Cumquat Books

This is a tiny little bookshop on the corner of Juliette and Emperor Sts at Annerley. I popped in there today, after a couple of years of driving past and gazing at it, wondering what was inside and vowing that one day I would be in less of a hurry and I would visit. And today was that day.

I was amazed at how many books they've managed to fit into one building. It's like some sort of parallel-universe where the density capacity of the interior is greater than the dimensions on the exterior. Books from floor to ceiling; books stacked in piles, books on trolleys, books propping up doorways, books arranged on the staircase, books scattered across the floor, books on chairs and tables and bursting out of cupboards and spilling over benches and squeezed into gloomy corners and falling out of bookshelves.

New and old books (mostly old) with some amazing blasts from the past: Enid Blyton, ancient 1940s government cookbooks, rare and collector books. They have sections of books on pretty much anything you could care to read about. Up the rickety stairs is a haul of Star Wars, Star Trek, sci-fi and comic book loot to delight the most hardcore geek. I was there for 40 minutes and by then my eyes had started to fog over and blur- it was time to stop peering at the spines and return to the light. I spent $40 and got 4 big fat hardcover books, plus they have full EFTPOS. Plus, you can order and buy online. Fantastic! The only thing they need now is a coffee machine and a couple of cushiony chairs in the sunny spot outside. That would be perfect.