Wise Words Bookshop

Wise Words Bookshop Wise Words is an independent bookshop at Moree in northern NSW, offering a solid range of books for all ages, book vouchers and special orders.

Since the Tudors kings and queens have used fashion to make statements about their realms and themselves. We are all fa...
12/06/2026

Since the Tudors kings and queens have used fashion to make statements about their realms and themselves. We are all familiar with Holbein’s depictions of Henry VIII, the Armada portrait of Elizabeth, Charles 11 by Lely, the Prince Regent by Lawrence and so on.

Photography changed the rules of the game - Queen Victoria is the first monarch whose face is now best known from photographs, but they were invariably posed. By the 1930s a war of styles emerged in which the then Mrs Simpson played a crucial role.

Our late Queen Elizabeth developed her own intensely regal style over many decades, helped by designers and dressers. A well chosen brooch was worth a thousand words.

The younger generation of royals is photographed more times in a minute than I have been in the whole of my life. I

Justine Picardy’s superbly researched book is a treat for the better class of royalty watchers.

Moree Bookshop

My inner cow girl is up, up an away… what a magnificent cover.Moree Bookshop
11/06/2026

My inner cow girl is up, up an away… what a magnificent cover.

Moree Bookshop

The Spectator does a good line in damming reviews; here is my own humble effort. Elsewhere, Lone Wolf has been favourab...
09/06/2026

The Spectator does a good line in damming reviews; here is my own humble effort. Elsewhere, Lone Wolf has been favourable reviewed which is why I wanted to read it.

Weymouth seems not particularly interested in wolves - it is tough when you have never met one and follow in your subject’s footsteps almost a decade after his monumental pan-European journey. Nor is he wildly concerned about agriculture either, and has little sympathy for Dolly, Ursula von der Leyden’s “apparently” favourite 30 year old pony whose fate you might have guessed and who’s death has influenced EU policy. Poor Dolly! It was the ‘apparently’ that did for me.

Weymouth has something of the lupine in himself, having appeared mysteriously on the planet in 1984, his Wikipedia entry knows no parents or education, yet his writing oozes great privilege and the relentless judging of lesser mortals.

He is pro-immigration, favours mass vaccination, and has no sympathy for the white working classes living in squalor alongside immigrants who worship strange gods, speak different languages and eat different food.

There are a few useful insights - N***s and fascists historically identified with the image of wolves and bears as powerful predators, yet want to eradicate them. You are a great deal more likely to be killed by your neighbour’s dog than by any apex predator - about two dozen a year in England at the moment.

Most humans who fall victim to wolves and bears are joggers (Little Red Riding-hood’s granny being an honourable exception). Humans and wolves co-existed in European landscape for millennia, but it was one in which people were emotionally and physically present and tended not to go out alone. It was also one where livestock wore horns and ran in herds.

Weymouth is the sort of man who probably has oat-milk in his Fair Trade coffee. Need I say more?

07/06/2026

As colour creeps back into the landscape the newly reawakened colours are neatly reflected in book covers. My only disappointment is that Henry the Eighth could have benefited form having more scary aunts.

Some popular reading for the long weekend, although most Moree people will be galloping off to somewhere, because that i...
04/06/2026

Some popular reading for the long weekend, although most Moree people will be galloping off to somewhere, because that is what they do best. You can choose all-in wrestling at the town hall on Friday, picnic races on Saturday, a golf tournament and then read through your hangover on Sunday.

London Falling, which I have not read, looks particularly interesting. It concerns the plight of a young man who fell to his death from a window in London’s docklands, how and why it happened.

Sally Wilson will help us to navigate the existential crisis of climate disruption, John of John is our book group choice for this month, and The Correspondent was an earlier choice which, mercifully, got the seal of approval.

Enjoy!

Jerry D. Moore is American, with a name like that he could be nothing else. He belongs to the best style of academic wh...
03/06/2026

Jerry D. Moore is American, with a name like that he could be nothing else. He belongs to the best style of academic who wears his learning lightly and shares it with sparking joy.

There are a few mis-steps; I don’t believe that cats predate on wombats for example (probably numbats?). But there is also a lot of wonderful by-catch, how Hannibal’s elephants were East African and travelled in bespoke vessels across the Mediterranean, and how less fortunate ones were tortured in the colosseum until the appalled crowds appealed for mercy on their behalf. Dog, cat and ibis cemeteries in Egypt contain millions of mummified remains, all sacrificial victims. Your budget mummy did not contain very much moggie at all.

Most charmingly, I have learned the story of why cats are protected in Islam, which has to do with an incident that took place on the Ark. That story also contains a whisker of ancient historical truth, demonstrating a residual memory that lasted for over ten thousand years. I’m not going to spoil the story by providing the punchline. This book is worthwhile on many levels, but that one story sets it apart.

I was weeding my personal collection, which mostly consists of re-reading, when I came across this gem that has gone str...
01/06/2026

I was weeding my personal collection, which mostly consists of re-reading, when I came across this gem that has gone straight back onto the shelf.

Many of the topics have not changed, the straits of Hormuz were an issue in the 1980’s and the smoking debate has simply been replaced almost word for word by gambling. Health and social damage is outweighed by taxation income. Period.

The Trident debate of the 80’s has become the AUKUS debate. Defence spending versus public health and income tax revenue, not to mention keen competition between different armed services for a lion’s share of the budget.

Some things have changed (for the worse) as Sir Humphrey and those of his ilk then secured tickets for Glynnborne rather than soccer or rugger games, which look better on opinion polls. If you want to hear something truly ghastly, listen to the NSW premier Chris Minns explaining that he couldn’t waste the tax paid by a nurse on funding a music festival.

The thorny issue of public service pay has now been amicably resolved by a so-called ‘revolving door’ between consultants and public not-so-servants. Consultants and contractors allow all tiers of government to pay more and avoid responsibility for their actions, Sir Humphrey would be proud. Why, for a ample was the Australian government unable to research the components of a deadly fire-fighting foam?

Long out of print, I can only suggest that you explore second hand bookshops for this one.

30/05/2026

Then everything suddenly started to grow…..

For sale: first English edition of Benito Mussolini’s autobiography. The perfect gift for a closet fascist, including a...
29/05/2026

For sale: first English edition of Benito Mussolini’s autobiography. The perfect gift for a closet fascist, including a deeply affectionate foreword by the then American ambassador to Italy. The binding does need attention, and the price is negotiable, but this a serious collector’s item. I get to read it first. Please DM or telephone for more information.

For the thinking reader who hasn’t really yet thought about Australia’s prison system, Good Boy is a worthwhile read. ...
28/05/2026

For the thinking reader who hasn’t really yet thought about Australia’s prison system, Good Boy is a worthwhile read.

It follows the story of a long-stay prisoner close to release and a dog rehabilitation programme. The dog in question is Good Boy himself; to say too much more would spoil the story.

To mollify those who won’t read it in case anything bad happens to the dog, let me assure that the dog makes past the last line.

Address

131 Balo Street
Moree, NSW
2400

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 1pm

Telephone

+61267522213

Website

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