Do you ever wish to own a bookshop? Well, I do and I don’t think there would be a better person to learn from if it were not the Bookshop owner himself, albeit through a book called “The Diary of a Bookseller.”
I bought this book in November 2018 from a small bookshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand, called The Booksmith. Lovely little bookshop by the way.
Motivation
Anyway, I have said and mentioned to my family many times that it would be a dream come true to own a bookshop. Well, that’s a wish although knowing wholeheartedly that everything is online. There aren’t that many (real) book readers and there aren’t many that would visit a physical bookshop. However, personally I think there is still a unique charm that makes a bookshop attractive. Many would agree here.
The Book
“The Diary of a Bookseller” is basically a record of what really happened daily in a local second-hand bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. It was such a fun book to read, very funny and eventful. This was especially the case with the relationship between the shop owner and author, Shaun Bythell, and his employee named Nicky.
Nick is an oldish lady who works in the bookshop and is very funny. One of my favourites was when a customer looked for “On the Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin but could not find it, because Nicky had put it in the fiction section. haha!
The Moments
Moreover, there are stories when the owner and his employees had to face with many different types of customers. One example is when some customers came in, read books for hours and did not even buy one. Some found a book that they had been looking for for over ten years.
One touching part is when an old customer somehow found a book that belonged to his father. The owner gave it to this customer for free in this case.
Sometimes, a family came and bought so many books, each. There was also one time when a five year old customer came into the bookshop alone to look for a present for his mother.
These are just examples of some beautiful moments that happened in the bookshop.
What I Learned
From the Diary which covered the period of over a year in 2014 (mostly), I think I have learned that it is not easy to run a bookshop at all. The main reason is because of such a giant player as Amazon. However, the book shows that there is still a niche market for second-hand books. Having said, that the owner has to be very adaptable, whether it is selling books online as well as joining other booksellers in setting up the annual Book Festival.
Reading about owning a bookshop and living with so many books really remind me of this.
If you would like something light and enjoyable, yet very knowledgeable, “The Diary of a Bookseller” is definitely a good choice.