead. Internet murdered it. It became another casualty of the technological progress.
I’m not complaining, for me personally the invention of digital reading has been one of the best things about this rampant advance of technology. I read exclusively digitally and love it. But for purely somatic, nostalgia driven reasons I understand the tragedy of the demise of bookstores. It’s like an end of an era. Bookstores and booksellers had a certain classic appeal, the inimitable atmosphere. And booksellers of Goodman’s kind were a very specific breed, they hunted down books, think a pedestrian version of Dean Corso. Think someone like Apollo Kagwa, the protagonist of LaValle’s The Changeling. Even reading that fairly recent book I remember thinking…do those still exist? People who can make a living out of selling and reselling books?
Well, they do apparently, but far and few inbetween, a sliver of what the business used to be. Goodman did it as long as it was possible and got out just in time. Interestingly enough, he got into the business completely randomly. This wasn’t a man who dreamed the romantic dream of owning a bookstore. This was a man with an already established if unsatisfactory career, who bought one on a whim, knowing nothing about the business and learning on the go.
Learn he did and prospered and managed to raise a ridiculous number of children doing it, so major kudos there. And now, in his retirement, he gets to regale us with his tales of the business’ last decades, his time. You get to meet quirky characters and learn behind the scenes secrets and goings on. It’s a lot of fun, especially for the bookishly inclined.
The thing is, though, through it all there’s a strong undercurrent of this is business, books are business. What drives a lot of these people, including Goodman, is profit, and books are seen as just another commodity. And for the bookishly inclined this may not be the most…romantic approach. In other words, this all seems to be done less out of the love of books and more out of just…here’s a quirky oddball way to make a living. But you get the idea that instead of books it might have been collectible figures or something and it would still be the same, just a commodifiable object. That’s kind of disappointing, to be honest. Books seem to be more than that, at least to those who love them.
At any rate and whatever his motivations, Goodman produced a great story here, it’s engaging, humorous, entertaining. It’s considerably more pessimistic than the recent documentary movie The Booksellers on the similar subject, but it’s also a more realistic one.
In the increasingly dumbed down and digitally attached society, the books might stand a chance, but bookselling doesn’t really. And if bookselling (the art and the business) were to have a literary tombstone, this book might just be the right fit.
Lovely quick engaging read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Gary Goodman has written a highly readable, enlightening and entertaining memoir about his involvement in the rare and secondhand book business, the characters he met and worked with and also about several notorious rare book thieves. He faced many struggles and difficulties but also successes, and often chronicled it with humor. I found myself smiling, chuckling and even laughing out loud (that letter from his son!) while reading the book.

Anyone who loves books, secondhand bookstores, the book world and libraries will enjoy this book.

4 stars. Really worth a read!

Anybody who is a fan of used and rare books, not to mention a well-told story, will love this book. I would have read this one in a single sitting, but I kept getting disturbed.

Interesting. Informative. Well-paced.

Gary Goodman was a rare and used bookseller for over forty years. This book explained his spontaneous start into the industry and his adventures throughout.

This book was not only a memoir; most of the information is connected to Goodman, but explained and extrapolated upon. So when he introduced a person he meets, he gives us information on them - and the people he meets are all different kinds of characters!

He has travelled all over the world selling books, talking about books, and avoiding some books. This was an intriguing look into the life of a used bookseller and the changes that occurred with technological advances.

This book includes elements of true crime (forgers he met, thieves, etc.), history (of towns, books, authors, stores), and biographies (of him and others), coming together to make a really interesting story.

I really enjoyed this read and recommend to others!

This was an ARC I read on #netgalley and it publishes Nov 30 2021 for anyone interested!

Such a great book. Highly recommended, especially for book lovers. A quick read that is expertly written, including some lines that made me laugh and highlight them for posterity. I must admit that I felt a bit guilty reading the Kindle version as the advent of e-readers certainly contribute in some way to the ongoing difficulties that bookstores face.