The first book out the bookshop door today was Talking Sideways: Stories and Conversations from Finniss Springs by Reg Dodd and Malcolm McKinnon. #bookthreads

The first book to leave our little bookshop on this mild winter’s day is … The Pearl Prize 2025: An Anthology of Queer Writing from Across Australia 🌈

The first book out the bookshop door on this sunny - yes, sunny - morning was a signed copy of … A Clear Flowing Yarra by Harry Saddler. #bookshop

Sparkly and extra crispy morning by the sea today! We’ve got a busy U3A day in the bookshop today…

What goes on in a bookshop in a coastal tourist town at the bottom of mainland Australia? I’ve had a bookseller’s diary going on substack for a little while now … and here’s the latest instalment. open.substack.com/pub/joblarne...

Icy May morning... 🥶

Easter holidays are just about upon us - but today the bookshop is so quiet … we’re open all weekend! #portfairy

Doing the catwalk! The neighbour’s cat, Martini, enjoying a stretch in the sunshine.

High tide at dusk, with dog and footprints. Port Fairy.

Attempting lift-off over at Substack with my Notes from a Smalltown Bookseller. Are we all too inundated? It’s not AI, if that helps …

Two kelpies in the windows of Blarney in support of indie campaigner for the Wannon electorate, Alex Dyson. Meanwhile, Dan and the libs are spending a fortune on trying to discredit Alex with not one but two separate pieces of junk mail today. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Good morning! It’s Sunday, there’s been a little light rain this morning, low 20s expected. First visitor in holds up a copy of Stone Town by Marg Hickey and tells me it’s a good read. I agree with him. He sits and goes through the free jigsaw library, and then leaves. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Tracy Chapman's Fast Car starts playing on the Blarney playlist and my mind now, instead of going back to the 80s, goes to Susan Hampton's (now award-winning) memoir, Anything Can Happen. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Local ceramic artist Heather Davitt dropped in some of her gorgeous handmade bird-themed (and one blue tongue lizard) ocarina whistles for us to display and sell. #diaryofasmalltownbookandartseller

Visitors from "an hour south of London" picked up local author Ganga Powell's The Wallaby in the Garden as well as Giinagay Gaagal, Hello Ocean by Melissa Greenwood. They've just been to Hall's Gap in the Grampians and they're on to the Great Ocean Road next. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

May need to start including this as boilerplate in the star footnote.

Happy caravanning visitors who are in town for a week picked up two preloved science fiction titles, and Tim Winton's Cloudstreet. And a lovely local picked up Clear by Carys Davies. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Lovely local popped in with a friend and picked up On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

A Melbourne Probus group came through - one of the group asked for our westerns (we're out and have been for years). Another picked up the children's book, Clever Crow by Chris Butterworth and illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

A lovely local who works in a support role for young ND people popped in with a young charge to spend some time out and about, in an effort to experience different environments. They hung out on the couches for a bit, and wandered through the books. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Visitors from Cohuna picked up Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. They likened our bookstore to Stonemans bookshop in Castlemaine, and I'll take that as a compliment. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Visitors from nearby Portland who have previously bought their grandchild Shivaun Plozza's Summer of Shipwrecks, today picked up Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

People who yesterday bought Matt Ottley's Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness returned to see if we had anything else by him. They were blown away with the illlustrations. I sent them to Customs House Gallery, who have exhibited Ottley's artworks. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Good morning! It’s a greyish day with a top of around 20, and a tiny drip of rain. First person in is local and here for Why Weren’t We Told by Henry Reynolds. This book is a touchstone for the First Australians U3A discussion group. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Congratulations, Fiona McFarlane! This is one of my favourites! 🥂🌟

Very excited to be launching my new book soon. Starting with this lovely festival. I’d love to see you there. We can vent our grief and outrage.

