Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. It is all about sharing the books that you have recently added to your bookshelves. These books can be physical books, ebooks and of course audiobooks.
Hello!
I was rather naughty this week and went book shopping. I did however have a book voucher so I had the perfect excuse. My local independent local bookshop has a brilliant loyalty scheme where if you collect ten stamps you get a £10 voucher. I had a voucher so I thought it was high time to spend it.
I love the poetry books compiled by Allie Esiri so I was really pleased to see there is one for Christmas. I’m looking forward to starting this on the 1st December.
I’ve always been interested by Catherine De’ Medici but don’t know much about her so I was quite excited to see this book by Mary Hollingsworth on the bookshelves. There was only one copy and apparently it had literally only just been put on the shelves that day so I was quite pleased to have gone in just at the right time.
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. It is all about sharing the books that you have recently added to your bookshelves. These books can be physical books, ebooks and of course audiobooks.
Hello!
This week has been a busy week of book buying. On Tuesday I visited my local bookshop. I am so lucky to have a bookshop so close to my house and it is really nice to support an independent bookshop. I bought three books from Booka Bookshop and filled another loyalty card so I have a £10 voucher to spend on my next visit.
I also had three books from Waterstones two were preordered and one was one that my husband and myself would both like to read.
Booka Bookshop
Table for Two by Amor Towles – I recently read A Gentleman in Moscow by Towles and absolutely loved it so I really want to read more of his books.
Mary I Queen of Sorrows by Alison Weir – I absolutely love Alison Weir so any of her new books is a must buy.
The Voyage Home by Pat Barker – I read the previous books of this series on NetGalley so it is nice to read the third book and own a physical copy.
Waterstones
Crimson Lake by Candice Fox – We love the TV series Troppo and now we both really want to read the books.
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros – I am currently reading Fourth Wing and I absolutely loving it so I’m happy to have the next book in the series.
Odyssey by Stephen Fry – I really like Stephen Fry’s books and I’m looking forward to reading this.
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. It is all about sharing the books that you have recently added to your bookshelves. These books can be physical books, ebooks and of course audiobooks.
Hello!
So the restricted book buying has completely gone out of the window this month which is worrying as we are still at the beginning of the month. However, I have been in Bath and that is always fatal as Bath has some of my favourite bookshops.
First up are the books I bought at Persephone Books.
I am completely obsessed with Dorothy Whipple so I was determined to get more of her books from the Persephone book collection.
They Knew Mr Knight by Dorothy Whipple
Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple
They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
Books from Waterstones
The Three-Body Problem by Cicin Liu – My husband really wants to read this book but we could not get a copy as every bookshop seemed to have sold out. However, after ducking into Waterstones to avoid the rain we managed to get a copy. I also plan on reading it once my husband has read it.
Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland – I quite enjoyed Sistersong so I thought I would give Holland’s next book a read as well.
Mr B’s Emporium
What the Greeks Did for Us by Tony Spawforth – I love anything to do with Ancient Greek’s so when I spied this book I knew it was a book I needed to read.
The Book of Days by Francesca Kay – I haven’t read anything by Francesca Kay but this book looked interesting so I thought I would give it a read.
Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond by Professor Alice Roberts – I wrote quite a few essays on ancient diseases and death practices in Ancient Greece and Rome so I’m quite interested to see what they were like in the Middle Ages.
Topping and Company Booksellers
Queens of the Crusades by Alison Weir – I love Alison Weir and I am always on the hunt for books that I haven’t read yet so I was quite excited when I spotted this.
Adam Bede by George Eliot – I am trying to read all of George Eliot’s published works and this one is on my list to read next.
Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin – I am really enjoying Martin’s sci-fi books so far so I am quite excited to read this next.
Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin – Another Martin book to read.
The Book Forger by Jospeh Hone – This was actually my husband’s choice but I fully intend to read it as well.
I have one more week left off from teaching so I hope I might get a lot more reading done and I might tackle some of my new books.
Meet Shaun Bythell, bookshop owner, bibliophile, and misanthrope extraordinaire. He lives and works in The Bookshop, Wigtown, whose crooked shelves contain anything from a sixteenth-century Bible to a first-edition Agatha Christie. A booklover’s paradise? Well, almost…
In Shaun’s honest and wryly hilarious diaries, he reveals the highs and lows of life in the book trade, as he contends with eccentric customers, bin-foraging employees, and a perennially empty till. Along the way, he’ll take you on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommend lost classics – and introduce you to the thrill of the unexpected find.
Review
I will be honest I have always rather fancied owning and running a bookshop, even though I know it would be hard work and I would probably be constantly worried about finances. However, I would be very happy to be surrounded by books all day.
I must admit I was rather surprised by this book. I picked it up at my church which has many second hand books for sale and thought it looked good fun. What I wasn’t expecting was the wit, humour and sometimes sadness within this book.
Bythell’s diary of his book shop adventures for one year was a real eye opener and very funny. Bythell’s shop seems to attract some very weird employees with the most eccentric being Nicky. I’m not entirely sure why Bythell put up with Nicky as she seemed more of hindrance to business rather than a help. I would not have had the patience Bythell has with Nicky or in fact half of his staff. Bythell at times seems to be the only sane one at the shop and that is saying something.
One of the things I really liked with the diary entries was the daily updates of takings and customers. It was really interesting to see how the time of year affected the amount of customers and takings. I also really enjoyed seeing how there are certain returning customers who are clearly returning regularly and ordering random books because they are loyal to the shop and don’t want to see it go under.
As the diary entries go on we see what a witty and humorous character Bythell is and how he clearly uses humour as his coping mechanism because without it he would clearly either cry or completely lose it with certain members of public. The element I found sad was seeing how the book trade had changed so much over the years and the damage Amazon was having on the second hand book shops. It was sad to see how the life of the second hand book shop was having to adapt to survive and even that adapting might not save it.
Wigtown has been on my list of places to go since I was a teenager and I very nearly went with my parents but ill health had to shorten our trip sadly so Wigtown was saved for another day. After reading this book I want to go even more and will be pestering my husband for a holiday there very soon. I will definitely be reading more of Bythell’s book and I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland’s National Book Town, and also one of the organisers of the Wigtown Festival.
When not working amongst The Bookshop’s mile of shelving, Shaun’s hobbies include eavesdropping on customers, uploading book-themed re-workings of Sugarhill Gang songs to YouTube and shooting Amazon Kindles in the wild.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
Lady Book Dragon 