Smiths Alternative Bookshop - part of beautiful, clever, thoughtful, political Canberra

Click here to see our latest catalogues and check out the events in the events information page just above these words (and to the left a little)

Now that we are doing poetry and music and things like that we will have podcasts and youtubes see HERE

WINE BAR IN A BOOKSHOP!!! Who thought of that great idea???

Friday 17 September-MUSIC! Join us from 6pm for performances by From the South, as well as two bands all the way from L.A., Emperor and Adam Harding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Book of the Week! We recommend a box set including 'The Iliad', 'The Odyssey', and 'The Aenid' for only $69.95!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday 3 September - SITUATION NORMAL We will be holding a poetry night with Andrew Galan!! 5.30 to 8.30pm. Wine $5.

Thursday 2 September we will be holding a Zine Making Workshop!!!!!!! 6-9pm.This was an amazing event!!! The Greens were especially good!!

Tonight Friday 27 August we will be playing board games!! Starts 6pm! Come and join us!!

Now it is a NIGHT MARKET ina WINE BAR ina BOOKSHOP!!! OMG what next??? (maybe poetry ina night market ina wine bar ina bookshop) Tonight from 5pm to 8pm its a night market (Ok more like an evening market but anyway) where people are selling old clobber and stuff they have made. We will also be selling books and even reciting poetry - maybe Haiku?

Tonight Thursday 5 August we will have people from the Abundant Water organisation discussing the abundancy of healthy water in Laos and how to maintain that abundancy. Go to Abundant Water for more information.

We will also have an abundancy of wine to help contemplate this particular issue. Starts at 6pm.

Yeah man - and tomorrow night Friday 6 August we will be reciting the poetry of the "Beats". Kerouac, Burroughs, Maynard G Krebbs, Joan Vollmer and others. So don't be square man and make sure you turn up and tune in and turn on. Starts at 6.pm and we'll have some of the cool fluid and room temperature ambrosia here to help lubricate your tonsils and your mind.

Remember to be Hip

WOW bloody WEEEE! The music nights and the poetry nights and the wine and the people were just fabulous. that's it!!! We are going to continue to do this.

Next wine bar event will be on 29 July and will involve the display of art by Tommy with accompanying, and suitable, poetry. The art is in the shop now so if you feel like being inspired come in check out the art and, using the art as a muse, write a poem. Then recite it on the night. There will be a prize for every person who writes and recites their own poem - that prize will be the joy of doing it. (Nice prize hey!) Starts at 6pm finishes at 8pm.

On Friday 30 July a night we call Into my arms, Fernando which is NICK CAVE'S SONGS as poems and and and ABBA"S songs as poems!!!! That's right we will have an event based around reciting Nick's songs as poems (the thought sends shivers down my spy yi yi yi yi yi yine) and, as a complete contrast, Abba's songs as poems (See that girl watch that scene dig it the dancing queen, you can dance, you can smile having the time of your life), this night will be an emotional roller coaster as we move from the hallow harrowing Nick to the lovely goody goodies of Bjorn and Benny.

23 July 2010 was a huge event in the shop with an all girl band called Ah Pandita - and when they turned up we couldn't believe it - they WERE ALL GIRLS!!!!. What next?? Anyway they were excellent, cool, harmonious, with their own style and and and we liked them, then there was Danger Beach doing surf type music and other bands and it was cool. But sadly there were too many people and we have to keep the numbers lower next time. (The booze police turned up and were very helpful and not at all threatening but suggested gently that the number of people hanging around was a tad too many) So next time we have cool music like that we will charge maybe $5 maybe $10 a head and limit the numbers to maybe 40. Sorry but what can you do?.

Yes yes yes - we are going to run a wine bar in our fabulous little shop every Thursday and Friday evenings from 5.30pm to 8ish maybe 9 depending upon what is going on. We will be having different events on most nights like poetry, music, book launches, book readings, zine nights and knowledge sharing evenings. Cool cool cool! We will be selling wine and other beverages as well.

