Through the Looking Glass ...

Through the Looking Glass is a new second-hand bookshop in Belgrave - in the main street not far from the roundabout, so conveniently close to Puffing Billy. The sign isn't on the bookshop yet, but you can't miss it - there are lots of books in the window!

It's a beautiful little shop, with lots of good-quality books, candles burning in the fireplace, and owners (a mother and daughter) who love books and know loads about them. There's a good fiction section, a glass case containing some collectibles, lots of non-fiction, and an excellent selection of picture books, children's novels, and young adult fiction at the back.

This is a welcome addition to Belgrave - and judging by the number of people browsing when I was in, I'm not the only one to feel this way. It's been a very long time since Belgrave's main shopping strip had a second-hand bookshop and that one was nowhere near as good as this one is. Through the Looking Glass opened only a week ago and hopefully it'll be there for a very long time.

More Gippsland bookshops

If you're heading for Wilsons Promontory National Park from Melbourne and like browsing in secondhand bookshops, then the township of Meeniyan is a good place to take a break.

It has two bookshops in the main street: Antiquities, which specialises in collectibles, and Meeniyan Books, which is a bookshop/cafe/gallery in one.

I hadn't been to Antiquities before - it opened two years ago - and while it contains lots of old books and first editions, I was a bit disappointed with the lack of order; vintage kids' books could be found on various shelves and tables, and I didn't come out confident that I'd seen everything I might be interested in. I also found some of them a bit pricey. My husband, who's interested in Victorian history books, thought the same thing. However, it's definitely worth visiting, especially if you collect first editions (there were lots of Nevil Shute books) or books/magazines about guns and shooting. I don't think I've ever seen as many publications on this subject all together in one place! Visit quickly, as the bookshop is up for sale.

Meeniyan Books has been there for years, and is an atmospheric place, with books lining a passageway and two rooms of the building it's located in. The aroma of coffee and soup and the log fire in the cafe add to the atmosphere. Books here are a lot cheaper than the ones down the road, and you can still come across the odd gem. On this visit, I found an Elinor Lyon and a Geoffrey Trease for $2 each, both in lovely condition.

As well as being en route to the Prom, Meeniyan is close to the south Gippsland coastal towns like Inverloch and Venus Bay, and can be included in a drive taking in bookshops in nearby Loch and Fish Creek.

New shop in Loch

In an age when so many people are predicting the demise of the printed book, it's heartening to come across new bookshops. Last weekend, having got up very early to watch the World Cup, we went out for a drive and found ourselves in the little Gippsland township of Loch. Here we found Bluebird Books and Records, which opened last December.

The shop contained a lot of thrillers and crime fiction and I bought a copy of Denise Danks's The Pizza House Crash, while my son bought a few Goosebumps titles from the children's shelves. Most of the books were in the main part of the shop, with a few more, plus some records, in a back room. The owner had thoughtfully set up a table of Lego in the back room so kids could keep themselves amused while their parents browsed - but I'm not sure if this is a permanent fixture or if it was set up for the public holiday weekend, which Loch was celebrating with a wine-tasting festival, thereby attracting plenty of visitors.

The books were inexpensive, and this is definitely a good place to go if you're on holiday or spending a weekend in south Gippsland and are looking for something to read - especially if you enjoy thrillers.

Just call me anal!

I went to the Salvation Army's book fair in The Basin yesterday morning. I knew I had no chance of coming across a rare copy of Jane at the Chalet School for $2, because a) the Salvation Army are pretty savvy when it comes to pricing old books and b) Meryll Williams of Rainy Day Books was a mere minute's drive from the venue and so was bound to find such mega-bargains first! But I hoped I might find a few cheap children's classics, as I did at the book fair on Philip Island back in January. There I found Tom's Midnight Garden and The Children of Green Knowe, among others, for two bucks per book; I like my son, who's nine, to read classic children's literature as well as contemporary kidlit.

