Keeping warm at Woolly Latte’s - WEMBLEY-BASED wool shop and cafe Woolly Latte’s has helped bring a little sunshine to the winter blues since it opened June 2004. Shortlisted by WA Business News for the 2005 Family Business of the Year Awards, Linda Firth and daughter Melissa are now busier than ever. They say their unique concept merges two of Western Australians’ favourite pastimes – ‘hip’ knits (Russell Crowe is a famous knitter) and drinking coffee. Woolly Latte’s offers barista-made coffee, organic food and whole collection of wools and knitting accessories to choose from. It’s also a unique spot to socialise with other knitting lovers. Woolly Latte’s is one of Perth’s best spots to start a happy, hip and warm winter. 46-48 Grantham Street, Wembley New releases - BESIDES knitting scarves and socks, winter is a great occasion to update your literature knowledge with the latest Western Australian releases. Next month, Fremantle Press will launch The Edge of the World, by Marcella Polain. The saga spans 100 years of an Armenian family fragmented by genocide, exile and emigration. The author has an Irish and Armenian background. She was born in Singapore and moved to Perth when she was two years old. More Western Australian literature can be found on Vanity Press Distributors’ website. Run by Maylands-based Dallas Roberston, the website provides a platform to WA authors mainly, often self published. Vanity press features more than 300 titles and has releases every week on average. www.vanitypress.com.au The Edge of the World, Fremantle Press, $26.95 More best books - WHEN she established Bookstop in Subiaco in 2005, Kirstin Butcher brought WA bookworms an unusual and efficient way to consume literature. Bookstop offers a small selection of reads compared to regular bookshops but they are all carefully and severely chosen by a team of 13 reviewers. With a review available for each book in store, the choice is made a lot easier and guarantees interesting conversations with customers and staffs. You might also come across Bookstop on holidays or during a business trip, as Ms Butcher is now taking the idea to a worldwide scale. She came up with a concept that would allow people to browse a Bookstop brochure from the comfort of their hotel room and dial the room service to order a book. Ms Butcher likes to say Bookstop is the first company world wide to put books ‘on the menu’ in hotels. Bookstop, 20-38 Subiaco Square, Subiaco