Cover art for Best of the Spectator

Book Club

Best of the Spectator

Book Club: Shaun Bythell – Return of the Bookseller Diarist

Published
October 14, 2026
Duration
31:15
Summary source
description
Last updated
Oct 28, 2026

Discusses daily, society, culture.

Summary

For this week’s Book Club, Sam Leith, the Spectator’s literary editor, is joined by Shaun Bythell, proprietor of The Book Shop in Wigtown, Scotland, and author of The Diary of a Bookseller series, to discuss the fourth instalment, The Return of the Bookseller’s Diary.They discuss the strange characters who wander into second-hand bookshops, the customers …

Intelligent Report

Sign in to read teasers, or upgrade to Research Pro to commission intelligent report for this episode. Learn more →

Show notes

For this week’s Book Club, Sam Leith, the Spectator’s literary editor, is joined by Shaun Bythell, proprietor of The Book Shop in Wigtown, Scotland, and author of The Diary of a Bookseller series, to discuss the fourth instalment, The Return of the Bookseller’s Diary.They discuss the strange characters who wander into second-hand bookshops, the customers who haggle over £2 books, and how Bythell’s shop helped turn Wigtown into Scotland’s unlikely book town.They also explore the changing world of

Themes

  • daily
  • society
  • culture