Review: 'Remainders of the Day,' by Shaun Bythell

In the epilogue of "Remainders of the Day" — Shaun Bythell's third diary about owning The Bookshop in Wigstown, Scotland — Bythell tells us that he is married now, with one child and another on the way. He notes how much he enjoyed the pandemic lockdown, a "holiday in the place I love the most in the world, with the people I love the most." He sounds content.

Though it takes place before the marriage or the pandemic, this book reflects that contentment. It's almost jarring — what happened to the cranky curmudgeon we have all grown so fond of?

Unlike in his first book ("Diary of a Bookseller"), Bythell is not churlish this time around. And unlike his second ("Confessions of a Bookseller"), this book doesn't have undertones of darkness. This diary, which covers 2016, feels serene.

Oh, Bythell still gets exasperated by customers who demand discounts for already underpriced books, and he endures a long-running battle with Amazon, which drops his shop because of a clerical error. But mostly he sounds peaceful.

The focus of "Remainders" is on acquiring books, not selling them; Bythell drives all over his corner of Scotland, examining private libraries. Sometimes he finds valuable and rare books; more often he finds ratty books reeking of dog hair and mold.

Those journeys illustrate how hit-and-miss the used-book business can be, and also how physical — packing and hauling sometimes 40 boxes or more each trip.

None of this means that "Remainders" lacks the tang of his previous ones; it's still funny, and he still suffers fools not at all. It just means that this book feels more grounded, happier. He ends the book with the same assurance as the previous two: "The shop is still here." And that is good news for us all.

Laurie Hertzel is the senior editor for books at the Star Tribune. @StribBooks

Remainders of the Day

By: Shaun Bythell.

Publisher: Godine, 376 pages, $27.95.