Verbatim Bookstore

28/04/2020

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-04-28-the-buying-selling-and-reading-of-books-is-an-essential-service/?utm_source=homepagify

An open letter from 328 South African published authors, academics, and readers, asking that all books be available for trade at Level 4 of Lockdown. The letter has been submitted to the National Coronavirus Command Council through the correct portal, and letters will be written, individually, to th...

19/04/2018

Kristen Brittz bought her very first book here as a girl just starting to read. She is still a frequent and loyal customer today.

19/04/2018

The Garden of Evening Mists
"On a mountain above the clouds, in the central highlands of Malaya lived the man who had been the gardener of the Emperor of Japan.”

Tan Twan Eng visits Verbatim Bookstore. We hosted a book launch of The Gift of Rain here in 2007. There is a promise of a new book before the end of this year.

30/03/2018

Never too young to enjoy story time with my dad.

30/03/2018

Four of my favourite bookshops to visit in the Western Cape. Mostly quaint and with a lot of character. You will find these in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Grabouw and Gordon's Bay.

30/03/2018

Welcome to Verbatim Bookstore, Nini Bairnsfather Cloete, author of the beautiful books Remarkable Gardens of South Africa and Remarkable Heritage Houses of South Africa.

07/01/2018

Very pleased to meet Katie Macdonald Butler, grand daughter of L.M. Montgomery, best known for her Anne of Green Gables series. Katie was pleased to see so many of her Gran's books in our shop.

10/11/2017

Book of the week - Review:
"Little Fires Everywhere is a novel that far surpasses any other that I have ever read. It is a brilliantly written novel with intricate, rich and wholly vivid characters whose lives are so fully intertwined you can't help but read on in bewildered awe of how Celeste Ng created these characters". Celeste Ng is the author of the novel Everything I Never Told You, which was a New York Times bestseller.

19/10/2017

Happy moments Hat girls in the bookshop
I keep on telling this story so now I’m going to write it. It’s a Saturday afternoon in Stellenbosch. Despite the economic downturn and all the other clap-trap we hear about, many Stellenbosch shopkeepers close their doors at 1 on a Saturday. Tourists are like rivers flowing down the quiet streets. I am one of them. But, I know there is a shop open and it is my favourite bookshop in the whole wide world, Verbatim. In Dorp Street. The owner is an excellent example of that old-fashioned, little-used word – serenity. Her name is Julie. So, I’m here to visit Julie and, while I am about it, visit the books she so astutely orders and perhaps even leave with one or two or ten.
Julie and I have been talking about everything from children to grand-children to health and books and husbands and children again and books, when two young women step into the shop and immediately there is an added value to this cosy space. The serenity is still there, the books remain upright, the dust hovers. Two exquisite faces under two unusual sunhats, like two buds opening at the same time. We remark on the hats. One is from Paarl and one is from Prince Albert where she runs a hat-making business. The Paarl lady is a generous gift-giver buying a book voucher for a secret friend, lover? They bob around touching and murmuring. The Paarl hat lady asks if there are any Laura Ingalls Wilder books on the shelves? Little House on the Prairie? Pockets of laughter while we explore the shelves. We find one and she hasn’t read it. We are doubly delighted .
We promise to visit them in Paarl and Prince Albert. They leave but their fairy dust remains. A happy moment for my memory bank.
Thank you for this, Mary-Anne, I had a lovely afternoon too.

19/10/2017

Thank you Mary-Anne, very kind of you.
Happy moments
Hat girls in the bookshop
I keep on telling this story so now I’m going to write it. It’s a Saturday afternoon in Stellenbosch. Despite the economic downturn and all the other clap-trap we hear about, many Stellenbosch shopkeepers close their doors at 1 on a Saturday. Tourists are like rivers flowing down the quiet streets. I am one of them. But, I know there is a shop open and it is my favourite bookshop in the whole wide world, Verbatim. In Dorp Street. The owner is an excellent example of that old-fashioned, little-used word – serenity. Her name is Julie. So, I’m here to visit Julie and, while I am about it, visit the books she so astutely orders and perhaps even leave with one or two or ten.
Julie and I have been talking about everything from children to grand-children to health and books and husbands and children again and books, when two young women step into the shop and immediately there is an added value to this cosy space. The serenity is still there, the books remain upright, the dust hovers. Two exquisite faces under two unusual sunhats, like two buds opening at the same time. We remark on the hats. One is from Paarl and one is from Prince Albert where she runs a hat-making business. The Paarl lady is a generous gift-giver buying a book voucher for a secret friend, lover? The Paarl hat lady asks if there are any Laura Ingalls Wilder books on the shelves? Little House on the Prairie? Pockets of laughter while we explore the shelves. We find one and she hasn’t read it. We are doubly delighted .
We promise to visit them in Paarl and Prince Albert. They leave but their fairy dust remains. A happy moment for my memory bank.

10/10/2017

The Smell of Fresh Rain
As a self-confessed pluviofile I was drawn to the title. The jacket is also beautiful and the content fascinating.

Barney Shaw reflects upon this: “Smell is more emotional and more evocative than our other senses. Not only is it more emotional, but the emotions that it stirs up are a peculiar lot.”