I am reading a book by John Dunning, Two O'clock Eastern Wartime. I am so into this book that I am having trouble putting it down to do what I need to do. Dunning in one of my favorite authors and I have never seen a book (in English) by this author in Brasil. It is always possible that I haven't been to the right bookstore but just as likely that it isn't to be found here. Books in English are very rare and VERY, very expensive in the bookstores in Brasil. When I moved here one of the first things I had to do was to figure out where to find books to satisfy my reading addiction. I looked for new books, I looked for used books and I asked about libraries. New are expensive and limited, there were some used but the titles were so obscure and the condition of the books so bad that the prices were laughable. Those books appeared to have been in someone's wet attic for years. The pages were crumbly, sometimes stuck together and could not to be opened to be read. I checked used books stores in Ipanema, Copacabana and the Barra. Nothing. Libraries? Pardon me what/where is a Library? Finally in desperation I searched online for a dealer in the states that would ship to Brasil and I found, http://1stchoiceusedbooks.com. They have over 20,000 titles in their warehouse. They will ship to Brasil and the quality of their used books have never disappointed me. The paperback books are priced from 99 cents to $3.00. The only problem is that to afford the shipping costs, you have to request 'land' and it takes 90 to 120 days to get here. But they do get here, and if I order a dozen or so every 90 days, I am always in supply. Want to borrow a book?Saturday, May 12, 2007
The problem of Books
I am reading a book by John Dunning, Two O'clock Eastern Wartime. I am so into this book that I am having trouble putting it down to do what I need to do. Dunning in one of my favorite authors and I have never seen a book (in English) by this author in Brasil. It is always possible that I haven't been to the right bookstore but just as likely that it isn't to be found here. Books in English are very rare and VERY, very expensive in the bookstores in Brasil. When I moved here one of the first things I had to do was to figure out where to find books to satisfy my reading addiction. I looked for new books, I looked for used books and I asked about libraries. New are expensive and limited, there were some used but the titles were so obscure and the condition of the books so bad that the prices were laughable. Those books appeared to have been in someone's wet attic for years. The pages were crumbly, sometimes stuck together and could not to be opened to be read. I checked used books stores in Ipanema, Copacabana and the Barra. Nothing. Libraries? Pardon me what/where is a Library? Finally in desperation I searched online for a dealer in the states that would ship to Brasil and I found, http://1stchoiceusedbooks.com. They have over 20,000 titles in their warehouse. They will ship to Brasil and the quality of their used books have never disappointed me. The paperback books are priced from 99 cents to $3.00. The only problem is that to afford the shipping costs, you have to request 'land' and it takes 90 to 120 days to get here. But they do get here, and if I order a dozen or so every 90 days, I am always in supply. Want to borrow a book?
Ginger - The scarcity of English language books is truly frustrating. I always laugh when I go to the "English Literature" section of a bookstore in Rio and it is filled with "airport novels"
ReplyDeleteI brought a bookcase filled with books knowing this was going to be an issue.
We could trade. I'm not boring through my titles quite a fast as you report, but I do have many books I've completed that I'd happily share. Let me know.
this is quite an old post but books are still an issue. I don't read quite as many now that I am blogging. Trading may work - ligistics may be a problem. I will email you my 'reading list' the books that I have up hear at the house.
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