An excellent quarterly journal offering the best commentary on cultural and political developments…read morein Wales.

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/david+edwards/the+ebb+26+flow/8873855/ The…read moreWaterstones book signing tour continues this week. Swansea, Aberystwyth and Camarthen. Come and see David Edwards in store Fri 23rd March.

This is a good-sized bookshop with 2 floors, the bottom of which is devoted to student textbooks,…read moreboth new and second-hand. This all sounds very reasonable and to be honest it is, although textbooks are incredibly expensive. The problems really start when you are not looking for textbooks but a fiction book or, god forbid, a bestseller. There is no display of any sort for bestsellers and trying to find a specific book is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It is all badly layed out and disorganised. Avoid unless looking for textbooks.

This was a great source for Welsh language books and music when I was in Aberystwyth in the 1980s…read more Now it specializes in trinkets with a Welsh theme. The selection of books is tiny, although the majority are Welsh-language children's books. On the positive side, the employees still seem to be young native Welsh speakers. There is a new "branch office" down the street, called "Pop y Pethe," which looks like it might be a used book annex. Unfortunately, it was shuttered when I was there.

The prices are high, but it's a student town - and this place stocks a lot of useful books for…read morestudents. The staff range from remarkably polite, helpful and knowledgable to incoherent, grunting goths who sit there reading Lovecraft. However, if there's a book you want, there's a good chance they'll have it at a reasonable price, and it's a nice, roomy shop in a good location.

The usual Oxfam mixture of the very best of their donations (what happens to the rest?) and several…read moreshelves of overpriced gifty tat. Ok, it's for charity, but it does feel more and more like Oxfam are making less use of their donated items and more time competing with other high street businesses. Not my favourite place to shop.

A small W.H Smiths which I find too small. Very little room to move and not much on offer. they…read morehave a average priced stationary section and a average priced entertainment section. The only good thing about it is its large magazine seciton which has alot to offer. Most of the specialist magazines in aber can be only bought from smiths.

This is an ideal sized WH Smith to have in Aber, as it stocks all the essential stationary and it…read morehas a lot of dvds with some cds and dvds to boot. Everyone knows by now what to expect with stationary so I won't go into that but the dvd stock is exceptional. There is always a large amount of boxsets, both TV shows and film combinations that are cheap and popular. There is a full top 40 chart for dvds as well as cds and books, so this Smiths is a great place to start your shopping trip around Aber.

full of local news and sports. comes out weekly. good price.read more