Starting with'Thursday 15 July 6.30 pm we are launching the newest book by Sue Hurley - Love at the Railway Hotel - every town in Australia that is near a railway has a Railway Hotel and there are some towns that aren't near a railway that still have a Railway Hotel. There is often love at these hotels and this book is about one of those 'love' occurences. We will have lots of wine and good tucker (as one would expect from a Railway Hotel scenario).

Friday 16 July from 6.00pm till about 8 (or maybe 9 depending how maudlin we all get) The songs of LEONARD COHEN as poetry - recited by some of us from Smiths and by you if you want. You just name the song you want to recite and we will book it in . I have already taken "Tonight will be fine" and "Traitor". We believe Leonard Cohen is the greatest singer poet the world has ever seen and if you disagree with that well then name someone better!


5 July 2010 is the Canberra Launch of "Unspeakable: a feminist ethic of speech" by Betty Mclellan. This book challenges a few beliefs, one of which is that we don't need feminisim anymore, I mean we have Gillard and a female GG and lots of female MPs so it is all good for girls and women. Or is it ....come tonight to this very shop at 6.pm to find out. IF YOU DARE.

11 June 2010 We are now selling books on Abe books on the internet - pretty clever - or are we. No idea but we'll find out in the next week or so. Some of the books we recommend and that will be found on ABEbooks are:
On Passion by Dorothy Porter an excellent book about passion and being on it.

How to Make Trouble and Influence People an excellent book about trouble and being in it.



28 May 2010 The fafafafabulous Min Mae is doing something fabulous right near our shop!!

Hello, my name is Min Mae. I'm an artist, I live in Canberra. Canberra is not known as a passionate city, but I want to feel passionate about it. I want to know it intimately, to be comforted and inspired by it. As with any relationship, someone has to make the first move. Being that a city is a largely inanimate thing, that move will have to be made by me. On Thursday 27 May at 4:45pm, at the intersection of Alinga and Moore St, I will be doing this, with the help of twenty-two other people. It will only last fifteen minutes. I am hoping that many people will see it, photograph it, film it, be warmed by it.

Click here to see information on our 2010 Book Clubs.

The latest bookclub books are, in the contemporary group, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann and, in the crime fiction group, The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Excellent! If you want to join a bookclud let us know and we'll probably let you.........Ok Ok we will definitely let you.


Now we know what is happening because.............. why?

We are on facebook as Smiths Alternativebookshop - become a friend!

The latest bookclub books are, in the contemporary group, Solar by Ian McEwan and, in the crime fiction group, Raffles: Master Cracksman. These are two very cool and smart and witty groups of people - it is fascinating to listen to them discuss sex and affairs and crime and murders and feelings and things like that - it is like a tea room in the public service only better!

Also we have a great range of indigenous books and we are now a pick up point for The Big Issue - we don't sell it but the people who do sell it pick up their copies from us - pretty cool!

Check out our links by CLICKING HERE

3 March 2010 Do not ever think that modern fiction sucks (some people think that!! Probably the same people that think "today's young people are hopeless"). Anyhoo try: The Pregnant Widow by Matin Amis Summer 1970 - a long & hot summer with lots of sex, experiments, talking, messy experiments - this is a comedy (it is!) about people in the age of the sexual revolution - which was very very funny! Plenty of "this book is highly recommended" from those that know.

Lovesong by Alex Miller that good that it is the first book in our bookclubs reading list, there is no need to say more than that.

2666 by Robert Bolano The novel is divided in five "parts", four and a half of which were finished before Bolaño's death. Focused on the unsolved and still ongoing serial murders of Ciudad Juárez (Santa Teresa in the novel), the apocalyptic 2666 depicts the horror of the 20th century through a wide cast of characters, including the secretive, Pynchon-like German writer Archimboldi - whom four literary critics are engaged on a quest to find (who could it be now).

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters This is the second book in our bookclub - In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, its owners - mother, son and daughter - struggling to keep pace. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Well is it???? This isn't a rhetorical question you know, but, sorry, you'll have to read the book to find out....