But I came out with nowt! There were lots of books, the non-fiction in one room, the fiction in another. But in the fiction room, the books hadn't been sorted by alphabetical order or even by genre. (The non-fiction had been sorted into genre, but was not in alpha order.) My son and I looked through the children's books, didn't find anything either of us wanted, and then I started to look at the adult fiction, but it was all such a mess and I couldn't be bothered going through it all just in case I found a Margery Allingham.

I appreciate the book sale was run by volunteers, and they don't have time for sorting. But I've gone into one or two bookshops like this over the years, where all the books are higgledy-piggledy on the shelves and piled on the floor in no particular order. If you have lots of time to browse, that's great. But not everyone does. I just don't have time to spend hours in one bookshop, painstakingly going through everything just in case I find a gem. I'd rather go online and buy exactly what I want - or even better, go to a bookshop where everything is arranged by genre, then alphabetically.

Come to think of it, Meryll is a busy lady too - maybe that elusive Chalet book was there among the Barbara Taylor Bradfords ...

Books for a rainy day!

Melbourne is having its wettest start to winter in years and years and years ... so, where better to stock up on winter reading than the aptly named Rainy Day Books?

Rainy Day Books is in the Basin, right at the foot of the Mountain Highway leading up to Mount Dandenong. Its owner, Meryll Williams, has had the bookshop for around four and a half years; prior to that, you might remember there was a great little collection of vintage children's books in the antique shop just past the Old Bakery Bookshop in Warrandyte. They were Meryll's stock. I still miss that little room when I go in that antiques shop!

Rainy Day Books is a general bookshop, selling everything from poetry to Mills and Boon, but its crime and children's collections are particularly strong. Meryll's a fan of old girls' books by the likes of Elsie J Oxenham and Mary Grant Bruce and it shows: there are some great vintage titles to be found on the "old and interesting" section as well as in the children's corner.

Meryll named the shop one wet day when her friend picked up a book and said, "This is what I like to do on a rainy day." She's not the only one. I spent most of yesterday absorbed in a crime novel while the rain pattered on the window and the housework remained undone!

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.

Village delights

Kallista is one of the lesser-known villages in the Dandenong Ranges, overshadowed by the tourist meccas of Olinda, Sassafras and Mount Dandenong. But if you're a bibliophile, Kallista is the village to head for, boasting two unique bookshops.

I'm not exactly renowned for my culinary skills, and even my eating habits leave a lot to be desired (my favourite meal is soup with toast and I'm usually more interested in what's in my glass than what's on my plate!), but Vintage Cookbooks (bottom image, above), in Kallista's main street, is definitely a place to check out if you have even the remotest interest in food. Its shelves contain countless tomes covering all aspects of cooking: baking, vegetarian food, wild foods, vegetables, fruit, French, Eastern European, Mediterranean, Italian, English cooking pre- and post-World War II ... and, of course, Australian cuisine. You name the food, this bookshop has a book about it! The kitchenalia - scales, rolling pins, wooden spoons - adds to the atmosphere. The shop's owner, Barbara, is a historian with a passion for cooking. Her bookshop is inspirational: when you've been there, you just want to go home and bake.

Equally passionate about books is Willie, whose shop Kallista Books (top image, above) is around the corner and up the hill from Vintage Cookbooks (just follow the signs on Saturdays, when his shop is open). This shop is crammed with books as well as old maps, recipe booklets, obscure old magazines and horticultural catalogues. He also has a collection of book-related furniture in the shop, including a working printing press. If you visit and can't find what you're looking for, ask - Willie has back rooms full of books, and if he knows what you're seeking, he might well have it in stock. It's a beautiful shop, with heaps of atmosphere, and there are so many books that you know the elusive novel you're looking for to complete your collection just has to be there somewhere ...

When you've finished browsing, Kallista offers non-literary attractions, including a fabulous deli just across the road from Vintage Cookbooks and Grant's Picnic Ground just down the road heading towards Belgrave. Lots of colourful parrots and some good walking trails there ...