Book Review: Confessions of a Bookseller

Title: Confessions of a Bookseller
Author: Shaun Bythell
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Peter Kenny
Publication Year: 2019
Length: 9 hrs 6 mins
Stars: 5/5

This is the second book in The Diary of a Bookseller series. Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland’s biggest second-hand bookshop, with 100,000 books for sale. In this diary, Shaun records his everyday working life in and around The Bookshop. He shows us a very humorous and entertaining glimpse into the world of bookselling.

I think I love this just as much as I love the first one! Shaun is still probably one of the most hilarious people I’ve ever witnessed. Again, he tells us all about his customers and employees, and the funny things that they say and do, from some old favourites such as Sandy the Tattooed Pagan, Captain the shop cat, and of course the legend that is Nicky, to some new faces such as Bumbag Dave and Emmanuella (or Granny as she so affectionately becomes known). I don’t think there was any particular story that stood out for me, but everything that Emmanuella did or said was either downright entertaining or absolutely hilarious! I especially enjoyed every time she called Shaun a “shitty fucking bastard!” Shaun tells all of the stories with wit and sarcasm, which makes for another very hilarious read (or listen in my case). The narrator Peter Kenny wasn’t as dry as Robin Laing (narrator of The Diary of a Bookseller) but I still think he did a great job.

There is literally nothing that I don’t love about this book. I was entertained throughout.

This audiobook gets 5 out of 5 stars from me! I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish and I can’t wait to see what comes next in the series. Surely this can’t be the end?

I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves nonfiction memoirs, entertaining stories, epistolary novels, books about books, sarcastic humour, and insights into the book trade.

Let me know in the comments if you have read this and what you thought of it!