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To work in a bookshop I think may be a dream of many of us bibliophiles, and so to read a book that shares glimpses into exactly what that year might be like is to live vicariously our dream.
Katie Clapman opened her bookshop Storytellers, Inc. in December 2010 along with her mother Carolyn who is nicknamed Business Mum throughout the book. Katie herself works once a week at the shop, each Friday of the year, and so the book begins in January 2024.
Carrying us all the way through the year, she began sharing her ‘receipts from the bookshop’ in her Substack (view it here), each Friday’s date includes at least a handful, sometimes many handfuls, of anecdotes that occur throughout the day. From sharing what passersby say when they see the shop, yet still do not enter (these appear in italics), to blunders she makes, delivery snafus, questions customers ask, purchases made, phone calls received, the weather, how many people stop in each day, total sales (or lack of sales), and we cannot forget the four-legged friends that stop in the shop as well.
Every once in a while she will step away from the self-depreciating observations and amusing moments to give a soliloquy about events (generally alluded to) that stir her ire – competition with chain bookstore for example, but other than that, you are going to have page after page of short entries detailing the life of a bookshop owner.
A children’s book author, in 2012 Katie Clapman was named Young Bookseller of the Year. While there may be a lot of grousing in the book about sales, and lack of customers, especially during certain times of the year, it’s fair to say that this is a beloved bookshop both with the locals and further afield (customers call in from all over England to place their orders and she gathers them up and ships them their way). Located in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, (NW England, along the seashore), have a look at it below in the IG post, and if you’re ever in the area, you may want to make sure you pop in (and be sure to purchase a book or you may end up in her future books ;)).
A wonderful book for reading at the end of the day when you don’t want anything too serious, but still want something real. I found myself settling into my chair on the garden porch in the evenings, enjoying the lingering warmth of an autumn that still feels like summer, and laughing outloud as I read.
Released in June in the UK and this past August in the US, if you are looking for a light-hearted book about books, and if you too enjoyed Shaun Bythell’s Diaries from a Bookseller (Petit Plaisir of episode #286), you are going to be in for a treat.
Receipts from a Bookshop: A Bookseller’s Year in an English Seaside Town by Katie Clapman
Explore the book here
Receipts from a Bookshop was chosen as the Petit Plaisir for episode #435 of The Simple Sophisticate podcast, 7 Ways to Maintain Self-Fidelity
~Explore all of TSLL’s British Petits Plaisirs here.
~Explore all Petits Plaisirs here.
SIMILAR PETITS PLAISIRS YOU MIGHT ENJOY
