Hello there! I am a recent arrival to Madrid and was an avid reader and book club member in the U.S. The temptation to buy a ton of second hand books is there, but the funds are lacking at the moment. I�m looking for other people who might like to exchange English books (fiction or otherwise) and possibly start a book club - for socializing as well as reading books. Let me know if you�re interested in either! Thanks. Kristi
Kristi
Posts: 1 | Location: Currently Madrid, Spain | Registered: 23 March 2003
Hey Kristi! That's an awesome idea! I always have TONS of English books, I'm always reading something and I'm happy to lend. When I get over there, I'm totally interested! Let me know if you need places to buy English books too, once the funds are there! Besos, Joy
Posts: 540 | Location: Madrid (but from Boston) | Registered: 16 December 2002
Count me in too, starting in September when I get there....Also, not sure if you are aware Kristi, but there is a Fabulous used bookstore with lots of English language books on C/campomanes, off of Opera. They buy books too, so you can sell them back after you read them and get different ones. There is a thread about it somewhere here.
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Posts: 82 | Location: MADRID!!! | Registered: 08 January 2003
The Bookstore is called Petra's International Bookshop. It is very cozy and Petra, the store cat is a love. However, for used books, the prices are a little high. However, you can sell them back...for less what you paid of course.
Also, if you are really in need of a good English book here and can't find it, I have had lots of luck with Amazon.co.uk. Two weeks ago I went through Jeanette Winterson withdrawal so I ordered her up on Amazon.co.uk and had my book within a week. It wasn't much more expensive than ordering from Amazon in the US.
Anyway, as for the book club, love the idea. There is one going now (well probably more than one) but the problem I see wiht it is that you have to read the book in the two weeks before the next meeting and for some reason I am always too busy to read that fast. Maybe your book club could be more like reading a few chapters for each meeting.
Great idea! Look forward to being a part of it. Candela
Posts: 998 | Location: MADRID! | Registered: 09 November 2002
BTW: There is an entire thread on the International Bookshop (Petra's) HERE .
I agree with Candela. it is a bit expensive for used books but is one of the only of its kind around. They used to have reasonable prices but the lack of competition and its increased popularity over the years has caused prices to go up, up, up
Amazon France ( link ) has books in English, although the web page is in all in French (you can kind of understand it well enough if you know spanish). I don�t know if they carry the same books as the other Amazons (US & UK) but they do have different stocks. I once needed a book right away and Amazon.uk was going to take 6-8 weeks to get it to me here in Spain, the same for Amazon USA, but Amazon.fr had a copy of it and sent it to me in a week.
Posts: 12 | Location: usa | Registered: 04 March 2002
Another possibility is the library of English language books available at different libraries here in Madrid. Right now I have heard of a few other places, but know for sure that the "British Counsil" has a library with a nice selection of books that you can check out. Maybe some of you English teachers out there who use this library or any other one with English reading material can post some of the address and contact information on this thread for everyone to take advantage of. I will eventually put a list together and have it available on my website as well. Thanks. Rocco.
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Posts: 881 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 08 November 2002
I would love to swap books with someone now! I have about a dozen english books here now, some good, some not so great. List includes the lord of the rings trilogy, some iris murdoch, a.s.byatt, patricia cornwell, vs naipaul, some decent mysteries, jonathan franzen, some non fiction and more.
If anyone�s interested let me know and tell me what you�ve got.
Posts: 18 | Location: san francisco, USA | Registered: 07 April 2002
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