Syber's Books

What's better than one second-hand bookshop run by a knowledgeable person? Two! And with Syber's Books you get exactly that.

Syber's Books is run by a husband and wife team and consists of a bookshop in Malvern and a warehouse in nearby Caulfield. Penny runs the shop and David looks after the warehouse. Although they call it a warehouse, it's open to browsers. Both premises are open daily from midday till around 5.30.

Syber's Books, Malvern

We visited the Malvern shop first - it's bigger than it looks from outside, and my go-to section, the children's books, can be found right at the back. In several places, the signs on the shelves didn't match the books on them, so I'm not sure whether that's a permanent thing, or whether the shelves were in the process of being rearranged.

There were a couple of cats wandering around the bookshop, and there was a cat smell towards the back of the shop that bothered me but not my husband (I like cats but have never had one, whereas my husband grew up with cats). Hence I didn't spend long looking at the children's books, but the titles I saw were mostly more recent - from the 1990s onwards. The sports book section (also near the back of the shop) was impressive, with a good many cricket titles.

The warehouse in Caulfield is huge, with so many books that you could spend hours browsing. No children's books are stocked there, but there are extensive crime and sci fi fantasy sections for readers in those genres.

The warehouse also contains a section on alcohol and there are plenty of cookbooks (David is a MasterChef fan). Both Penny and David know their trade well, and also sell online, if you live too far away to visit.

Penny's shop is at 227 Glenferrie Road, Malvern, while David's warehouse can be found at 666 Glenhuntly Road, Caulfield.

Syber's Books, Caulfield

Bound Words

If you're a 'girlsowner', there's nothing quite like the feeling of walking into a new-to-you second-hand bookshop and discovering it has an extensive collection of vintage kidlit.

It's always a bit like time-travel finding shelves full of titles by authors like Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Angela Brazil, Enid Blyton etc. Especially when there are plenty of hardbacks!

So I was delighted to discover Bound Words in Hampton over the weekend. It contains the best selection of vintage kidlit I've seen for a while. There was even a Girls Gone By title in there - The Mystery at the Chalet School with the short story, Robin Heeds the Call. It is water damaged, but still a perfectly good reading copy, and only $7 should anyone reading this be interested in buying it.

The children's books are in the very back room of the three-room bookshop. Non-fiction (including art, music, history and education, as well as - somewhat incongruously - plays) is in the first room, with general fiction in the second.

There are lots of eateries and shops in Hampton, and Bound Words isn't far from the beach. I'll definitely be heading back there over the next few months.

Little libraries

I really enjoy coming across little libraries and looking to see what's in them. Recently, I had a run of finding books I wanted and then having to return the next day to replace what I'd taken. So now I've taken to slipping a book in my bag or the car, just in case. (And, of course, sod's law - I haven't found anything I want since I started doing that!)

I'd quite like to set up a little library outside our house, but until then there are a few favourite ones that I check out when I'm on my travels. Locally, there is one near Lilydale Lake, outside Lilydale Aged Care, and another in the Alchester shopping area in Boronia. The Boronia one is outside the Koko Lime Cafe, which I haven't been to, but it seems very popular, indicating the coffee is good. 

Little library near Lilydale Lake

Little library in Alchester, Boronia

I'll start adding little libraries to this blog, when I come across them. They're a great way of both coming across second-hand books and passing on books you don't want to keep.