This tiny place is a bit of a hidden gem if you are looking for gift inspiration…read more The entire shop is packed up to the roof with amazingly cheap books starting from £1-£2! Even the hardback books that you would expect to pay more for start at £3-£4. This is an outlet store so don't do expecting the newest releases, but there are some seriously good discounts available for those willing to spend the time looking through the shelves.

There are Charity Shops and then there's Oxfam Book & Music!…read more Dedicated entirely to Books, CD's and DVD's, the shop is inviting and is well laid out with some fantastic stock which is regularly updated. While not a big store, it genuinely has a book shop feel to it with classical music playing in the background and a small area for sitting and reading. While the books aren't as cheap as other charity shops, you're much more likely to find a gem here. Recommended!

The Oxfam book and music shop in Knowle came up trumps today. I'd been experimenting with the…read morekindle i-pad app for my current read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and it hadn't been going too well if I am honest. With my next book club meeting looming I was in desperate need of a traditional copy of this work. So, as I was passing, I popped into this store on the off chance. Not for the first time my prayers were answered by an Oxfam shop. Sitting waiting for me was just the book I needed, in paperback and in excellent condition for a mere £2.99. I quickly browsed the rest of the store and it was in perfect condition. There is a nice reading area at the front of the store if you want to take your book purchasing a bit slower than mine. They also have a small but good selection of DVDs, CDs and vinyl. Thanks once again Oxfam!

Waterstones on High Street, just outside the Bullring is the largest location of Waterstones I've…read moreseen, this one is in Birmingham city centre. The store has six floors including two cafes and multiple floors with toilets - Click and Collect (online orders) is conveniently on the ground floor in case you're in a hurry and don't want to navigate throughout the whole store, which can be a little awkward as this isn't something you'd expect to do from a book shop. The staff seemed disinterested which is a shame, and not too willing to help and with a book store as big as this one - it is something you'd often need to enhance the experience from book recommendations to finding a book if you already have one in mind - they do have writing on "recommended" books but unlike other stores these are newspaper quotes which every book seems to have which are easily found online or even on the book its-self once you pick it up - I mean come on, are the staff literate with a passion for books and customer service? PERSONALISATION. Other than the size of the store, it doesn't really stand out - the store seems to follow the newer and more modern layout Waterstones are slowly rolling out (sadly this hasn't arrived in my home town of Manchester yet!) 3* based on a great central location in Birmingham and huge size over multiple floors, the layout and slightly cramped nature of the ground floor and disinterested staff really is a shame because without it the store could even warrant a high four-star rating.

This Waterstones is accessible from the High Street and also from the top floor of the Pavillions…read moreshopping mall. This store is large, spacious and airy with a huge selection of books. Anything you can think of you will find and if they dont stock it they will search to see if its at the New Street branch (the other large store) or order it in for you. There is a Costa Coffee on the first floor and the 4th floor has a large floor space dedicated to travel and the world. As you walk across to pay for your purchase you get a nice view of inside the Pavillions and as you take the glass elevator back down you get a whirl wind view of New Street :-)

Now, I am a lover of all things Comic booky, board gamey and generally a bit geektastic (if you…read moredidn't already know that). A trip to Forbidden Planet is a pretty rare occasion for me as I know my wallet will be angry at me every time I even begin to look at the dusty shelves filled with pretties... I popped in yesterday for the first time in a while. I got a £10 gift voucher for my birthday and desperately want a copy of "Takenoko" after playing it for the first time at SciFi Weekender in Wales (it's a board game where you have to grow bamboo - much more fun than it sounds). After the distributor telling me that Forbidden Planet could easily order this in for me, I hastily nipped down on my lunch to enquire about this. Now, service has always been mixed at this branch of Forbidden Planet. The staff are very informed about their products, but sometimes it can seem a little Elitist. The gent which served me yesterday was friendly and helpful, but seemed a little put out that I wanted to order something in and wasn't sure he could. Needless to say, I have given them my details - so will have to update the review later if it can be achieved and the transaction completed. The product range in this store is pretty vast. Stocking everything from themed boardgames (they stock "Adventuretime" Monopoly!) to Graphic Novels and various merch (again, a huge range featuring a selection from "Twilight" to "Minecraft"); you will normally find your particular kink catered too. We are lucky to have Nostalgia and Forbidden Planet in quite close proximity. If you can't find what you are looking for in one, you can always pop down and try the other! This place really is an "Aladdin's Cave" of geeky treasures.

From the moment I queued what seemed like a mile around the corner to meet Amber Benson aka Tara…read morefrom 'Buffy' (yes, this is how positively cool I am), I was in love with Forbidden Planet in Birmingham. A haven for all those grown-up boys and girls who still find pleasure in playing with toys and secretly wish they were superheroes, the store in Birmingham is a little out of the way from the main shopping drag - but that has kept its inherent charm intact. If you fancy checking out the latest comic book issues and memorabilia, this has always been the #1 destination in the city. It's not massive and it feels a bit like a cave in there thanks to the dingy light, but again this helps set the scene for what should be a bit of a secret geek den. The staff are always helpful and clued-in (a must for any place like this, where the customers are sure to come loaded with really specific questions) and, for a pretty small space, there's so much to see and wish you could afford to take home with you that you could spend a good hour in there just having a nose.

I love the Ikon Gallery bookshop. Whether you want exhibition catalogues, postcards, greetings…read morecards, zines, gifts or books; It's all pretty much there and curated and displayed in the style you would expect from Birmingham's premier contemporary art gallery. I love nothing better on a lazy spring Sunday then to wander up to Ikon to browse their art books and magazine collection. Since the closure of Borders, this is the best place to flick through and purchase those high-end, imported fashion and art magazines which are so hard to find on the high street. They stock a great range of design books too, from web design to arcitechture, and they have a good range of books and gifts for children. I recommend this shop 100% - go and check it out!

Small and perfectly proportioned - the Ikon bookshop fits a HUGE range of books, stationery and…read moregift items into a teeny tiny space. I can be a very lazy art lover, and there's been more than one occasion where I've really wanted to go and see a show, and for one reason or another I've managed to miss it - so it's always a joy when I visit the bookshop, and they still have copies of past exhibition catalogues.. Hooray, I can snap one up and pretend to all my arty friends that I was there and saw it in person! Alongside their book selection, they stock awesome cards, postcards, wrapping paper, Moleskine notebooks (ahhh every artist/writer loves a Moleskine, right?) and other smaller trinkets such as artist designed badges and the occasional zine. The magazine selection is also enticing, though by the time I've spent money on books and stationery I end having to forego any magazines as well.

When I was a kid Grand Central Birmingham was just called Birmingham Shopping Centre and the space…read morewhere Foyles is was a smallish ASDA! This is a small bookshop and in other towns or cities it would probably have a much more local feel to it. In Birmingham it feels like a city store where you would go grab a book for a long train journey. I used to work in a bookshop so I'm pretty judgement about what to expect. I liked the lighting, the range of books and the subjects. There are two audio pods where you stand and watch the laptop size tv screen and hear about a particular book. The children's section looks excellent and is only let down by the flickering lights in the ceiling. Best for buying gifts for other people or treating yourself!