Book Exchanges Alive And Well In South Australia

When I first started collecting paperback books one of my favourite second hand book stores to visit was a book exchange located on Nepean Highway opposite Moorabbin train station.  Nowdays in Melbourne book exchanges are rare as hen's teeth.  But that isn't the case in South Australia.  During our recent holiday my wife and I have visited a number of book exchanges, and each one appeared to be going strong.  I'm certain there are more around but here's three:

1) Elizabeth South Book Exchange, Elizabeth South

This book exchange can be found travelling to or from the Barossa Valley.  The store has heaps of books under a wide selection of well displayed categories.  The owner is very friendly, the books are well priced and neatly categorised, and the "Detective" section now includes only three of the four Bond books in the last photo above... I purchased the 1960 Pan Books copy of "Moonraker".  Here's the Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/ESBookExchange

2) Magill Book Exchange, St. Morris

This book exchange has so many books the shelves are overflowing.  The books are well categorised but if necessary the owner, Susan, can guide you to the exact location of an author or perhaps even book title on her shelves. This store is definitely worth a visit.  Here's the Facebook page:  https://m.facebook.com/people/Magill-Book-Exchange/100057411940891/

3) O G Book Exchange, Klenzig

This book exchange is owned by a gentleman named Krell.  He's owned this book exchange for over 30 years, so while he has plenty of great books on his shelves there's also DVD's, BluRays, vinyl LP's and magazines.  The prices are great too.  As you can see in the last photo above he has many James Bond paperbacks for sale.  Sadly I didn't buy any today.  Here's the Facebook page:  https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069533311067

Just as a final note, if you're book hunting in Adelaide I definitely recommend visiting these three book exchanges.  Prices are cheap, the books are great, there's a wide variety of titles available under many different categories and you're almost always going to find something you want.

A Couple More Adelaide Bookstores

Continuing from my blog post yesterday here's a couple more bookstores my wife and I visited today while on holiday in Adelaide, South Australia...

6. Dymocks Bookstore

Dymocks may not sell secondhand books but this spacious store in Rundle Mall is lovely to visit.  Here you can see the Vintage series of Ian Fleming titles still on the shelf for sale.  Here's the website: https://www.dymocks.com.au

7. Adelaide Central Market Bookstore

This tiny book store has been at the Adelaide Market for years.  It has heaps of quality used books.  Sadly today there were no Bond titles.  Here's the website:  https://adelaidecentralmarket.com.au/traders/central-market-books

8. D.A. Horn Antiquarian Books

My wife and I spent ages walking along the length of Wyatt Street trying to find this store.  According to Google the store is still operating however we only found this building and a blank door on the first level.  Here's the website anyway:  https://dahornbooks.com.au

Visit To Five Adelaide Bookstores

My wife and I are currently on holiday in South Australia.  During our time here we've visited many secondhand book stores.  Here's five we visited in Adelaide:

1) Michael Treloar Antiquarian Booksellers

One of the two gentlemen in the store explained that they currently had no Ian Fleming novels, nor any continuation books.  But they often come across Ian Fleming - Jonathan Capes so I was told to keep checking their website:  https://www.treloars.com

2) O'Connell's Bookstore

This store has the most James Bond novels I've seen for sale in one store in quite a while.  First edition Jonathan Capes, a second edition Pan Books "Casino Royale" and plenty of old Pan paperbacks.  I purchased an unread Still Life series copy of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".  There is also a wide variety of titles and categories of books for sale.  Here's a link to many of their books:  https://www.abebooks.com/oconnells-bookshop-adelaide/1403738/sf

3) New Morning Books

This store had four Bond novels including two Jonathan Capes.  I didn't check the editions though but they could be firsts.  The owner John has a wide variety of other books available too.  There's no website but there is a Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/NewMorningBooksBackPagesBooks

4)  Imprints Books

As well as stocking new books this store also has a selection of secondhand books at the rear of the store.  Their website is:  https://imprints.com.au

5) Orchard Bookshop

This book store had no Bond novels on the day we visited, however it has a specialised selection of titles over a wide variety of categories which can also be found here:  https://orchardbookshop.com.au/

Worst James Bond Soundtrack Ever

There are many who believe that the unofficial James Bond film "Never Say Never Again" has the worst soundtrack of any of the 007 films.  Even I wonder what the soundtrack would have sounded like had James Horner been involved instead of Michel Legrand.  However, unlike others, I really like Lani Hall's title song for this film.

If you weren't aware, Lani Hall wasn't first choice for the title song either.  Phyllis Hyman recorded another version for this film but it was rejected, and Michel's wife, Lani, recorded her's instead.

A few months ago I purchased a promotional poster for Lani's version of the title song.

Today a copy of this title song on 7 inch vinyl arrived in the mail.  I've been searching for a copy in this format for a while, but the prices always seemed too high.  Fortunately I found a seller in Austria selling a great copy at a reasonable price.

I already have this song on the soundtrack CD which I was planning to photograph and add to this post, but despite a 5 minute search it remains hidden somewhere in my "Bond Room".  Ok, it's not the best soundtrack ever, but in my opinion it does have some redeeming moments including a great title song.

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: