Basement Books is a dangerous place on many levels…read more Danger number one: It's in Central. It is right in Central. Central is a place you meet people, so you might say, meet you in central at 4pm and then you get there at 3.30pm and you have to wait. So what do you do? You go to Basement Books and peruse their countless books with bright yellow stickers advertising their low and affordable price. Danger number two: Because these books that you're perusing are cheap, you can justify the price even if you're not sure whether you even need the book. 'Oh, a history of Physics' I've always been interested in Physics, and it's only $9.95 I should probably buy this and learn about Physics. Danger number three: Their range is gigantic! I almost said 'ginormous', but that's not a word. What I meant was Hugantic! There are literally thousands upon thousands of books and they're always receiving new stock. They have art sections, computer sections, history, film, personal growth, science fiction, literature, even books like the dictionary, which, had I purchased a copy last I was in, would have saved me the embarrassment of using a non-word like 'ginormous'. So beware of Basement Books. You have been warned. The bookshop is in a great location, the titles are cheap and the range extraordinary. I have a pile of books in my room almost as tall as I am that I have yet to read, opportune purchases that came at me as I strolled amidst the aisles killing time. A book on deadly diseases for $4.95, I'm not going to find that bargain again. Buy! Buy! Buy!

In this day and age of Kindle and Kobo and Nook, a solid read (and I mean one that you can…read moreliterally hold and turn pages beneath your fingers) comes pretty cheap. You really do need to head in to see what they've got because I find their online catalogue lacking and sometimes the staff don't even know what they're stocking. The outside disguises how big this place really is, as it has sections for anything from classic fiction to travel books and bios. It has a pretty decent selection of art supplies as well (I'm no art student, but it does cater for scrapbooking hobbies or the amateur artist if you're after it). Right in the back corner they have a little children's section which I found perfect for my six year old sister who's going through her first reading phase. I bought her a collection of these tiny Winnie the Pooh classics, and a special anniversary edition of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit and Friends stories which averaged around $4 and $12 respectively. They have tons of different hard cover books (some of which are pop up!) which were surprisingly cheap, but more importantly, were invaluable in keeping kids (of all ages) entertained for hours.

The smaller of the two I've been to it's still not that small given the multiple levels. Where you…read morehave me lost is that most of the ground floor is gifts souvenirs and trendy stuff/stationary. Normally I don't mind but I was surprised given the fact that everything upstairs seemed so condensed because of this like an aisle and that's it. Because of this I didn't get the type of time I wanted to have in what I was told was the biggest in Australia. Your mileage may vary on this obviously but for me that's a dealbreaker. On lighter notes staff were scarce and while nice didnt have what I was looking for. Books were in the best condition of the two and I was impressed by that as again I don't have that where I'm from. Despite that Sydney will eventually be my home I'll definitely be looking to shop in Melbourne more for the genres of my tastes.

Absolute garbage service. I PRE ORDER a textbook MONTHS in advance. I then have to reach out to…read moreTHEM to confirm my order as they didn't do so. They extend the delivery date out another 23 days, whatever, fine. I reach out again 20 odd days after that date, only to be told they don't have the book anymore. I demand a refund. They REFUSE. THEY HAVE THE *GALL* TO REFUSE A REFUND UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES!?!? The demand my bank account number! They demand 4-6 weeks turn around time for their "Accounts" team to process the refund. WHAT. A. JOKE. Don't bother with this clown company. Absolute clown circus square go.

This place is really cute! It's a bit tough to find parking but we got lucky and found a spot right…read morein front of the shop! I came here for the Blind Date With a Book. The books are just over $16 AUD, I can't remember the exact price. I had a lot of fun picking my novel and am excited to unwrap and read it. If you open it to find you've already read it you can bring it back with original packaging and receipt to exchange it. I don't read many books so I wasn't worried and took it home with me to the states. The shop was busy and full of people and the prices seamed reasonable as far as I could tell. I enjoyed seeing a bookshop thriving for once!

Imagine my surprise, after visiting one awesome bookshop as I was wandering along King Street that…read moreI suddenly came across a second one. Well, it didn't take me much persuasion to step inside and have a look around, and I certainly was impressed. As mentioned, if I can find something of interest within a few minutes of browsing the shelves then it is a good bookshop, and sure enough, after a few minutes, I found a book (in fact I believe it was two), so sure enough this place gets the thumbs up. Actually, this could be the same shop that I visited previously, though the previous one happened to be in the city.

