I’ve always been one big book worm. Ever since my childhood I’d go through one book after the other. I guess it’s because of my love for stories and letting my imagination run wild in recreating them and the worlds they happen in.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a used book shop in Colisée Saula in Manar 2, and ever since then I’ve been hooked and actively looking for other ones like it.
I’ve come across another interesting one in Rue d’Angleterre where I bought Siddharta by Hermann Hesse, the book I’m currently reading.
It’s quite hard to come by good new English books in Tunisia, just a handful at Al Kitab bookshop, El Moez bookshop and the book fair. So it’s cool that a person can find some interesting stuff scattered around in these used book shops.
There’s also another side to used book shops that I like; the fact that all these books were read by someone else before you, taken care of and saved, and that they’re somehow being passed on to you.
It reminds me of this interesting site I found a while ago called BookCrossing. Book Crossing is the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.
I truly think used book shops are as important as libraries and new book shops as they have some books you couldn’t find elsewhere and make book prices more accesible to everyone.
I don’t know about you, but it always happens to me that while reading a used book (something I really love) I’d go imagining the reader who owned that book before me. Why they bought it? what did they learn from it, how they looked like, where they read it and all!
I just love that 🙂 and I just feel SO GREAT to get a great book for a cheap price 😉
Yeah, thoughts like that do cross my mind sometimes when I’m reading a used book.
I wonder what the reader thought of it, what they were thinking at a certain point in it, …etc.
The few places that I came across which sell used books have limited variety, mostly of romance or suspense novels… so it’s disappointing!!
I think I’ll open up my own Used Book Store one day, complete with a coffee house where you can just sit and read (since we don’t have ‘Borders’ in Jordan yet 😉 )
That’s how it in Tunisia with new English books. They’re mostly bad suspense or silly romance.
And I think your idea is a great one. If you ever get to the point you’re going to do it, let me know, I might join in as a partner 🙂
Or in the worst case scenario, I’ll be reading a lot of the books and drinking coffee for free 😛