An online bookshop is all very well, but there is nothing like engaging face to face with readers and booklovers of all ages and tastes. Today was my second ever market stall — in May I had a successful day at the Wigtown market — and this time I was at The Vault Arts Centre in Newton Stewart for the inaugural pop-up market in the garden marquee.

The sun shone and there were lots of visitors, both locals and holidaymakers. It always fascinates me to see what people buy…and don’t buy! Today was a good day for Carlos Ruiz Zafón and on both occasions I have sold a copy of Death and the Penguin by Andrej Kurkov, but then what’s not to like about a darkly comic satire set in post-Soviet era Ukraine featuring a depressed penguin? Time for a restock, I think, because after selling a stack of books of course there is now room on the shelves to buy some more — another of my favourite things about running Other Words Books.

Thanks to all my customers for visiting and for sharing their own stories, and I hope to get to another market soon. Meanwhile, I’ve got a lot of reading to do!