Features

Book-Browsing Heaven

31 Aug 2008 by business traveller

From Hongkong to Singapore, London to New York, there are still a number of bookshops where the simple pleasure of turning the printed page comes alive. Our editors share their bits of paradise.

BANGKOK
Second-hand success

With big book chains in Bangkok’s luxurious supermalls battling each other for consumer attention, the concept of neighbourhood bookshop has been pushed aside. However, very few offer a comfortable atmosphere, where book lovers can sit and chat among themselves over a freshly brewed cup of coffee. So when Dasa Book Café, specialising in second-hand books, opened a few years ago along busy Sukhumvit Road in a four-storey shophouse, no one gave it much of a chance.

But the store’s cosy ambience, number of reading corners, bakery and stimulating brews quickly generated an instant following among the residents, and it has since gained a loyal following.

WHERE IS IT? It’s located along Sukhumvit Road, between Sois (lanes) 26 and 28, among other interesting stores selling antiques, lighting fixtures and art. To get there, hop onto a BTS Skytrain and get off at Phrom Phong station.

THE COLLECTION: “Dasa” comes from Pali, meaning “slave” which gives an indication of the type of individuals who frequent the place – bookworms or slaves to reading. There are almost 13,000 books, with over 90 percent in English and the rest in Russian, German, Spanish and so on. Top topics are history, travel and biographies.

THE SERVICE: Since most of the customers are foreigners living in the Sukhumvit area, as well as tourists and corporates who love buying reasonably priced books, the staff speak English well and are knowledgeable about what’s in stock. (If they’re uncertain, they only have to refer to a computer and check the database.) The two owners, American businessman Donald Gilliland, who runs other successful bookstores in the US and Cambodia, and Thai national Kaweewut Wutiwibhu are usually on hand to deal with enquiries.

CONTACT: Sukhumvit Road, between Sois 26 and 28, tel 66 2 661 2993, www.dasabookcafe.com. Open daily from 1000 to 2000.

David Johnson

HO CHI MINH CITY
Eclectic offerings

Finding quality English books and magazines can be a headache in Ho Chi Minh City, as anyone looking for a paperback to pass the time will attest. So it is little wonder that Bookazine has been a favourite with the bookish for more than a decade.

WHERE IS IT? Opened 15 years ago on Dong Khoi, Saigon’s high street, this cosy shop is like Aladdin’s Cave for book lovers. The friendly but quiet owner is a book lover and collector himself, and the eclectic collection reflects his passion and interest in all kinds of books. If you ask nicely, he will proudly show off old tomes dating back to the 1800s.

THE COLLECTION: The unobtrusive – and very green – entrance is flanked by a magazine rack on the left and postcard stands on the left. Inside, the place is piled high with all sorts of reading material, from the latest Vanity Fair and Cosmopolitan to 19th-century dictionaries and original print of Charlotte Bronte’s Villette, from the current edition of Der Spiegel and Chinese Newsweek to a scrapbook of Matisse paintings and a hardcover on rheumatic pains.

A series of Tin Tin books and old copies of National Geographic make an appearance, as do French, Chinese and Japanese novels. Newer paperbacks, ranging from Mitch Alban to Jeremy Clarkson, fill the front part of the shop while the back is chock-a-block with maps and pictorials of Vietnam. The most intriguing, however, are the old black-and-white photos of families and old Vietnam, neatly arranged on a counter top, evoking a sense of bygone days.

Books are exchanged as well as sold here, so customers can get a second-hand copy of a John Grisham for a bargain price of around VND50,000 (US$3). Rummaging around Bookazine requires patience and a keen eye, but persevere and great finds will come your way.

THE SERVICE: It’s helpful and knowledgeable, but it is also relaxed that you are able to browse as much as you want. Bookazine is that it’s a slice of old, downtown Saigon in a street increasingly being populated with shops selling generic international luxury brands. Great to see such an unpretentious place dedicated to stimulating the brain.

CONTACT: 28 Dong Khoi, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, tel 84 8 297 455. Open daily from 0800 to 2000.

Thin Lei Win

HONGKONG
Rare and relaxed

Shopping for books in Hongkong somehow just doesn’t have the excitement, or the ease, of picking up the latest Prada handbag or Gucci shoes. Yet there are gems for those bibliophiles prepared to look.

WHERE IS IT? In the old but charming neighbourhood of Sheung Wan.

THE COLLECTION: Lok Man Rare Books deals in a diverse range of rare and collectable books. Says owner Lorence Johnstone, the art-deco shop in Hongkong’s Western reaches specialises in 20th-century first editions, luxury leather bindings, children’s and illustrated books, poetry, leadership, travel and history.

