If you're anything like me, finding a book shop that's open late is exciting. And I'm not just talking 8pm late, I mean 10pm during the week, 11.30pm on Friday and Saturday, 7pm on Sunday. That's right, after a long day doing whatever it is you do when you're not reading, you can head up to
The Paperback Bookshop and be confident that it's open, and you can browse to your heart's content.
You can also be pretty confident that you'll be able to get something amazing to read, because The Paperback Bookshop is one of the best-stocked stores in Melbourne. The store feels like the library of a very well-read friend, with books piled floor-to-ceiling and shelves arranged in such a way that there are about ten facings made out of four shelves. The store is a miraculous exercise in economical use of space, and how many great books you can fit into a small space.
The stock carried by The Paperback includes a big selection of cheap classics, all the usual fiction you'd find in any other book store, but also a lot of specialist books on philosophy, art, poetry and writing, and a quite comprehensive collection of literary journals, which are often hard to find. The Paperback also stock books by small and local publishers, which often go overlooked in bigger stores.
The staff at The Paperback are immensely helpful – at times it's confusing, trying to find books between all those other books, and the staff here will not only help you find the book you're after, but also to have a good chat with you, so that by the time you leave the store, you're pretty solid in the idea that you've bought the book of your dreams, and you can't wait to get into it.
Being such a small store, they are sometimes closed when staff need to pop out for some reason, but give it fifteen minutes and they'll be back.
Next time you're coming through the city late, pop into The Paperback Bookshop, you might just find your new favourite book store.
