Seven Kinds of People You Find in Boo..., Shaun Bythell
Seven Kinds of People You Find in Boo..., Shaun Bythell
1 Rating(s)
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Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops

Author: Shaun Bythell

Narrator: Peter Kenny

Unabridged: 2 hr

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/10/2020


Synopsis

A wickedly witty field guide to bookstore customers by the curmudgeonly shop owner and author of Confessions of a Bookseller. Shaun Bythell knows them all—from the “Person Who Doesn’t Know What They Want (But Thinks It Might Have a Blue Cover)” to the “Parents Secretly after Free Childcare.” The business of books has never been funnier.In a tradition that runs from R. M. Williamson’s Bits from an Old Bookshop in 1904 to Jen Campbell’s Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops in 2012 (with George Orwell’s 1936 Bookshop Memories in between), here is the latest and perhaps most complete attempt to classify people who shop in bookstores. It does take all kinds.Employing something like Linnaean taxonomic groups, there’s the Expert (divided into subspecies from the Bore to the Helpful Person), the Young Family (ranging from the Exhausted to the Aspirational), Occultists (from Conspiracy Theorist to Craft Woman).Then there’s the Loiterer (including the Erotica Browser and the Self-Published Author), the Bearded Pensioner (including the Lycra Clad), the The Not-So-Silent Traveler (the Whistler, Sniffer, Hummer, Farter, and Tutter), and the Family Historian (generally Canadians who come to Shaun’s shop in Wigtown, Scotland).Two bonus sections include Staff and, finally, Perfect Customer—all add up to the funniest sell-and-tell in the house of books.

About Shaun Bythell

Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland, and also one of the organizers of the Wigtown Festival.

About Peter Kenny

Peter Kenny, an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator, is a talented and experienced actor, voice-over artist, singer, musician, and designer, with over twenty-five years of experience working in theater, film, television, and audio. He has achieved great critical acclaim for multicharacter recordings of audiobooks by authors such as Iain Banks, Christopher Priest, and Edmund St Aubyn.


Reviews

Goodreads review by teleri on October 18, 2020

Eh. The author came off as a little self-centered, especially towards the end when he compared himself to hipsters. Just let people enjoy whatever they want as long as it’s not hurting anybody, and last time I checked wearing tweed and having a beard doesn’t. The book also felt like it went on foreve......more

Goodreads review by Sara on October 23, 2020

ARC received in exchange for an honest review. A short introduction to the seven(ish) kinds of people you often meet in bookshops. From the bearded pensioner to the insistent whistler, Shaun Bythell covers them all. This had the potential to be a little mean spirited, however Bythell has a certain ty......more

Goodreads review by Jenna on March 08, 2023

I typically don’t write reviews on non fiction, but I felt I have no choice with this one, because I don’t want someone to see it on my Goodreads shelf as “Read” and then falsely assume that I recommend it. I don’t. 90% of this book is Blythell complaining about the kinds of customers that he doesn’t......more

Goodreads review by Sophie on July 10, 2022

When visiting his Wigtown bookshop, which is a must see if you are in the area and it's open again, I bought Sean Bythell's first book, The Diary of Bookseller. I found it to be a very entertaining read so bought and enjoyed his second book, Confessions of a Bookseller too. When I spotted he had a t......more

Goodreads review by 8stitches 9lives on November 05, 2020

Shaun Bythell returns with another charming and amusing third book in the Bookshop series and is an exploration of those who frequent his bookshop. From behind the counter, Shaun Bythell catalogs the customers who roam his shop in Wigtown, Scotland. There’s the Expert (divided into subspecies from t......more


Quotes

“Bythell’s wicked pen and keen eye for the absurd recall what comic Ricky Gervais might say if he ran a bookshop.” Wall Street Journal

“Narrator Peter Kenney picks up on the playful undercurrent running throughout this audiobook…Listeners will have fun because Kenney is having fun with the spot-on descriptions of buyers’ quirks…He captures Bythell’s persona as a lovable, judgmental bookselling busybody through a lively performance presented with the breathlessness of one friend confiding in another. Listeners will be laughing out loud throughout and recognize many of the species being described.” AudioFile