Who We Are

We are a family owned independent bookshop which aims to offer excellent customer service. Our knowledgeable staff are here to help you.

Tim's Bookshop offers a wide range of books to suit all interests. We are happy to special order titles, offer free gift wrapping and sell gift vouchers. Children's books are a specialty. Our staff are happy to make recommendations to suit a wide variety of reading tastes.  
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Meet the Staff!

TIM
Book Buyer and Co-owner at Tim’s Bookshops in Kew and Canterbury. I am a huge book enthusiast, mainly of crime fiction at present. I am also the singer and guitarist for the pop/rock band The Hard Covers.
Favourite Childhood Book: 
This would be either Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson or Green Smoke by Rosemary Manning.
Favourite Book of the Past Year: 
The Defender by GX Todd was a smart dystopian thriller I couldn't put down. I'm really looking forward to the sequel. Boy, it was a great read!! 
Must Buy Author: 
Still Donna Leon for her Venetian crime stories and Fred Vargas for her bizarre French police procedurals.
Favourite Character: 
Ove from ‘A Man Called Ove’, Kate Shugak from Dana Stabenowski’s Alaskan crime books, Commissaire Adamsberg from Fred Vargas or Guido Brunetti from Donna Leon. Some of these people have been with me for over twenty years.

LYNN
I am a Co-owner of Tim's Bookshops and Tim's better half. I'm a literary fiction reader, eco-warrior and lover of nature photography. When I'm not working I prefer to be at the beach or kayaking.
Favourite Childhood Book: ​
It's a toss up between The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and Prince Bertram the Bad by Arnold Lobel.
Favourite Book of the Past Year: 
Silent Invasion by Clive Hamilton
Must Buy Author:
Sebastian Faulks - Engleby
Robert Dessaix- What days are for
Sebastian Barry - A long long way
Vikram Seth - A suitable boy
Kate Richards -Madness a Memoir
Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers
Favourite Character:​
​It has to be Harry Potter. I got so much pleasure from reading the Harry Potter books to my children.

KATE
I love books, sparkling wine, my cats, more books, wombats, gardens and gardening, footy, sleep... and books.
Favourite Childhood Book: 
The Horse and His Boy by C.S Lewis (and The Secret Garden and Black Beauty because there was never going to be just one!)
Favourite Book of the Past Year: 
Anything by Fredrik Backman as I have read both of his latest books in the last few months and his wonderful characters and quirky, heartwarming Swedishness really appeal.
Must Buy Author: 
Terry Pratchett. Always. Even though he died. There might still be new ones...maybe. In a drawer somewhere. Possibly.
Favourite Character: 
Jack Reacher.

​SCOTT
​I'’ve always appreciated the power of words – perhaps this was instilled by my mother who was a kindergarten teacher. 
I’m at home in both the natural and virtual world. I’ve travelled a lot and am a keen bird observer (note the polarity with Kate’s favourite creature).
Favourite Childhood Book:
Dr. Seuss and his stablemates featured heavily in my upbringing and later I really liked the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ series of books. 
Favourite Book of the Past Year: 
Being a child of the eighties I got a lot out of ‘Ready Player One’. It’s darker and significantly different than the film.
Must Buy Author:
I’m going to delve back here and say Jack Vance, particularly his ‘Tales of the Dying Earth’. George Martin cites him as a pivotal influence and I can see why. As Vance can be harder to come by these days my fallback for pure imagination and ‘what if’ premisses is Philip K. Dick.

CATHERINE
​Tim's was my local bookshop as a kid. I was very lucky to get a Christmas job here 12 years ago, and I never really left!
Favourite Childhood Book:
The Journey Home by Alison Lester (and Greetings from Sandy Beach by Bob Graham, and the Floramunde books by Pamela Freeman)
Favourite Book of the Past Year:
I loved the first book in the Nevermoor series, The Trials of Morrigan Crow. It's going to be a great new series for Harry Potter fans! 
Must Buy Author:
John Flanagan, definitely. Also Melina Marchetta, Melissa Keil, Ellie Marney, Rainbow Rowell, Kiera Cass, Tamora Pierce, Cynthia Hand, Sarah J. Maas, Maria V. Snyder, Fiona Wood... (yes, my bookshelves are overflowing)
Favourite Character:
George Cooper, the King of Thieves in Tamora Pierce's books. Or possibly Magnus Bane.

ALEX
While not working at Tim's I am a Science undergrad at Monash as well as an avid musical theatre memoriser, mediocre volleyball player, light camping enthusiast and tabletop gaming lover.
Favourite Childhood Book: 
My favourite book when I was a child was The Giving Tree (no thanks to Silverstein's portrait on the rear cover...), but I've also always had a great love for John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series once I was old enough to read it.
Favourite Book of the Past Year:
The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks, the fourth book in the Lightbringer series. An excellent and much-awaited continuation of the story, it did great justice to the series while opening up whole new and unexpected plot threads for the rest of the series.
Must Buy Author:  
Garth Nix is my favourite author for kids (mostly for the Abhorsen series, though the Keys series is also good), but Matthew Reilly has to be my #1 all time author!
Favourite Character:
​My favourite male character would have to be Terry Pratchett's Moist von Lipwig, while my favourite female character is a closer contest with Garth Nix's Lirael taking the title.