The Diary of a Bookseller cover art

The Diary of a Bookseller

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Diary of a Bookseller

By: Shaun Bythell
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost...

In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.

©2017 Shaun Bythell (P)2023 Profile Books Ltd Diaries & Journals Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence Witty Funny

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Confessions of a Bookseller cover art
Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans cover art
Long Overdue cover art
Flesh Wounds cover art
The Accidental Detectorist cover art
The Dog In The Chapel cover art
Alan Bennett: Diaries cover art
One Man and His Bike cover art
Life, Death & Sex with Mike and Sue cover art
Reading Allowed cover art
That Festive Feeling cover art
Wainwright: The Biography cover art
The Diary of Two Nobodies cover art
Thanks for Nothing cover art
The Bookshop cover art
Bibliomaniac cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
Very good and fast paced reading and very entertaining book. Will definitelly listen to it again. I'm really surprised by low ratings - no reason for it as far as I can see. I do not give 5 stars easily, but this book was great and I will check other books by this author. Now I want to visit his bookshop!

Loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A struggle to get through. Poor reading.. Not sure if meant to be humorous

Very monotonous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really like the narrative man who runs a bookshop might be or is sarcastic to customers from time to time. Very funny in place and is very enjoyable, can’t get enough of this fantastic book. Well done Shaun for delivering such a good book. Enjoyed the fact that other people are talked about with real compassion and sometimes despair.

Fantastic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this so much I am buying the hard copy of this book. A delight to listen to.

Very enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I read the books out of order, but still very enjoyable hearing about the crazy customers

Makes me want to work in a bookshop again

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I learned so much about independent bookselling from this diary, but it has taken the sheen off the pleasure I normally get from browsing in bookshops. I always buy at least one book when I go into a bookshop, but having read this book I shall feel a certain guilt and prickly awareness of the attitude of the bookseller in future. What a shame!
I think the book has been written with humour, but it gave me no pleasure.
The performance was sibilant (which detracted) and there were strange inflections and emphases.
Overall, the book was interesting, but did not draw me in, engage my empathy (which I would have loved it to have done) or relax me with smooth delivery.

A wry dissection of independent bookselling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.