Confessions of a Bookseller

Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell 323 pp.

This book isn't so much "confessions" as it is a diary of the day-to-day goings on in the life of a man running the second largest used bookshop in a small town in Scotland. Besides a running tally of the days online orders and in person sales, Bythell relates the day to day activities, frustrations, and encounters during a year in his shop. There are a variety of characters who work in or frequent the shop, some who are serious and others perplexing. The winter months are relatively slow while the other seasons are much more active due to special events and book festivals. While I didn't find this book particularly engrossing, apparently some liked it so much there was talk of making it into a television series. There is a sequel of sorts called Diary of a Bookseller but I don't know if I'm interested in it enough to read it.

The Bookseller

The Bookseller (Hugo Marston #1) by Mark Pryor  300 pp.

Hugo Marston is the head of security at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. During his time there he frequents the book stalls along the River Seine. He purchases a couple first editions from one named Max, one of which turns out to be extremely valuable. However, Marston witnesses the kidnapping of Max and the police refuse to believe him. After being told by his Embassy superiors that he must stay out of the local matter, Marston continues to search for Max while uncovering convoluted government agencies and sinister gangs trying to take over the area with the book stalls. The story is a good one but the author gets a little too caught up in his descriptions bogging things down. Not sure if I will venture into more of this series.

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, 270 pages.

Our book group choice for November. A. J. Fikry is busy running his bookstore on Alice Island, Island Books, and drinking himself to death. Opening the bookstore had been his wife's idea, but since she died in a traffic accident the joy of it all has gone out of A. J.'s life. As the book begins, A. J. yells at a publisher's rep and his treasured copy of Poe's Tamerlane is stolen.  Everything is going down the drain. He is saved when a small child is left in his care, and when he is given a chance to apologize to and reconnect with the publisher's rep.
This is a sweet and wonderful sort of book, reminiscent of A Man Called Ove, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and others showing a live saved by unexpected love. The Police Chief's book group and the character of  the local chief Lambiase, are great, as is the series of chapter-beginning book reviews. And the characters of Maya and Amelia add a lot to this enjoyable book. Some twists and turns and more deaths than expected.

How to find love in a bookshop

How to find love in a bookshop / Veronica Henry, read by Fiona Hardingham, 340 pages.


Emilia returns home as her father is dying.  He was a beloved small town bookseller and she is determined to take over the family business.  As people around her discover one another and work towards lasting, loving relationships, she discovers the store is in some financial trouble.  While she is falling in love, the store is damaged by an accidental flood and she loses hope and arranges to sell the store.  Not for one minute do you really believe this will happen.  This is the kind of book where, despite some bumps along the way, everything turns out as your hope it will. The winding road to the destiny is enjoyable.  The audio version is well done.

The Bookman's Tale

The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession by Charles C. Lovett  352 pp.

Peter Byerly is a young bookseller, grieving the death of his beloved wife, Amanda, the granddaughter of a woman who endowed a great book collection at a small private college. Byerly leaves their North Carolina home for the cottage they renovated in England. While in a small bookshop he finds a small watercolor portrait in a book that looks amazingly like Amanda but was painted in the 1800s. He begins a search for information about the mysterious artist "BB" and soon finds himself sucked into mystery, intrigue, and danger surrounding the "Pandosto" manuscript which Shakespeare may have actually used in writing his plays. The action covers multiple time periods from Shakespearean times, to the 19th Century, to Peter and Amanda's college romance in the 1980s to present day. The author, an antiquarian bookseller/collector and playwright, provides a meticulously detailed story that can be a bit confusing a times but I never found it boring. However the ending seemed just a little too precious.

The Red Notebook

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain  159 pp.

This sweet story is the tale of Parisian bookseller, Laurent, who finds a lady's purse abandoned on top of a trash can. Fearing some poor woman has been mugged, he attempts to turn it in to the police who are too busy to deal with it. Laurent takes the handbag home and then commits the ultimate sin...he goes through the purse in a search for the owners identity. In addition to ordinary items--lipstick, etc.-- he finds a small red notebook filled with random, observations made by the owner. Laurent is intrigued and begins the search for the mysterious woman in earnest. The question is will he find her and form a lasting relationship with the missing owner of the purse? I really enjoyed this small book.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin   260 pp.

When I started this novel about a curmudgeonly bookstore owner I wasn't sure I would like it but ended up loving it. A.J. Fikry, a widower, is the owner of a small bookstore on a Massachusetts island with a small year-round population and a influx of "summer people" in the warmer months. Fikry is very particular about what he sells and is, to put it mildly, a book snob. Needless to say, business is bad. When his precious rare copy of Poe's Tamerlane is stolen his life takes on a new sense of doom. But then the unexpected happens in the form of a small child left at the store with a note asking him to raise her there. The impossible becomes the improbable and Fikry ends up fostering, then adopting the girl. The whole town notices the change in him as he becomes more social and makes changes to his store. He even finds romance. I don't know what it is about this book that captured me so. Maybe it was the frequent references to different books that, for the most part, were ones I have read. Or it could have been some other indescribable quality. At any rate, I enjoyed it.

The Ludwig Conspiracy: a Historical Thriller / Oliver Potzsch 435 p.

I've enjoyed this author's Hangman's Daughter series and expected to feel the same way about his new stand-alone.  Ludwig II, king of Bavaria, died in mysterious circumstances in 1886, and controversy rages in Germany to this day about whether this strange man, who ordered the construction of the famous castles of Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee, among others, was mad and whether he was murdered as a result.  The authentic mystery is the backdrop for our novel, which alternates between Ludwig's era and the present.  Steven Lukas, a reclusive antiquarian bookseller, unwittingly becomes the owner of an encoded text which reveals the truth about Ludwig and for which shadowy figures are willing to kill. Throw in a hot, chain-smoking art appraiser, and you have a story.  (She's quite a bit younger than Steven, but why should that be a problem?)

Disappointment.  The 19th-century chapters were effective, and Potzsch does a nice job of portraying Ludwig while keeping his edges fuzzy, just as he should be.  The contemporary chapters are dreadful, though, the dialogue clunky and many of the 'thrilling' scenarios completely implausible, particularly those which involve technology.  (Germans don't carry cellphones?) 

But Potzsch is smart and thoughtful, so I wonder if he hasn't just picked the wrong genre.  The whole story is suffused with regret - Ludwig refuses to face modernity, and worries for the direction Germany is heading. Sounds like an obvious foreshadowing, but it's done with delicacy.