Saturday, August 20, 2011

National Bookshop Day

HAPPY NATIONAL BOOKSHOP DAY, AUSTRALIA!!!


"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.
~Emily Dickinson


To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.
~Victor Hugo


The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.
~Doctor Suess


I come from a bookselling background, a job I absolutely loved - even something like getting a new delivery and seeing all these boxes from all the different publishers and opening them up and digging past all the styrofoam packaging, and having that wonderful feeling of excitement: what will be in here this time, what will they look like, who are they for?

I love bookshops and libraries - how wonderful, for someone who loves books, to have a place to go where they are surrounded by them, and by other people who love books, and having booksellers at hand who are excited and knowledgable and so very passionate about them as well.

Back when I was doing my undergrad degree I used to have a very long break on Monday between my morning and afternoon class. How I looked forward to wandering down the street and knowing that for the next few hours I could go watch a movie, by myself, in the quiet dark theatre, and afterwards go next door to the bookstore and while away the remaining hour looking at books and dreaming about all these stories and feeling that, at that moment, that was exactly where and how I needed to be. This is the feeling bookstores give me, and I love it.

And, lastly, a couple of my favourites:
(probably only of interest to you if you live in Melbourne, but anyway:)


Book Bonding:


Recent article featuring fabulous owner Natasha Boyd, on state of the bookselling industry

Book Bonding



Little Bookroom:


Little Bookroom


The Sun Bookshop & The Younger Sun:


The Sun Bookshop



The Avenue


The Avenue Bookstore



R.M.C  Stamps


This is a fabulous secondhand bookstore which you should check out if you're ever over near Moonee Ponds - rambling, dark and dingy in a lovely kind of way, books crammed on top of the other, spilling out of shelves - love it.

No comments:

Post a Comment