Name: Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops
ISBN: 9781788166584

Shaun Bythell

Everyone knows who you find in bookshops: people who want to buy books. But, as Shaun Bythell, author of the bestselling Diary of a Bookseller and Confessions of a Bookseller, reveals, that's really only half the story. Join Shaun as he introduces us to seven bookshop characters, from the Person Who Doesn't Know What They Want (But Thinks It Might Have a Blue Cover) to the harried Parents Secretly After Free Childcare and all the way over to the erotica section, where we'll meet The Person Who Is Up to No Good. Affectionate, sardonic and laugh-out-loud funny, Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops is your indispensable guide to the flora and fauna of your local bookshop.

Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops

In twenty years behind the till in The Bookshop, Wigtown, Shaun Bythell has met pretty much every kind of customer there is - from the charming, erudite and deep-pocketed to the eccentric, flatulent and possibly larcenous. In Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops he distils the essence of his experience into a warm, witty and quirky taxonomy of the book-loving public. So, step inside to meet the crafty Antiquarian, the shy and retiring Erotica Browser and gormless yet strangely likeable shop assistant Student Hugo - along with much loved bookseller favourites like the passionate Sci-Fi Fan, the voracious Railway Collector and the ever-elusive Perfect Customer.

Melissa Palmer

Quick read about the types of people who you might find in a book store....I liked the author's somewhat sarcastic writing style.

A wickedly witty field guide to bookstore customers from the Person Who Doesn't Know What They Want (But Thinks It Might Have a Blue Cover) to the harried Parents Secretly After Free Childcare. It does take all kinds. If you visit bookshops more often than the grocery store, you'll recognize the types. There's the Expert (with 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 Lyrca Clad), the The Not-So-Silent Traveller (the Whistler, Sniffer, Hummer, Farter, and Tutter), and the Family Historian (generally Americans who come to Shaun's shop in Wigtown, Scotland). Two bonus sections include Staff and, finally, Perfect Customer -- all from Shaun Bythell (author of Confessions of a Bookseller), the funniest sell-and-tell observer in the house of books. This is the perfect read for anyone who ever felt a bookstore was home. You've been spotted! Or have you?

Minnie Mazuera

Sarah Ryan

I loved ‘The Diary of a Bookseller’ and while the author makes entertaining observations about the different types of people you find in bookshops, the species classification concept feels forced and the books falls flat in places. I suspect if not for Covid more time might have been spent developing and editing this novella. Or perhaps it may never have existed at all.

Mandi Jayne

This author/bookseller is a great example of why “the Amazon generation” buys their books online. I can only imagine how unwelcome the majority of people feel in his shop, knowing they are actively being hated.

yasmin

finished another book which was also my Christmas present of a friend; 
"Seven Kinds of People You Find In Bookshops" by Shaun Bythell and I absolutely loved it, funny, sarcastic, witty writing
brilliant! although I thought of sth completely different when receiving this, I rlly enjoyed it

Anyaconda

This was an entertaining albeit very sarcastic view of what kind of people you'll find in bookshops.
You could also easily read this if you're having to do with customers in general as you'll see the same sort of behavior.
There are lots of anecdotes and analyses about human behavior sprinkled with humorous elements that made me chuckle a few times.
It wasn't the greatest thing ever written, but I can still recommend this to any book lover.

Thanks Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel 

This was an enjoyable book with lots of different stories and experiences regarding types of customers you may encounter in a bookstore.

Some stories were definitely more interesting than others, but I never found myself fully invested in any of them. 

It was a super easy read and I recommend it if you want something quick and humorous.

Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops

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