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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A booky distraction

I cannot lay claim to creating any of this bookishness, but I did so want to share these images.

We recently had a few days away (well maybe 5 weeks ago...) and we stayed near a place called Maroochydore, and very nearby us was this book shop.

It sells secondhand books, stacked in general selections of "biographies" or "sport" or "romance"; and it just always makes me smile. Total chaos reigns but books are simply everywhere...


The front counter is hidden behind this stack...


Arrows direct you through the maze...


Turn a corner and try to find your way past this pile...


Sidle sideways along this row...

 Even the windows are filled with books...


The Duporth Book Exchange is always a must-visit on our trips to the coast - we always find something we need to read and want to buy.

14 comments:

  1. oh goodness I have visions of how my sheds will look if I keep collecting books!

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    1. Yes Ronnie, there's a lesson in there for all of us me thinks!

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  2. What an amazing book shop!
    I do think one might need special life insurance as a hasty move might result in being buried in a pile of books forever.
    I will definitely venture in when next I travel north.

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    1. Hi Carol - yes it could be very traumatic to tip a pile of book over I expect; and best not get buried. Still it is just such an experience to try to make your way thru to here you want to be, I hope you get to visit one time...

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  3. What a delightful book store! Love that the one wall is organized by jacket color. One could get lost...literally...in there.

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    1. So true J - getting lost is quite easy. I love the ramshackledness of it all tho, and the folk know about the books and generally if they have something that you are looking for.

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  4. Yummo... looks like paradise to me. Must visit.

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  5. I love poking around these secondhand bookshops too - there's one in Annerley in Brisbane near where I live. Whilst I enjoy the feast on offer, I always feel a little sad that there are so many unwanted books no longer loved by their owners, especially when I come across a favourite book that lives on my bookshelf at home.

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    1. Hi Helen, I love that you have one too! Somehow I feel better knowing someone loves them enough to surround themselves with the books. I admit there is always a sense of surprise when I see my Dave's in a stack like that.

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  6. I have been in book stores like this one... used books stacked up high and books are everywhere. Actually my oldest son works in a used book store like this one.
    Can you imagine trying to keep a book store like this one organized? And to know where everything is when a customer comes in looking for a book? We love books here too.. will not be switching to e-readers.

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    1. Hi Donna - I do find these book shops places of fascination, so many books who would ever have known somebody wrote some of them, such fanciful and niche subjects. I too wonder how folk can keep track of what's there and guide you to the right place, quite a memory.

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  7. We have a book like that near us Fiona and it's impossible to find what you want because all the books are stacked in front of each other along impossible narrow walkways between them. However, Albie, the owner has an encyclopaedic knowledge of his stock so I just wait at the doorway and tell him what sort of thing I'm looking for and wait for him to burrow in and resurface with a selection a short while later! Many's the book that I've sourced there that I've been unable to find elsewhere. Long live the second hand book dealer I say!

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    1. Hi Lesley, I am so happy to learn these shops exist all over the place! I do find it difficult if I try to search for a specific, as you say it is probably on the bottom of the pile three deep and back, but I do find things serendipitously and they feel like great finds. And the owners do somehow know know where to put their hands on most requests, or state categorically that it's not there. I am in awe.

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