MEET THE BOOKSELLER: Annie Waters, Mostly Books
Every thriving reading community needs good bookshops, and good booksellers. In our Meet the Bookseller series, we introduce you to some of Australia's most loved booksellers, starting with our local community of Adelaide. If you'd like to nominate a bookshop or bookseller to be featured, please let us know in comments, or email maddy@wakefieldpress.com.au.
This week, meet Annie Waters, manager at Mostly Books in Mitcham. Read on to find out what the last book she read and loved was, and what makes Mostly Books different from other bookshops.
How long have you been a bookseller?
I started working at Mostly Books in October, 2013 – the week after my wedding, which is a convenient way to remember both anniversaries! I became the manager here in 2017 after bouncing around between several arts jobs, but always returning to the bookshop as my true love.
What do you love about being a bookseller?
I love talking to customers, hearing about what they’ve been reading and the strange and innumerous passions that people have. In a small, independent bookshop like ours, the job is varied and reactive, which some people might find frustrating but it suits the way my brain works. I’ll often start multiple jobs in the morning and not finish some of them until much later in the day but the scattershot approach keeps me on my toes (although I’m sure it drives co-workers mad). Most of all, I love being such a visible part of the community – I think bookshops fulfil more than just the stated purpose of selling books. We are here for a chat, a hug (in non-COVID times) or just a quiet space to be with your thoughts.
What was the last book you read and loved?
I’m halfway through an advance proof of a debut novel from Violet Kupersmith, Build Your House Around My Body, which is described on the blurb as for fans of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, and Haruki Murakami’s Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, so I was immediately intrigued. It’s about two girls who go missing in Vietnam 25 years apart, and the fallout of those disappearances. I’m loving it so far – the writing is lush, and imaginative, and the double mystery is unfolding beautifully.
What’s special or distinctive about your shop?
Mostly Books is a family-run business, and I genuinely think that shows, even though it’s a bit cliché. We often get the comment that people find something in here that they’ve never seen anywhere else, or that they’ve spent a long time searching for. I try to keep our stock highly diversified, and a bit unusual. Our staff and customers have a big influence on the shop – we all read differently, and have specialities which help to fill the shelves with weird, and wonderful, books. Our space is cosy, welcoming, non-judgemental, and proudly feminist.
