Rachel Reviews: The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee

I love books in all their forms and this is something that Lewis Buzbee and I have in common. If I had to have a preference, it would be a paperback with thick paper pages and a cover that takes some creasing. But I'm not fussy.

As a bookseller, Buzbee has made books his life and so, as well as describing his experience of working in book stores, he is keen to promote the importance of books. As a result, this book is an homage to everything book related and provides stories, statistics and statements about books which lead the reader to all things literary.

There was much to enjoy here from Buzbee's own experiences as a bookseller and how the book business developed in his part of the world, California. He tells us about experiences in store and on the road as well as about the friendships that he has cultivated with people who share his love of reading. He ruminates on the experience that you have when you come into a bookstore, to how customers are viewed by retail assistants on the floor, to discussion of new titles, to the banning of books and whether censorship should be allowed (it shouldn't). The full gamut of book reading, buying and selling is here.

There were many interesting chapters in this book. I loved the history of books from their earliest appearance before folio and wood pulp; Buzbee's discussion of banned books and Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" in particular was interesting, in that some booksellers still held the book within their stores despite the risks to them and their property, in the name of freedom of expression; the history of bookshops, and in particular, famous ones with great literary associations like Shakespeare & Co were also incredibly enlightening, providing an insight into the importance of the role of the purveyor of books i.e. not just a shop owner.

But what I will especially thank Buzbee for is the quote that prefaces the text of the book, which he attributes to Vincent van Gogh, which for some reason makes it all the more poignant:

"I think that I still have it in my heart someday to paint a bookshop with the front yellow and pink in the evening...like a light in the midst of darkness."

Support your bookshop. Support booksellers. They don't have to be independent - they do need to survive.

Rachel Rating: 4/5 stars

Parts of this review was first published on Reedsy Discovery:

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