Another City Visit

More than a year ago my wife and her sister bought tickets to "Romeo And Juliet" performed by the Australian Ballet  The tickets were for seats just a few rows from the orchestra pit and the stage.  Covid delayed the performance and then sadly my sister-in-law passed away a few months ago.  So this afternoon I attended the ballet with my wife instead.

Prior to the show we grabbed some lunch in the City, crossing the swollen Yarra River due to the recent floods, and also visiting City Basement Books.

City Basement Books always seems to have a good turnover of books.  

Today they had a hardback copy of "The Politics Of James Bond: From Fleming's Novels To The Big Screen" by Jeremy Black which I have only ever seen previously online.  I managed to resist purchasing it though.  There were also several Bond continuation novels by Robert Markham, John Gardner, Anthony Horowitz and Jeffery Deaver.  No purchases from me today though.

As for the ballet, I've previously seen "The Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake" and to be honest I thought they were meh, but this ballet was fantastic.  I guess it also helped already knowing the story too.  I know my sister-in-law would have loved it too.  Here's a couple of photos I took before the performance:

City Basement Books Visit

I'm currently relaxing with a beer while waiting for friends at the Transport Bar at Fed Square in the City.  

Prior to arriving here I made a quick visit to City Basement Books on Flinders Street.  For a second I was concerned the book store could have closed as I hadn't visited since late 2019, prior to the Melbourne Covid lockdown which affected, and still affects, many businesses. Fortunately the "Open" sign was still displayed on the front door.

On entry and after descending down the stairs I was pleased to see the store was quite busy.  As I had limited time I immediately made my way to Fleming and then Gardner.  There were no Ian Fleming titles on the shelf but I did notice one Anthony Horowitz and three John Gardner's.  Sadly nothing new for me today but I'll return again soon.

Weekend In The City

I've just spent a relaxing weekend in the City with my wife.  Although 'relaxing' probably isn't the most appropriate word to use considering we rarely sat down.  We spent one night with some friends, visited the optical illusions ArtVo, walked around the City, ate at some great restaurants and attended the closing night of the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

On Saturday we visited the Astor Movie Market where I saw a few nice Bond items for sale, although I didn't purchase anything.

Yesterday (Sunday) we visited the Dymocks store on Collins Street.  There were plenty of Bond novels on the shelves although no copies of the "Casino Royale" that cross promotes the new Bond novel by Anthony Horowitz "Forever And A Day".  I'll have to keep my eyes open closer to the release date.  It was also good to see some major work being done on improving the store.

We also visited City Basement Books.  They had a Cape hardback version of Gardner's "For Special Sevices" and a paperback Faulk's "Devil May Care".

Finally, here's a couple more snaps of Melbourne...

Etihad Stadium in the Docklands

The Yarra looking toward the lights of the MCG (an AFL game was in progress)

The Town Hall clocktower from our hotel window

Looking toward Bolte Bridge, again in the Docklands

Melbourne (Unofficial) Secondhand Book Trail - Part 3

After posting Part 2 a fortnight ago, here's Part 3 of what I've titled the Melbourne (Unofficial) Secondhand Book Trail.  This time I'm including the two remaining secondhand book stores existing in the Melbourne CBD:

9) City Basement Books, Melbourne

As you descend the stairs into the quiet peace of this book store it's easy to forget that just moments ago you were amongst the hustle and bustle of Flinders Street and the City.  This fantastic subterranean space is a relaxing maze of tall wooden book shelves; the perfect place to get lost in prose.  You'll either find Verity, the store owner, or Kerry, happily sitting behind the counter, always ready to offer their assistance or recommendations.  Despite the huge number and variety of secondhand books available, they're all well categorised and alphabetised, affordably priced and in great condition.  The novels range from vintage to recent, and when you're ready to venture back to the real world upstairs you'll be hard pressed not returning with at least one purchase from your underground adventure.

Addresses:
- http://www.citybasementbooks.com.au

- 342 Flinders Street, Melbourne

10) Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookseller, Melbourne

This antiquarian bookseller has been located on classy Collins Street since 1990.  It has a large and varied stock of antiquarian and secondhand books, some hundreds of years old.  Bibliophiles visiting Melbourne must add this store to their list of essential places to visit while in town as there are always plenty of first editions on the shelves catering to all budgets.

Addresses:

- http://www.kaycraddock.com

- 156 Collins Street, Melbourne

Surprise City Book Hunt - Part 1

Apologies, I haven't had time to post further entries about our road trip in New Zealand yet.  However my wife and I are currently walking around Melbourne as she has organised a surprise weekend away for me in the City.

We've just left City Basement Books where we found several Bond novels for sale.

And now we're sitting in a cafe in Fed Square enjoying breakfast and a hot chocolate.  There were several Bond novels for sale at the Saturday stalls too but I had them all.

City Book Hunt + North By Northwest

I apologise for my tardiness in writing blog entries this year.  It's been a busy year so far and I probably haven't spent enough time on this blog or PizGloria.com.

I did however visit the City a couple of weeks ago with my wife. 

We visited a few stores (including the book stores shown below), had a fantastic Japanese dinner at Fed Square and then attended a stage play version of "North By Northwest".  And I have to say the stage play was brilliant.  I wondered how they were going to do the Mt. Rushmore scenes, the train, the crop duster biplane and the corn fields... and yet they pulled it off remarkably well.  If you ever get a chance you have to see this stage show !

Alright, getting back to the book hunt.  As usual we visited City Basement Books.  Not as many Bond books as usual which is actually a good sign as it means they're making sales.  Looking forward to visiting this store again soon.

We then visited Dymocks.  I was after copies of the Charlie Higson "Young Bonds" with the new Young Bond logo but I already had the copies on the shelf.

Next up we visited Fed Square where the Saturday Book Market was being held.  We both had a look but neither of us found a single Bond novel which was unusual.  Previously there were always plenty of ex-library hard backs for sale.

Finally we visited Hill Of Content and then The Paperback Store but alas there were no Bond books on my wanted list.  So instead we returned to the Arts Centre where we settled down to watch the aforementioned stage play.