Lok Man sets out to appeal to the book connoisseur as well as the specialist collector. Johnstone says: “We welcome appointments and frequently entertain business travellers who have found little time in their schedule to breathe in the atmosphere of a rare bookshop, ensconced in a leather chair, discovering something to spoil themselves or friends with, before diving back into the fantastically hectic city of Hongkong.”

THE SERVICE: Locating and purchasing individual rare books as well as advice on collections of specific areas are offered.

CONTACT: 192A Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan, tel 852 2868 1056, www.lokmanbooks.com. Open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 1000 to 1900; Saturday from 1100 to 1400.

Kenny Coyle
 

LONDON
Unexpected pleasures

Daunt Books is a genuine haven for lovers of travel and literature. The shop itself is a delight – a beautiful Edwardian building with wooden galleries, long skylights and dim corners to browse in – but the real attraction is the impressive range of books on offer.

WHERE IS IT? In a quiet neighbourhood just north of Oxford Street.

THE COLLECTION: The majority of the space is given over to sections divided by country, where the usual maps and guidebooks rub shoulders with novels, history, travelogues and much more. Thus, in the Russia section, you’ll find guides to the Trans-Siberian Railway, Anthony Beevor’s Stalingrad and the latest avant-garde novel from Pelevin, as well as a complete collection of Pushkin, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.

Similarly, “Italy” includes everything from Loeb editions of the Latin classics (with the original text and the English translation) and histories of the Roman Empire, to lavishly illustrated accounts of the Renaissance and E M Forster’s classic Edwardian novel, A Room With a View.

This unique structure takes the predictability out of book-browsing – you never know what you’ll find from one shelf to the next, but the chances are it’ll be something original and fascinating. As well as the country sections, the wooden galleries in the main part of the store house rare and second-hand travel titles, while a small area at the front has a well-chosen selection of new non-travel works (fiction and non-fiction).

Daunt also regularly hosts evening talks by famous authors – these cost £5 (US$10), start at 7pm and include a glass of wine. Recent speakers have included Monty Python star and travel writer Michael Palin and Alexander McCall Smith, author of The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency.

If you can’t make it to one of these evenings but still fancy some refreshment after all that book-shopping, there are plenty of options in the neighbourhood. Marylebone High Street is a charming enclave with a real village feel and a range of eclectic bars and restaurants – locals queue round the block for excellent wine and tapas at Providores (www.theprovidores.co.uk), but if that’s full, pop round the corner to Marylebone Lane for a quick bowl of delicious pasta at Café Caldesi (www.caldesi.com).

THE SERVICE: Bookish but charming young staff, who are both friendly and extremely well-informed.

CONTACT: 83 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4QW, tel 44 20 7224 2295, www.dauntbooks.co.uk. Open Monday to Saturday from 0900 to 1930 and Sunday from 1100 to 1800.

Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker

MANILA
Frankie’s world

While bigger Manila bookstores have recently realised the growing demand for Filipiniana titles, none can surpass the range that Solidaridad Book Shop has maintained since it was opened four decades ago by National Artist for Literature, F Sionil José.

Though this quaint little bookshop-cum-publishing house also functioned as an art gallery in the ’60s, showcasing the work of modern art pioneers such as Arturo Luz and J Elizalde Navarro, it has always been known as the best hunting ground for hard-to-find books and Filipiniana works.

“More than a bookstore, it’s an intellectual centre,” says veteran journalist and art critic Lito Zulueta. “Leading writers and intellectuals, not only in the Philippines but also in the region, have, at one time or another, visited or met at Solidaridad. In this unassuming nook – in what was once old Manila – the question of Asian identity was pondered upon and discussed long before it was fashionable to do so.”

Entering the no-nonsense display area, smelling slightly of the ages and lined with books, is very much like entering the mind of a genius, for only the most intellectual and interesting works – chosen and approved by Jose himself – are allowed to be sold. Immediately, you sense these are the books a National Artist would read.

WHERE IS IT? It’s along Padre Faura Street in the historic Ermita district, just across Robinson’s Mall.

THE COLLECTION: The best of Filipino literature, politics and philosophy await curious book browsers who, more often than not, leave the shop satisfied with their purchases. Also available are handsome coffee-table books, highlighting different heritage sites and provinces around the country as well as paying tribute to Filipino culture and tradition that proves interesting to visiting foreigners and curious locals alike.

