The Perfect Saturday......

Well, the weekend has come around again, (no, it's not just birthdays, holidays and high days that I make use of to feed the bookish monkey on my back, just a normal weekend is enough.....) ...and I took a Saturday off to get along to The New International Bookshop, Big Red Book Fair down on Victoria Street just on the edge of the CBD.

I got there before opening time, at 10am, and it was fortunate I did, as a crowd (or a fossick? I think that should be the collective noun...) of eager bibliophiles and book dealers were already filling the doorway! 

I was very pleased to bump into the lovely Tadhg and Rallou, husband and wife team from Fully Booked at 824 High Street Thornbury, (probably the friendliest bookshop proprietors I know) in the scrum outside, who were keen to pick up some bulk bargain gems for their store. 

Once inside, it was great, lots of bargains to be had (if you could grab them before the other book lovers...) and a really eclectic mix of titles were available. Being my first visit I was enjoying myself, but I heard later that, sadly, the event was much smaller than it had been in previous years. My source put this down to a reduction in the amount of donated material in recent years, which is a shame. I hope I haven't missed the best years of this event.

With the book-buying bit firmly between my teeth, I headed across town to the regular Saturday Fed Square Book Market in The Atrium of Federation Square. 

A few purchases, a coffee and a ham and cheese croissant later, and I headed for home, but... decided I was enjoying things so much I made a stop at The Sun Bookshop on Ballarat Street in Yarraville,  where I added to my haul of second-hand reading material with some brand new titles.

So, lots of new books later, as well as the pleasure of letting you all in on my day on here, topped off later with a bunch of collection cataloging (assisted by a cheeky bordeaux....) I reckon I'm having The Perfect Saturday.....

Stevie at BLM