'Your Local Bookshop Is Your Friend'

Gift Shopping Tip: 'Your Local Bookshop Is Your Friend'

photo: James Brickwood

"Your local bookshop is your friend. Arrive early and talk to staff, all of whom are super friendly and terrifyingly keen to help in this era of diminishing retail returns. Tell them about each family member's interests (there'll be something for your camping-mad sister and fashion-mad brother, even if they don't read much), then stare vacantly into space as staff choose the books and wrap them. Hand over your credit card. Bam."

--Benjamin Law in a piece for Australia's The Age headlined "Be armed and know