Of course, José’s works have pride of place. The Pretenders, his international best seller, is available in different languages. Lucky visitors may even chance upon José, himself, who holds office on the second storey with his wife Tessie, where PEN (Poets and Playwrights, Essayists, and Novelists) Philippine chapter meetings are held regularly.

THE SERVICE: Don’t know what to get? Ask any of the two staff for help, but it’s not too difficult to search for yourself, as the books are neatly and alphabetically arranged by author and categorised according to topics such as philosophy, history, literature and so on. Suffice to say, this small bookstore still packs a wallop, and it has history. 

CONTACT: 531 Padre Faura, Ermita, Metro Manila, tel 63 2 523 0870. Open Monday to Saturday from 0900 to 1800, closed on Sunday.

Dexter R Matilla

NEW YORK CITY
Good neighbour

Calling Three Lives “one of the greatest bookstores on the face of the Earth”, quoting Michael Cunningham, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, wouldn’t be an understatement when trying to capture the essence of this Greenwich Village landmark. Since 19??, this 92-square-metre establishment has been enriching the souls of countless customers by providing fabulous reads that re-awaken the sense of discovery.

WHERE IS IT? It’s located in the heart of the Village, within walking distance of the A, B, C, D, E, G, Q, 1 and 9 subway trains.

THE COLLECTION: Special orders remain a significant highlight. They’re strong on literary books that might otherwise be overlooked.

THE SERVICE: It’s as if one had stopped by for an impromptu visit with a good neighbour. You don’t need to be searching for a favourite author or genre, just a hunger for books. Mention how you are feeling that day, and chances are three to seven books will be dropped onto your lap by the welcoming and knowledgeable staff, and then left alone. (Imagine that happening in one of the bigger book chains.) You are never pressured to purchase or return the books to the shelves, and more importantly, you are encouraged to take your time.

The space may be small but after spending an hour or more there, the world suddenly feels that it’s just grown bigger.

CONTACT: 154 West 10th Street, New York, NY 10014, tel 1 212 741 2069, www.threelives.com. Open Monday and Tuesday from 1200 to 2000; Wednesday to Saturday from 1100 to 2030; and Sunday from 1200 to 1900.

Sophia Romero-Schwartz

SINGAPORE
Food for thought

It’s a brilliant idea – having a bookstore specialising in books on food and cookery. Attach a restaurant-cum-bar to the place, so people who get hungry after browsing through gorgeous photos of food have a place to eat. As an additional twist, feature a recipe from one of the books regularly. In 25 degree Celsius, this has all been well executed.

WHERE IS IT? It’s located in an old shophouse in colourful Keong Saik Road, where boutique hotels, upmarket retailers and yuppie bars sit side by side (former) houses of ill-repute.

THE COLLECTION: The bookstore has about 4,000 books in total, and they are not all cookbooks either. There are reference books, general essays, books about different types of food, about wine, about baking and even books about catering. Come down in the afternoons, and you might bump into a well-known chef looking for interesting new books to add to his personal collection.

According to one of the founders, Sally Tsai, cookbook authors also make their way here. On at least two occasions, two of them popped in unexpectedly (once when the shop had just closed), and after confirming that the store was selling their book, offered to sign a few copies (shy authors are obviously a dying breed).

The store originally put all their cookbooks in the front of the store, but later realised that the real demand was for reference books and general books about food and cooking. There is no shortage of recipe books in Singapore, where food is taken seriously, and decisions about where to go for lunch sometimes results in paralysis because there is so much choice.

Step into this store and you will be struck by how long it is. It stretches almost all the way to the back. The front two-thirds of the store are devoted to books, but the place seems light and airy because the glass façade lets in light. The feeling of space is enhanced by having floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line the walls.

Once you’ve bought your books, you can walk to the back of the shophouse to have a coffee or to tuck into lunch or dinner. The restaurant seats 26 people in total. It’s not an open kitchen, but there is small porthole where I saw my duck confit sizzling on a pan. The menu is eclectic, but the food was delicious.

Each month, they offer a set meal using a recipe from one of the books sold in the store. When my wife and I were there, we saw the cook sitting at the bar and leafing through books with interest. He was obviously keen to get new ideas.

25 degree Celsius was set up by three women friends, who worked together in an events management company. United by a love for food, and armed with a can-do attitude, the trio set up a restaurant late last year even though they did not have any experience. Thanks to their brilliant concept, great execution and help from the media, the bookstore has taken off. According to Tsai, about 40 percent of sales come from books and the rest from the kitchen.

