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9,326 Books 9 Collections 23 Reviews 1 Recommendation

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Joined: Nov 3, 2005

Real Name

Sue

About My Library

Wide range: lots of books on mental illness and psychology, literature and writing (not so much 'how-to' as 'why' and 'what'), politics, animal rights, feminism, autobiographies and biographies and memoirs. Fiction is mixture of classic and contemporary, if I can put it like that: more Jackie Kay than Jackie Collins, Bill Shakespeare than Bob Barrett. We're not science fiction or fantasy readers (though do have some of those books, including China Mieville), and there's not much crime and no horror (don't mind a good crime novel, hate horror I'm afraid as it gives me nightmares for days). Mind you, there's a fair bit of crime and horror in King Lear...

Favourite bookshops in our town are Avid Reader at West End and Folio Books (now closed) in the city for new stuff, and Bent Books (just a few steps up from Avid) and Archives Books in the city for second hand and fine editions. A wonderful sense of community combined with an excellent selection of titles (plus DVDs) at Avid; Kat will always greet you at Bent, knows her shop inside out and has a great paperback novel selection (and more out the back). And Archives, run by Dawn and Hamish, is a place to lose yourself for some hours (watch out for the overhead fans if you get up on a stool to investigate the many, many volumes out of reach). They are transforming the shop into a more organised and warmly welcoming place, putting some focus on first editions and rare and collectibles; they also have regular gatherings or collations to talk about book collecting. Magic!

Sadly, Charing Cross Books has gone. I would guess, though, that the owner may be still selling rare and interesting books, somewhere, to his regular customers.

Another sad update is that Folio Books has closed. A double whammy of their building being demolished and the impact of the pandemic has just been too much. This is a serious blow for Brisbane as this was a very fine new bookseller and they will be keenly missed.

I also learned recently that the Annerley Community Bookshop has closed, but that they donated their books and some of their comfy furniture to Braille House at Annerley who have now opened a bookshop.

There's a newish bookshop in Paddington called Little Bird which is full of new books, and has a large stock of Penguin titles. That's the publisher Penguin but given the owner is a bird person and has a good stock of books on the natural world and birds in particular, he probably stocks books on penguins as well. They are currently at Shop 8/2 Latrobe Terrace.

About Me

Writer living in The Gap, Brisbane, with her partner, Craig. Jack the Big Cat died in February 2012, a fondly remembered scallywag. We now have our rescue cat, Max, who we adopted at eight months old from Furry Friends.

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