Do you like CD's? Music? Records? Books about CD's, music and records? If you answered yes to any…read moreof these questions you probably like musical CD's about records too. The Vintage Record Shop on Parramatta Road is a small and interesting shop with a large range of second hand CD's, Vinyl and books on the subject. The interior is possessed of dim lighting and a welcoming vibe, as though it's a shop which wants your patronage. There are piles and shelves full of stock for perusing, either for interest or purchase, though I'm sure they'd prefer purchase, but sometimes it's nice, just to look at the artefacts of history and their colourful shiny cases. There's often some intriguing finds made here, perhaps not as intriguing as finding a dinosaur fossil in the desert when you were sure that there were no dinosaurs at Kernel sand tunes, but still intriguing all the same, and much more likely. So whether you're an archaeologist who likes music, or a musician arcs his oligist (That intentionally made no sense. I apologise whole heartedly.) then there is some quality time lying just around the corner for you, should you wander into the Vintage Record.

I've always been meaning to go to this store on Parramatta road, as I pass by on the bus and today…read morewas the day I decided to get off and check it out alongside the bass shop next door. The store's great, got a great feel to the place when you step in, and has a good selection of funk and jazz records along with alot of other genres too, including an Australian section. The $1 and $5 bins had some goodies in there too, which I always like to dig through, A Quincy Jones album, 'the dude' and George Duke's and Stanley Clarke's, 'the Clarke/Duke project' were my gems of the day. There were also some cool turntables about the place, old memorabilia on sale and the best thing ever was the boombox that could play vinyl! Unfortunately the record player didn't work and it wasn't on sale, but that's still the coolest thing that I saw that week! The owner Phil, who also served me was real nice, definitely a big plus in my books. When you go to a store and the owner's are actually kind and friendly people, that makes me want to go back to the place and support local!

I had seem this place out of the corner of my eye as I was wandering arouind Glebe previously, and…read moreI decided to come back and check it out a bit later on that day. I was lucky because I get inside about five minutes before he closed, so I got a good opportunity to look around. I have to be honest and say that as bookshop it wasn't one of the best that I have been to, and the stock didn't really impress me as much as it could have impressed me. Mind you, it stocks new as opposed to second-hand books, which is probably why it didn't grab my attention as much as a second-hand bookshop does (namely because secondhand bookshops always have something interesting inside, and tend to have that musty, used book, feel about it). Mind you, I did find a couple of interesting books, but still, with what is next door, it doesn't really jump out at me.

Apart from selling books, which it does and does quite well, Gleebooks also plays host to various…read moretalks and events which take place in the upstairs room of the Glebe Point Road shop. They hold book launches, established authors in conversation and every Sunday they host a book club, as well as, on the first Saturday of every month, a stand up comedy show. Wit Large, a stand up evening billed as "Smart Comedy for Smart People" is a night that has come out of a desire for comedians to longer have to tell jokes over the uproar of a drunken conversation, the clatter of cutlery or the various "witty" repartee of an inebriated audience member on their bucks party. The show also aims to keep its humour either brow or higher, and their website claims that each act is screened first to avoid sexism, homophobia and lazy or energetic racism. Each show comes equipped with a theme, such as, "Medicine", "Music" and "New Arrivals" and various professional comedians, some local, and seem even on the International level. The night was engineered by stand up comedian Dave Bloustein, who hosts each performance, and Carrie Hardie, the shows producer. Tickets are $15 each, and the night utilises the book shop well, as during the intermission, you're free to browse the paperbacks and hard covers that paint the walls surrounding the stage. Wine and beer is available.

I decided that I would like to do some research into whether Australia publishes any humour…read moremagazines like 'The Onion' in the United States of America, so I walked into the Broadway shopping centre and into the Newsagency housed within. The first thing I noticed as I walked in was that behind the counter were four very attractive women. The next thing I noticed was four very attractive woman behind the, oh wait, sorry, the next thing I noticed was the large amount of magazines in this sizeable inner city newsagent. They had a huge range, every topic under the sun one would think, except for humour magazines. But I was quite impressed with their literary section, as most newsagents don't tend to have any. I thought about getting a writing magazine, but it was squarely focused on writing in pros and creating novels, generating ideas and beating writers block, I'm more interested in screenplays, but unfortunately they had nothing for me, (I've already read the current issue of 'Creative Screenwriter and Script') But yes, I took note that they stocked them both. I will return for the magazines, and that's the only reason. The last thing I need is another restraining order, I mean a first restraining order.

