Oliver Darkshire: Once upon a Tome (2022, Transworld Publishers Limited)
English language
Published Nov. 15, 2022 by Transworld Publishers Limited.
Just a wonderful book for anyone who loves books, bookshops, old books, old bookshops, or any combination thereof. Laugh out loud funny in places, touching and thoughtful in places. Possibly slightly fictional here and there, but with very true fiction. Also British!
This was a bit left field for me. I had been following Sotheran's Twitter account for a while. Not because of an interest in rare, antique books but because it is pretty funny and random. When it popped up that the guy who does Twitter for them had also written a memoir I pre-ordered it on a whim. I am very glad I did, this was a delight.
This is a collection of funny vignette's that roughly follow the arc of the author's development from a scruffy apprentice to a, well, scruffy rare bookseller. It is funny, droll and told with a very light touch. It kind of jumps about in time but that works because of the somewhat timeless nature of a bookshop itself (this one has been going since the 1700's).
It is a very British book, a lot of of the humour comes from that Britishness. This …
This was a bit left field for me. I had been following Sotheran's Twitter account for a while. Not because of an interest in rare, antique books but because it is pretty funny and random. When it popped up that the guy who does Twitter for them had also written a memoir I pre-ordered it on a whim. I am very glad I did, this was a delight.
This is a collection of funny vignette's that roughly follow the arc of the author's development from a scruffy apprentice to a, well, scruffy rare bookseller. It is funny, droll and told with a very light touch. It kind of jumps about in time but that works because of the somewhat timeless nature of a bookshop itself (this one has been going since the 1700's).
It is a very British book, a lot of of the humour comes from that Britishness. This is not to be seen as a detraction but more a description of the feel of the book.
Sometimes very good things come from unexpected places. This was one of them.
Can definitely recommend.
