Better Read Than Dead

This beautifully appointed biblio hub in Newtown attracts a steady stream of locals from morning till night. The downstairs area houses all the latest fiction and has an excellent children's section for mini readers. Head one level up, and you'll come to cookery, gardening and other ephemera, while the third level contains some impressive artworks on loan from the Corrigan Collection. Book club meetings are hosted in store and kids can get in on the action too, with meetings for ages 7-12 as well as young adults. For adults, our top pick is the ‘Bad Women Book Club’, which explores the ‘difficult’ women of literature.