17 Feb 2010 We have just received some Indigenous books (being a bookshop this makes some sense) and they are excellent, including a new release of Grog Wars which is the first book by Alexis Wright - she of Carpentaria fame - and is a non fiction account of an aboriginal community fighting for it's right not to drink!

21 Jan 2010 Who likes Irish tucker?? Who think that Irish food is basically potatoes and bread and .... lamb and....well that's about it. Well you (like me) are WRONG. This book (The Country Cooking of Ireland ) has all the Irish food and it is fantastic - OK some of it might be nouveau Irish cuisine but it is still good - things like Marinated Venison Loin or Crubeen Tortellini with Almond Butter or even Dublin Coddle and good old fashioned Ulster Fry! sláinte & Éirinn go Brách & Póg mo thóin!

13 Jan 2010 Baby it's hot in here because our air conditioner has BROKEN DOWN AAARRRRGGGHHHH (It will be fixed by Friday). But that's Ok because lots of novels and books are about hot things and sweaty difficult situations. Although our books on Antartica have all melted, the gardening section looks a bit sad (except for the books on sustainable gardening), the books in the environment section look very concerned, the books in the politics area are all fighting among themselves and the books on global warming are all looking very smug indeed.

Also we have free samplers of the 2010 Musica Viva concert series - available with every purchase.

9 Jan 2010 Remember we have a whole heap of local Zines here. See what the emerging poets, authors, satirists and drawers are emerging with, these people are in the main unfettered. We also have some very Indi CDs by local bands and musos. Come in and see and listen and feel and then buy. What is a Zine? Huh?

7 Jan 2010 Can you pick the subliminal message hidden in the comments below?
Canberra's big shopping centres are all the same, buy books, reading is good for you, buy books, drugs are bad, buy books, smoking kills, buy books, governments often have no idea, buy books, big banks are blood sucking parasites of society, buy books, the people who work in banks are fine people it is the senior management of big banks who aren't, buy books, big retail developers aren't very nice, buy books, most people on the planet are poor, buy books, most people on the planet are nice enough, buy books, love hurts sometimes, buy books, climate change is real, buy books, woman and men are different, buy books, kids are our future, buy books, rap music is awful, buy books, vegetarians are not weird, buy books, it doesn't matter what is causing climate change what matters is what we are doing about it, buy books, Gay and Lesbian people are not always obvious, buy books, racism exists in every society, buy books, glass is often fragile, buy books, coffee is good for you unless you drink a lot of it, buy books, chocolate is the way to a woman's heart, buy books, sex sells, buy books, the Canberra Roller Derby is awesome, buy books, Antarctica is very cold, buy books, smiths alternative bookshop is also awesome, buy books, people from Belconnen look down their noses on people from Tuggeranong, buy books, people from central Canberra and Weston Creek don't care about Belconnen or Tuggeranong, buy books, Queanbeyan should be visited at least once a year, buy books, Pauline Hanson wasn't that clever but struck a chord with other not clever people, buy books, folk music will always have a place, buy books, James Joyce is awesome but cannot be understood by many people, buy books, Shakespeare was very impressive, buy books, Tim Winton is very, very Australian, buy books, never trust big business, buy books, most people don't like the Australian Taxation Office but it is actually pretty good, buy books, the Chairman of the ACCC has no idea about small business, buy books, a well rounded community has lots of independent shops and cafes, buy books, an interesting community has strip shopping, buy books, Canberra is not designed that well, buy books, Koalas are cute but only to look at, buy books, toy poodle crosses make excellent pets, buy books, the Wig and Pen pub is the place to drink beer, buy books, getting really old sucks, buy books, teenagers can be hard work but very interesting, buy books, possessive parents are asking for trouble, buy books, glandular fever is awful and should be avoided, buy books, Buddhism sells very well, buy books, books about conservative politicians do not sell well, buy books, books about kites make people happy, buy books, bread and cheese with a green salad makes a nice meal, buy books, a meat pie at a footy game is pretty good, buy books, life has ups and downs, buy books, enjoy the ups, buy books, manage the downs, buy books, watch out for too much chemicals in your food, buy books, if you buy books from the internet then society will fail, buy books, broccolini is better than broccoli, buy books, Australia has excellent food and restaurants, buy books, George Bush was an idiot, buy books, Winston Churchill had a full life, buy books, Leonard Cohen is the greatest poet ever, buy books, poetry is making a comeback, buy books, tree houses are cool, buy books, hairdressing salons are nice places to be, buy books, good friends care about your well being, buy books, fathers are also important, buy books, violence is bad, buy books, a yo-yo fad hasn't been seen in many years, buy books, fast food, to be honest, is not that healthy, buy books, at a piece of fruit every day, buy books, mangoes are excellent fruit, buy books, a good movie is worth seeing, buy books, special effects can be awesome, buy books,

