“The Diary of a Bookseller” by Shaun Bythell

U.S. cover (I don’t like it.)

I needed something to read after completing Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight, but despite owning over 900 books and a library card, I couldn’t think of single book to read. Then I remembered that I had an ARC of Shaun Bythell’s The Diary of a Bookseller and that its publication date for the U.S. was fast approaching — September 4th. Feeling like I had no other choice, I decided to finally give Bythell’s diary a read.

Genre:

Nonfiction – autobio, humor

Pubbed:

September 2018 (2017 in U.K.)

Goodreads summary:

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown – Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover’s paradise? Well, almost…

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Weekend Reads #60: Other People’s Thoughts

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend.

Once again I’m forgoing a discussion topic but will instead feature two discussions, a review, and an article I recently read that really stood out to me. All of them touch on diversity topics in some way and are all interesting reads. I highly suggest that you visit the blogs to read the posts yourself.

First up is Whitney’s (Brown Books and Green Tea) wonderful review of Fresh Off the Boat, a memoir written by restauranteur Eddie Huang that was made into a TV sitcom earlier this year. I placed it on my TBR soon after the book was published in 2013, but moved it up my TBR list after reading Whitney’s review, which made me reflect on my experiences as an immigrant and as a child of immigrants. I’m curious to know more and would like to experience the book for myself. Whitney’s review mentions the abuse Huang experienced and pressure from his family to always do better.

Weekend Reads #51: What Does It Mean to Read Diversely?

Weekend Reads is a weekly discussion on a variety of topics. At the end of the post, I’ll include what I plan to read on the weekend.

This weekend’s question:

What does the term “diverse” mean to you? And what does it mean to read diversely?

2016 Article Wrap-Up: First Quarter

I read a lot of articles and since this blog is about documenting what I read, I thought I’d share the most outstanding and thought-provoking ones here. I wasn’t sure at first how to go about doing this. I considered making a separate page for the articles, but then decided to include them in my quarterly wrap-ups. Now I’ve changed my mind again and have decided to give them their own wrap-up post. For now, the plan is to do these posts quarterly.

The list is kinda long so I’ll highlight their topics. Hopefully a few will interest you. Well then, here they are in no particular order:

The Harry Potter-verse

Those who’re tuned in to Harry Potter updates are probably aware of the new stories Rowling recently published on Pottermore that expands the Harry Potter universe to the Americas. Well, there has been a backlash as Rowling has excluded some key facts in her stories. I haven’t yet read those stories but I found this article on them interesting.

Well, This Was Never Going to Go Well: J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World Leaves Britain (ladygeekgirl.wordpress.com)

Bookish News Roundup: February 2016

Will I ever be on time with these posts? I’m starting to doubt it. Anyways, here are some noteworthy happenings in the book world that were discussed in February.

Simon & Schuster Launched a Muslim Imprint

On February 24, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing announced that they will launch a new imprint called Salaam Reads, which will focus on Muslim-themed children’s books. The books will be geared toward all ages and will include picture books as well as middle-grade and young-adult novels.

Bookish News Roundup: January 2016

I’m late with this news roundup but here’s a list of exceptional announcements I came across in January. I will just give the gist for each to make this quick. If you’d like to know more, just click on the link.

The Publishing Industry: White, Female, Straight

We already know that there’s a lack of diversity in the publishing industry but a recent survey by Lee and Low Books helped to illustrate to what extent this is so. According to the results, the overall industry is dominated by Whites, women, heterosexuals, and those without a disability.

Click to see the chart, which also shows data according to industry level (editorial, sales, etc.). A list of publishers surveyed is also provided. (Lee & Low Books)

Weekend Reads #7: Diversity in YA

I’m so glad to report that Nici has updated the Goodreads group page so I’ll be continuing with her topics. Weekend Reads is a Goodreads group created by Nici, a booktuber over at LitPixie. Basically book lovers can record a video or write a blog post about what they plan to read on the weekend, and also answer a fun question.

The question for this weekend:

Diversity in YA…why do you think there is a lack thereof, and what do you think can be done about it?

“Lord of Publishing” by Sterling Lord

Available on Amazon and at your local bookstore.

I forgot how I discovered this book (it may have been on Publishing Perspectives but I’m not sure). My dream is to one day, very soon, work in the book publishing industry. You can imagine my excitement when I happened upon this memoir by Sterling Lord, who has worked as an agent in the publishing industry for more than 60 years. He is now 92 years old and still works as an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic. He has represented some of the greats in literature like Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, and Jimmy Breslin. He has played competitive tennis nearly all his life and has attributed some of his success to the qualities that he developed as a tennis player.

Sterling Lord is from a small town in Iowa. After graduating from college, he entered the army and was flown to France where he worked for the army’s newspaper. He soon developed a paper of his own which he operated with a friend until it folded. Soon he married a French woman, flew back to the States, and decided to start his own literary agency. He didn’t know much about book publishing when he started his agency but he learned as he went along.

“67 Books Every Geek Should Read to Their Kids” — Wired

A great range of books is provide in this article that I read on Wired. The books listed goes from Clifford: The Big Red Dog to The Lord of the Rings series. A printable list is also provided for those (like me) who would want to keep it handy for the future or just to catch up on some reading.

Click here to visit the Web site and peruse the list.

“What Hath Harry Wrought?” — The Horn Book

I read this article on The Horn Book Magazine’s website. It’s an account of what Harry Potter has contributed to YA/children’s publishing. It’s interesting to note all that has developed out of the Harry Potter craze.

Just click here to read all about it.