A visiting artist from new york who is now happily living in Melbourne, picked up a small pile of large pre-loved art books. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Visitors who are staying in Portland for a few days picked up a copy of a preloved Jenny Wurtz novel. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Ballarat author Robert Smith just dropped in with his latest crime fiction - set in Port Fairy - called Shark Bait! 🦈 #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Good Monday to you! It's a pretty day in town today, after yesterday's chilly one, and we've had a few couples just wandering in and out. Our first actual customer is from Sydney, they've just enjoyed the Adelaide Writers Week, and picked up Twist by Colum McCann. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

A local parent came with clues for a scavenger hunt for their teenager's birthday party ... which is, I have to say, one of the cutest things ever! #diaryofabirthdaybookseller

A lovely local who had read about it in an emailed newsletter, picked up a copy of The Buried Life by Andrea Goldsmith. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Another visitor looking for gifts selected two copies for family members of Australian Geographic Australia's Birdwatching Megaspots: The 55 Best Birdwatching Sites in Australia by Peter Rowland and Chris Farrell. #diaryofabirdlovingbookseller

Local visitors looking for gifts picked up Cherrywood by Jock Serong and Orbital by Samantha Harvey. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

A few people from the First Australians class this morning picked up Why Weren't We Told by Henry Reynolds, as well as Telling Tennant's Story: The Strange Career of the Great Australian Silence by Dean Ashenden. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

This week I had the pleasure of reading Niall William's Time of the Child - about an abandoned baby - and Lainie Anderson's The Death of Dora Black - about a former welfare worker now woman police officer solving a murder. Both were excellent. drdee-drdeethinkingoutloud.blogspot.com/2025/03/trea...

Two U3A classes in our bookshop - First Australians with the informed & passionate Ted Donelan; and Historical Fiction with equally informed & passionate Kate Donelan. Lots of interest in both classes and the first book for the year is Emily Maguire’s Rapture! #diaryofalocalbookseller

Lovely local in with their visiting family picked up The Season by Helen Garner. Guy in a bicycle helmet checked out the upcoming events board and left. Another guy in a bicycle helmet sits and reads. #diaryofasmalltownbookselller

The first of our Thursday visitors are not delivering chooks but are holidaying from Mildura and picked up three pre-loved thriller novels, including a Grisham. They purposely arrived in time to watch the Folkie tents being taken down. #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

Just met someone in the driveway as I was taking the dogs out who said she’d ordered a couple of live chooks and they said they’ll deliver them to Blarney books - she thinks now that she’s been scammed. 🤨🤯 #diaryofachookseller

Lovely visitors from Bathurst picked up a copy of Bookshop Dogs by Ruth Shaw. He was lamenting the state of pub beer these days - "there's just too many boutique beers and I can tell you now, if it's got fruit in it, it's not beer". #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

A gorgeous visitor from Ohio wanted a copy of Worldwalk by Steven Newman. We didn't happen to have it, but together we found it online and she's ordered it to be sent to her friend in Australia. #diaryofahandybookseller

Had a chat this morning with a driver of a certain electric car and they are just about to put stickers on it saying they bought it well before the shares started tanking, when they thought they were doing the right thing, and not the Right thing.

Good morning, Bluesky people. ☀️I put the A-frame up on the corner where this little beauty is parked and has been there over Folkie. Cute classic van, as yet unsold. First person into the bookshop asks for the Burn Book by Kara Swisher (out in May). #diaryofasmalltownbookseller

So after a long weekend of fun at @portfairyfolkfestival I got up after 2 hrs sleep to go stand in the dark. This is a quick initial edit of one of the shots I took at the Port Fairy Lighthouse between 2 & 5am. #astrophotography #lighthouse #milkyway

We saw this legend at the Folk Festival last night and were blown away! What a phenomenal woman is Ruthie. She's just won a Grammy for this gorgeous album - Best Contemporary Blues, and no wonder. Thank you to the fabulous Folkie! (No photos, I couldn't tear my ears away.) #diaryofafolkiebookseller

We gots a mention with Lonely Planet - huge thanks to journalist Ivy Carruth who went beyond the usual Port Fairy touchstones, and walked around the corner! It doesn't happen often. #diaryofalonelybookseller www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/bes...

Questions I fielded WHILE performances were playing to a packed audience over the weekend: “Can I talk to you about buying some art?” “Do you have a bandaid?” “Do you have a ruler or something I can measure my knitting with?” “Do you have any Japanese crime?” #diaryofafolkiebookseller