A delightful day indeed.

Started with a early morning doctor’s appointment that forced me to be dressed and set by 8am, and then an hour of sitting in a cafe by the Hampton train station and going through a latte, two poached eggs on toast with salmon on the side here while people watching as tons of families and dog walkers and cyclists made their Saturday morning brekkie pitstop at nearby cafes and fresh food shops.

This, followed by the discovery of by far the best second hand bookshop I have discovered in Melbourne. This adorable place, called Bound Words, is run by an elderly couple, Ailsa and Peter Zerbe. It has old style solid timber shelves, no advertising, and they still use the words “second hand” instead of “pre-loved” which sold me before I even entered. The couple lookout in op-shops and garage sales across the city to find their books, and while most are between $6 and $10, some full sets of classical authors and old style coveted coffee table books and reference books can come at a pretty price. I, of course, wanted everything in the store. I finally came out of there after an hour of deliberation with these four treasures:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The Prophet, by Kahlil Gihbran

Oscar Wilde: Plays, A Compendium (mainly to re-read A Woman of No Importance and The Importance of Being Earnest)

And this completely gorgeous 1930 blue faded copy of 1914 & Other Poems with 0.5mm thick pages that are uneven due to non-standard nature of publishing in those days (for only $6, replete with a light blue thick fountain pen writ inscription of “Dear  on the front flyleaf).

The road parallel will lead into Beach Road and Esplanade Road Brighton, through designer houses, and cyclists and joggers. I parked and read for a bit on the beach (lucky I keep a picnic blanket and straw hat in my boot for just such an “emergency”!).

Then it was back home to soak my feet in a pampering pedicure while finishing my current read..but wait, what should be on channel C31 but one of my favorite indie shows: ShelfLife, a sweet show that reviews books, meets publishers and up and coming as well as struggling writers. A real eye opener, this particular episode. They spoke to a independent publisher about the digitization of books. Now this particular lady allows her authors the options of putting a digitized version of the book online after 6 months of publication, with 60% of the profits going into the writer’s bank account, as against the 10% that mainstream publishing houses allow. But here’s the interesting part: to her, this whole e-book craze is but a passing phase. It is transcendent into a open source concept of publishing, if you will, where the readers of today, so opinionated, living in a world where journalism has moved into citizen microblogging (the Egypt crisis being a prime and supremely effective example of why citizen media is far more unbiased and democratic) and where the readers will pay not so much for the book, but for the ability to interact with the book as a media. To be able to share alternate endings, a picture of a place they holidayed at that may have been referenced in the book, a way to write fan fiction around it. This whole experience of a book is what will define its success - its ability to integrate various forms of modern media - facebook, twitter, tv, and the actual book itself, into a complete and 360 degree analysis.  Like the concept of an iPhone is only worth the apps on it, the book itself means nothing, it is what you have done with the experience of having read it that makes it meaningful. It basically takes book clubs and amazon reviews to a whole new level if you ask me. Exciting stuff indeed.

With that, I sign off, quite sure that the remainder of this day will offer more joys in my otherwise mundane week. Sayonara!