Where to find 20,000 books in Wynnum

Apart from the library that is. Gigglefit Grammar in Bay Terrace is where. Owner Darren McGreevy (pictured below left, before COVID restrictions eased), who took over the original Bayside Books which was run by many years by David Ross until he passed away, reckons there are 20,000 books in the shop. The second hand bookshop stills operates a book exchange but only for fiction titles, especially crime novels.

If you browse the shelves you’ll see an immense range of all sorts of different books, ranging from the oldest book there – a book published in 1859 about engineering A class battleships, if that’s your thang – through to the latest crime thrillers. There are also some unusual and rare books in stock – for example a 1902 copy of a Scottish magazine compilation called Pearson’s and a 1950 Reader’s Digest in Braille.

In addition to the books, Darren also stocks around 400 vinyl records – something that’s pretty in demand right now. And if you’re into ancient Rome, Darren also has a bound set of the classic History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (originally published in 1776), which, if you’d like to buy it, will set you back several hundred dollars.