The Diary of a Bookseller

By Shaun Bythell Profile, £14.99

Keen second-hand bookshop browsers may already be aware of The Book Shop in Wigtown, but even readers who have never heard of it or its owner Shaun Bythell should get much enjoyment from this diary, which runs for a full year from 5 February, 2014 – particularly if they liked the TV series Black

Books. Prefacing each chapter with an extract from George Orwell’s

Bookshop Memories, published in 1936, helps Bythell draw amusing similarities between the profession then and now. His diary entries are peopled with fascinating characters, from Nicky, his unruly, Morrisonsskip-raiding, sort-of-deputy; to Mr Deacon, possibly the only customer who still orders books from a shop rather than Amazon; to his festivalorganising friend Eliot, who delights in leaving his shoes around for people to trip over. It’s a sarcastic reminder of the struggles of small business ownership, the importance of community and the frustration of dealing with customers. Amid all the smirks, it’s occasionally laugh-outloud funny, with an epilogue detailing where all the major players are in 2017 that has a touch of wistfulness.