Finally, a road trip!

After what's seemed like a very long year, my husband and I went away for a few days' break earlier this week. We went to Cape Paterson and Wilson's Promontory, testing our fitness by climbing Mount Oberon. Proud to report we had no trouble ascending Mount Oberon, but we were very surprised by how many other people were at the top. I think Melburnians have collective cabin fever following our long, hard lockdown.

Anyway, no trip would be complete without a bookshop visit or two. This isn't a second-hand bookshop, but anyone driving to the Prom should drop into the Alison Lester Gallery and Bookshop at Fish Creek. Alison Lester is a leading Australian children's author, and the shop sells her picture books as well as prints and cards of her illustrations. It's well worth a visit, especially if you have young children or grandchildren. 

 The Ramalama Book Exchange in Wonthaggi has survived lockdown, which is good news for anyone heading to Bass Coast beaches for the upcoming Christmas holiday period. I've reviewed them before on this blog, but they stock a good range of crime, romance, children's and sci-fi/fantasy books, and are located in a former bank, complete with some of the old furniture.

There seems to have been a proliferation of little libraries over lockdown, and there are now at least three in Cape Paterson. This one, in Spray Street, is my favourite. 

I'm busy with work and writing at the moment, but hopefully we'll have a few days out over Christmas and summer, so I can check out some more bookshops.

In other news, my fictional second-hand bookshop owner, Matilda Channon, has had a couple more adventures tracking down the original owners of things she's found in donated books. 'Stranger Than Fiction' was published in The People's Friend a couple of weeks ago, and 'Secret Santas' is in their bumper Christmas issue, out now in the UK. I'm really happy with Sarah Holliday's illustrations, which capture perfectly the cosy feel of Matilda's bookshop. GOers will have noticed occasional references to children's writers and books in these stories, including (so far) the Chalet School, Enid Blyton, Malcolm Saville and Antonia Forest.

I hope everyone in Victoria is enjoying these first few weeks out of lockdown, and perhaps making trips to second-hand and other bookshops too.

Books for the beach

It's been a long winter here in Melbourne, but every now and then the sun shines and we get a glimpse of summer. Which means - hopefully - it'll soon be time to hit the beach.

If you're planning a holiday or weekend in south Gippsland and want some good beach reads, a great bookshop to head for is the Ramalama Book Exchange in Wonthaggi. It's long moved from its original location and is now on the corner of Murray Street and McBride Avenue, just up the road from Woolworths.

The building was originally a bank, and still has some of the old counters, giving it a bit of character. The rooms at the back house different genres - to my delight, the crime and children's books are in the same room, and there are also rooms full of science fiction and fantasy, and romance and what the sign calls 'chook lit'. Most of the books are trade paperbacks, most of them are fairly recent, and they're only $8 each. The crime section is very well stocked, with titles byTess Gerritsen, Stuart MacBride and Michael Robotham and other top sellers. You'll find the occasional lesser known author, including Australian authors, in there too.

Ramalama is, obviously, also a book exchange, and it's also started to sell vintage clothes. I didn't take a look to see if they were any good, but they may be of interest to some readers of this blog.

Popular book exchange

In Australia, a lot of second-hand bookshops call themselves book exchanges. The idea is that you take in one or more of your books, the bookshop owner values it/them, and then you can exchange your book(s) for other books up to that particular value. I've only encountered bookshops like this in Australia - do other countries have book exchanges?

The Ramalama Book Exchange in Wonthaggi (conveniently located opposite Safeway) contains thousands of books, mostly popular paperbacks - Wonthaggi is near Inverloch and other popular Gippsland beaches so there's plenty of holiday reading. It's particularly good for contemporary crime and I've bought a few trade paperbacks from there by authors like Gillian White, PD Martin and Katherine Howell. The kidlit consists mainly of contemporary popular series and authors (Goosebumps, Paul Jennings, Roald Dahl and the like), though there are usually Enid Blytons on the shelves as well. Nothing stays on the shelves very long in this shop, though - the owner only buys books he knows will sell quickly (hence there are lots of Agatha Christies but no Margery Allinghams) - so don't decide to come back and buy later in the week.

It's a very busy shop - I don't think I've ever set foot in it and there hasn't been at least one person buying. The owner admits he knew nothing about books till buying the book exchange a few years ago, so if you're looking for a title by an author whose name is just on the tip of your tongue, it's no use asking him for help. He's a friendly guy, though, and lets you know if there are any book-related events in the area, such as book fairs. And given the rapid turnover of books, he's probably making more from his bookshop than the very knowledgable owners of one or two more overpriced bookshops I could mention, but won't.

Definitely worth a visit if you're spending any time in South Gippsland and like popular fiction.