Broadway Newsagency is big. They have so many magazines that you could spend hours in here... not…read morethat you should, but if you are searching for a particular kind of magazine, or just browsing, then this is the place to come. I found a few for my dad for his birthday, all about folk music and guitar playing. I figured get him a few for his birthday to read, and then buy the subscription for xmas. Well it would have been clever but he hasn't said that he liked any of them... There is a huge range of cards for any occasion as well as stationery galore. I could spend ages looking at notebooks, but I wont walk about that.

I am pretty solidly connected to parts of the Japanese community in Sydney. As such, being able to…read morefind the staples of life like supermarkets, community organisations and even bookstores is a must. Well Hondarake (meaning nothing but books) covers this in spades. Formerly in a shop closer to the King St wharf, this little bookstore either has or can get whatever Japanese related book or manga you require. More importantly, the prices are such that you wont need to sell your first born as with some Japanese bookstores that may or may not be located in the Victoria's Gallery .... Check it out. It is just upstairs.

Hondarake is a gem in an obscure location (it has moved to the corner of Liverpool st and Sussex St…read moreat the commerce building) The whole store is literally filled with books. While it may not have the classy ambiance of Kinokuniya, Hondarake has a pretty decent collection of cheap second hand reads which all look almost new. Would definitely recommend if you are looking for raw manga/novels. Value for money 5/5 Selection 3/5 Ambiance 2/5 Service 4/5

If there's an unusual or foreign, or unusually foreign magazine that you are struggling to get your…read morehands on, then may I take this opportunity to recommend to you, the World Square Newsagent? I can? Thank you... I will. The World Square Newsagent on Pitt Street, down near, you guessed it, World Square, is just your average newsagents, they sell chocolate and gum, soft drinks, water, stationary, birthday cards, newspapers and magazines. But more importantly, they also import a lot of magazines from overseas. Something a lot of news agencies don' t to do, perhaps for the expense or the lack of confidence they have that the magazine will sell, being that most magazines have a shelf life of one month before they're yesterdays news. I scoured many a newsagent in the inner west, the northern suburbs and the middle of the city, till I finally came across World Square Newsagents. I was looking for an American publication called Script, and no body had it. I was beginning to lose heart. I knew I'd seen it before, I knew it existed, but where? When I entered the shop I realised that they had many more imports as well, not just from America, but from other countries as well. Unfortunately though, there are still issues. I had hoped to get the latest issue of Script, due out in September, but the delivery was running late, this is an import issue and no fault of the Newsagents. Just a juicy bit of information that's not actually juicy and barely qualifies as information.

Interesting selection of magazines and newspapers. They have Chinese language newspapers but only…read moreEnglish language magazines.

Not four blocks up the road from Gleebooks is another little shop called Gleebooks. This Gleebooks,…read morehowever, differs from the original Gleebooks as it sells primarily second hand books and children's literature. Gleebooks. I was walking down the road on sunny Sunday morning and I happened to glance to the left of my vision, a small hard covered book placed in the window, part of the display. It was 'Dr. Seuss Goes to War' a collection of his and other cartoonists political cartoons from the World War II period. I goose-stepped inside and asked the shop keep about the act of acquiring it. He instructed me that I was welcome to grab it, and grab it I did. As I've probably mentioned before, I buy most books online, so it's these second hand book shops that I love going to, because chances are you'll find something interesting, written a long time ago, that you just couldn't find online. And for $30 for a hardcover book by my man, Theodore Seuss Giselle, that's just what the doctor ordered.

The hours I've spent in here…read more.. I used to live a couple of streets away, and was revisiting my old haunts and gladly traipsed back in to the little secondhand Gleebooks here, at the far end of Glebe Point Road. It was a bit of a time warp, the same wooden shelves in the window stocking an eclectic array of readerly delights. There were fewer of the plastic bins full of bargains on the streetfront and fewer groundlevel piles of new stock inside which I fondly remember trawling through to get the best picks before anyone else. They've still a fantastic selection of literary fiction, classics, and non-fiction of all types and persuasions - a great deal of my undergrad degree was researched with books gleaned from here, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that. The books are really well organised, cheaper than some other secondhand stores around and the staff polite and seriously knowledgeable. A Sydney institution.

This was a little comic store from the 80s and 90s run by the lovely Terry Brown since deceased in…read moreabout 2016. A high point in my youth was seeing Terry and his girl Ruth during each Saturday morning run into town. Now sadly gone since the mid to late 90s I am surprised the name still turns up on a search. - David R 27/5/2018 davidrlandofoz@gmail.com