Author(s): Shaun Bythell

Literature | Scotland

The Bookshop in Wigtown is a bookworm's idyll - with thousands of books across nearly a mile of shelves, a real log fire, and Captain, the bookshop cat. You'd think after twenty years, owner Shaun Bythell would be used to the customers by now. Don't get him wrong - there are some good ones among the antiquarian porn-hunters, die-hard Arthurians, people who confuse bookshops for libraries and the toddlers just looking for a nice cosy corner in which to wee. He's sure there are. There must be some good ones, right? Filled with the pernickety warmth and humour that has touched readers around the world, stuffed with literary treasures, hidden gems and incunabula, Remainders of the Day is Shaun Bythell's latest entry in his bestselling diary series.

The third of Bythell's hilarious and almost-too-incisive volumes of the diaries he compiles from behind the counter in his now-famous second-hand bookshop. Every entry rings true, from unforgettable customers and their unforgettable comments, to unusual volumes, to the difficulties and joys of running your own bookshop in an increasingly corporatised and impersonal world.