Job Discussion Forums

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Cheapo books available at BSPCA Thrift Shop in Busheiri Gardens - Budaiya. This is a compound opposite the WHOLESALE (!!??) RESTAURANT near Al Jazeera Supermarket on the Budaiya Highway.

I hear that another source of second-hand paperbacks is a shop attached to the RC Church in Manama.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I must go and check out that WHOLESALE restaurant. Will they supersize me do you suppose ?

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Lack of interst in books. I should have known better. Maybe if I posted about a Quiz Night or a Karaoke Night there would be some interest ?

kaw · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:13 pm Post subject:

I don't think it's a lack of interest in books - might be cause people are borrowing them fom the Brit Club ot maybe because hardly anyone looks at the Bahrain postings......Can't think why.......

Maybe we should try and get flashing lights round the forum or something.

Happy book shopping..............me, well, I think I have enough to open my own shop.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The only posters here seem to be bored posters who have strayed over the Causeway from Khobar in KSA.

And my impression is that not many books are read - even by them.

lall · Joined: 30 Dec 2006 Posts: 358

The Al Batra Bookshop on Exhibition Avenue has a collection that's not so extensive. However, the prices are reasonable. The stickers on many of the books say Al Mutanabbi Bookshop, Dubai with the prices in dirhams.

There's another one called the "The Family Bookshop" near Shifa Al-Jazeera Medical Centre (a little away from the American Mission Hospital).

Happy hunting. I picked up a book on golfing for just 500 fils.

By the way, I'm looking for a mouth organ, also known as the harmonica. I know that "mouth organ" sounds rather risque, but the term is commonly used. Does anyone know of a place where such musical instruments and the like are sold?

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Jashanmal Bookshop in Seef Mall is good but the books are at the same price as in UK. I get a lot of my supplies from Amazon and find that Amazon Germany is better than the others ! That is also for books published in UK or USA.

I have now decided that I am NOT running a lending library. If they want a book, let them go and buy one !

Neil McBeath · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Saudi Arabia

There used to be a Family Bookshop outlet in the centre of Manama that specialised in selling heavily discounted stock from the main branch. It was located in a side street that was nearly opposite the Aradous Hotel.

The last two or three times I was in Manama, it was locked, but the stock was still inside and I might just have been unfortunate in my timings.

There is also a small, Arab owned, second-hand bookshop just down the road from the main Familiy Bookshop store. It stocks a fair number of English language books, but you have to rummage around to find them.

Alsdo, at the Friday Market at Medinat Issa, there is a bookstall that is 90% Arabic, but the 10% that is in English is worth a look. The prices are absurdly low, and from time to time you can turn up an absolute treasure.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Why don't you guys use Amazon?

lall · Joined: 30 Dec 2006 Posts: 358

There's nothing like thumbing through pages, both new and dog-eared. I say this at the risk of sounding old-fashioned, but browsing for books online doesn't hold the same appeal as physical browsing does. At least for me, it doesn't.

Being physically present at a book outlet gives me the pleasure of scanning the volumes as they peek out at you, each one vying for attention, the pleasure of reading small excerpts and reviews, the pleasure of straightening out books that have been carelessly placed by a previous browser, the wonderful smell of new (and old) books, etc., among other things.

I see your point though, Stephen.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Amazon or Bookshop ?
It is like the difference between visiting a nice bar and working your way through a case of booze at home. Different experience.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

I normally don't need to browse before I choose a book (computer books are the only exception), so I view the buying experience as simply a procedure to be followed in order to have the book in my hands.

I picked up three books at Jarir a couple of days ago, but one of them, The Last Moghul, was on my Amazon wish list, and the other two, by Jason Burke and Bill Bryson I bought without reading more than the price pencilled in the inside page, as I know both authors. But then I have a very unromantic attitude towards books; once I've read them I view them as an inconvenience when it comes to moving.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The Wrinklies among us like to check that the book has LARGE TYPE. And I like to reassure myself that there are no inappropriate illustrations, graven images etc.

lall · Joined: 30 Dec 2006 Posts: 358

Neil McBeath · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Saudi Arabia

If Amazon can get me a hard back edition of the 1993 edition of Modern Arabian Studies, complete with the original dust-jacket, for one Bahraini Dinar, then I'll use them all the time.

Until then, I'll stick to browsing the bookshops.

Amazon are fine if you know exactly what you want, and are prepared to wait the delivery time. Browsing lets you find things you didn't know you wanted, or didn't even know were available, and you get the book in your hands.