Bookety Book Books is an incredible online book store run by Mandy Myles. We have known Mandy for years as she previously worked at our Wanaka stockist 47 Frocks. Abby and I are both avid readers so we have loved seeing Bookety Book Books go from strength to strength and we wanted to have a chat with Mandy about her new journey.

We are running a competition on our instagram at the moment to win a $100 Bookety voucher so head over there to enter!

Where do you live?

I live in Wānaka 

How and why did you start Bookety Book Books?

Once I had the idea during the first level 4 lockdown in 2020 I started madly emailing book suppliers, got my very talented friend (Megan McPhail) on board to help me with the design and put together a trusty excel spreadsheet with costs and everything that needed to be done. A couple of months later the website was live! As a very passionate reader who was struggling to find books I wished to read easily and locally, I saw the opportunity to create a curated online book shop showcasing a diverse range of authors that was easily accessible to all in NZ. I really wanted to create a community that didn't exclude by your postcode and online was the perfect space to do that. Also making sure that the shopping experience for customers was still enjoyable was really important to me, which is where the beautiful sustainable packaging and an easy to use website came into the mix.

This might be a hard one for you but if you HAD to name your top 5 books this year?

I'm going to go all fiction here because I think we could all use the escape right now and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the below:

Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

The Paper Palace by Miranda Crowley Heller

Other than reading, what do you do to relax?

Eat, sharing a good meal with friends and family is my favourite way to unwind and spend an afternoon or evening.

Your personal style is incredible and you are known for your love of colour, do certain colours make you feel certain ways and what inspires your style?

I love all of the colours, they are a big mood booster for me and always make me feel like I can tackle the day. Im most inspired by having fun with my outfits and not taking fashion too seriously. It is supposed to be about creative expression and showcasing your identity at the end of the day so rules need not apply in my opinion.

Because we are food obsessed we have to ask what your death row meal would be??

Some good wine, some charcuterie and fresh bread and butter to start, followed by pumpkin and ricotta ravioli with a burnt butter and sage sauce as a main and tiramisu to end.

When we can, where is next on your travel bucket list?

Japan most definitely. I love their literature, style and food and have been meaning to get there for far too long! But for now I travel through books.

Check out the wonderful Bookety Book Books here