Bent Books - 2nd hand Bookstore in Brisbane
June 9th 2006 05:48
Bent Books, West End, Brisbane, QLD
If there's one thing more enjoyable than reading a book it's scouring secnd-hand bookshops for titles you're after. That's better. Whilst up in Brisbane two weeks ago I made it my mission to find at least one good secnd-hand bookshop. Thankfully a friend of mine knew of 'Bent Books' in West End (Brisbane), a small but cosy looking shop wedged between various takeaway stores and the like on Boundary Street. There was a fair bit of human traffic inside so I imagine it's a pretty popular store in Brisbane for book fans... I can easily see why!
At first it seems rather small-ish but there's a pathway out the back of the store that takes you to a whole other second room of older and more obscure titles. It's great - I think the store used to be an old house or something, there's even a courtyard with plants and various greenery out the back too.
Also, the books aren't ridiculously overpriced like some of the so-called second-hand books in stores on George Street in Sydney. What's with a lot of second-hand bookstores only taking three or four dollars off the retail price of a book? You might as well buy it brand new. Anyway, most of the books in Bent Books were really well priced... most of the more popular fiction books ranged between $7 and $12, which is the way it should be, and they also had a lot of newer titles that you don't really see in second-hand bookstores that often.
They also have a killer range. I found three books I'd been trying to get for ages, and everything was in alphabetical order and apropriately sectioned off... film sections, poetry, children's books, scientific textbooks, scientific books that deal with evolutionary theory, gay and lesbian books, etc, etc. It's a really well kept store and I found it easier to navigate than I have a lot of big, professional chain-bookstores! Usually second-hand bookstores are so untidy and you need a torch to find your way, so it's good to see one put a bit of effort in (unlike the second-hand bookstores in Penrith!)
How to find Bent Books if you're out and about in Brisbane
And (I'm not finished praising this place yet) when I asked them if they had any Kurt Vonnegut books the guy behind the counter said they were all out BUT he did have a Kurt Vonnegut bookmark he could give me. How's that for service? At least half of the second-hand bookstores I go into are staffed by cranky old buggers who don't like being talked to (I won't mention any names, but let's just say Katoomba isn't the place to go for customer service). They have a whole range of Bent Book bookmarks with other author-caricatures on them too - see their website to check them out.
Bent Books - Website
Both pictures taken from the Bent Books website.
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