Think about it and buy books..................OK!

29 December - what will sell in 2010? We haven't got a clue but we reckon it might be that book being written by that woman about that stuff. Or it could be:

The First Rule by Robert Crais. Joe Pike and Elvis Cole set out on an investigation that entangles them both in a web of ancient grudges, blood ties, blackmail, vengeance, double crosses, and cut throat criminality.

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky. High school principal Susan Tate's daughter is pregnant, and now folks are wondering whether Tate is sufficiently in control to be running their school.

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, by Elizabeth
Gilbert. Gilbert's memoir is a clear-eyed celebration of love with all the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails. (nonfiction)

A Whisper to the Living by Stuart Kaminsky. Porfiry Rostnikov, the chief inspector of Russia's Office of Special Investigations, pursues a serial killer-the Bitsevsky Maniac.

MThe Unbearable Lightness of Scones: A 44 Scotland Street Novel by (of course)Alexander McCall Smith. The witty and utterly delightful follow-up to the national bestseller, The World According to Bertie.

A Fair Maiden Joyce Carol Oates, Sixteen-year-old Katya is spending the summer working as a nanny in a wealthy Jersey Shore community when she meets Marcus Kidder and a bizarre romance ensues.
Preston, Douglas. Impact. Former CIA operative Wyman Ford returns in this thriller involving radioactive gemstones, a meteorite, and murder.

Doors Open by Ian Rankin. Three art-loving friends-a retired software mogul, a bored banker, and an art professor-aim to liberate several paintings from the National Gallery.

Noah's Compass Anne Tyler. One man's search for wholeness and redemption as he picks up the shards of a life shattered by the crashing waves of aging.

February
Secret Whispers - V. C. Andrews. The second and final book in the Heavenstone series.

Secrets of Eden: A Novel - Chris Bohjalian, . . Alice gets baptized and goes home to her husband, who kills her and then himself-but is her death what it seems?

On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System. Henry M. Paulson. Paulson's first-person retelling of the key decisions that had to be made with lightning speed during the perfect economic storm. (nonfiction)

Big Girl. Danielle Steel. Danielle Steel celebrates the virtues of unconventional beauty while exploring deeply resonant issues of weight, self-image, sisterhood, and family.

MARCH
Caught - Harlen Coben. A reporter who chases down sexual predators starts questioning her rush to judgement after a child advocate she helps get arrested later disappears, evidently victimized by vigilantes.

The Silent Sea: A Novel of the Oregon Files - Clive Cussler. On the lookout for a crashed satellite, Juan Cabrillo finds something shocking that leads him to another discovery made in the 1940s-and then to a Chinese curse hundreds of years old.

Deception: An Alex Delaware Novel. Jonathan Kellerman. Milo Sturgis receives a DVD of a battered woman who accuses several fellow teachers at an exclusive private school of horrific sexual predation-later she is found dead.

House Rules: A Novel - Jodi Picoult. The story of a teenager with Asperger's syndrome-a smart, quirky kid with a passion for crime scene analysis-who winds up on trial for murder.





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