THE SERVICE: Since the bookstore/restaurant is small, the wait staff help you with your book purchases as well as serve food. What was nice was we were left alone to browse. Although the staff was friendly, we got the impression they were wait staff first before booksellers.

CONTACT: 25 Keong Saik Road, tel 65 6327 8389, www.25degreec.com. Open Monday to Thursday from 1100 to 2200 and Friday to Saturday 1100 to 2300. Closed on Sunday.

Jimmy Yap

Crescent corner

If you are looking for books in English about Islam and specifically about Sufism, there is only one place in Singapore to go to – Wardah Books. “Wardah” means rose in Arabic and in Sufi poetry, the flower is used as a symbol for the Prophet Mohammed, hence the name.

Walk into Wardah and you’ll notice that this light-filled space is airy and welcoming. A CD of traditional Moroccan music sets the mood. The left wall is a long line of shelves devoted to Sufism, arranged according to the different schools. The wall on the right carries the other books related to Islam, while the smaller central shelves carry the general titles.

WHERE IS IT? On the ground floor of a shophouse in picturesque Bussorah Street, in the heart of the old Muslim quarter. It is opposite Sultan Mosque, Singapore’s most important Muslim house of prayer.

THE COLLECTION: Wardah carries about 3,000 titles, mostly about Sufism and Sufi philosophy. However, they also sell general books about Islam (like a Dummies Guide to Islam), reference books on Islam, Muslim children’s books and, of course, copies of the Koran.

While most books are directly related to Islam, Wardah also carries books about Christianity and Buddhism. There is also a small, general interest shelf that carries books about current affairs, which reveals that the book buyer has a weakness for Noam Chomsky. CDs of traditional music from Islamic countries like Morocco, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are also on sale.

The person in charge of buying the books is Ibrahim Tahir, a full-time book editor and part-time book buyer. A grandson of Singapore’s first homegrown attorney-general, Ibrahim grew up among his grandfather’s collection of books about Islam. This was the inspiration for Wardah, which opened in 2003.

Ibrahim brings an editor’s eye into his work, and prides himself on only bringing in good books. This explains why there are so few children’s books on Islam in the store, as according to him, there are few good children’s books on Islam. By that same rationale, he would not carry the old Cambridge History of Islam because it was too Orientalist, in his view. The new one, he says, is much better.

THE SERVICE: All the books have been wrapped to protect them from the humidity but when you step in, the friendly bookseller immediately informs you that he would be happy to unwrap any book you wish.

A comfortable blue two-seater encourages customers to browse and to chat with the booksellers. The booksellers seem friendly, knowledgeable and, when we visited, were seen suggesting books to a regular customer. (According to Ibrahim, his two full-time staff used to be his customers, which explains why they are knowledgeable. The drawback to this system is that sometimes, new books don’t end up on the shelves because the buyer and the two booksellers end up buying the books for themselves.)

The bookstore has no café but fortunately, this is Bussorah Street so there is no shortage of places to sit, sip a cuppa and lose yourself in a book. Across from Wardah is a Moroccan café which serves excellent mint tea. A little further down is a place that allows you to enjoy a shisha with your book.

Wardah is a lovely place to spend a few hours in if you’re in the market for Sufism and Islam books.

CONTACT: 58 Bussorah Street, tel 65 6297 1232. Open daily from 1000 to 2200 and on public holidays (except for the two Eids) from 1000 to 1800.

Jimmy Yap

SHANGHAI
Old China hand

The Shanghai Foreign Language Bookstore is a slovenly but charming gem of a place that is a paradise for book-lovers, especially those who have an interest in all things Chinese.

WHERE IS IT? It’s in the down-at-the-heels, no-man’s land between People’s Park and the Bund. This is the neighbourhood that time forgot, which means that this sprawling six-storey bookstore hasn’t yet been replaced by precious bits of gentrification like “art space” or advertising offices or designer goods outlets. Besides offering a look at the real China, this neighbourhood is a fine spot for steamer-full of baozi (steamed dumplings) that’s so cheap it is almost free.

THE COLLECTION: Here are those hard-to-find histories of China, maps of Shanghai and other cities, China travel books and Chinese-language books, along with glossy picture books on myriad Middle Kingdom subjects, from paper cuts and wood carving, to painting and sculpture, to architecture and lifestyle.

There’s also popular Chinese fiction such as Wolf Totem and Red Dust, and paperback thrillers by Qiu Xiaolong, starring the poetry-quoting detective Chen, who trolls the mean streets of Shanghai, and always gets his man.

Sheer volume is the Shanghai Foreign Language Bookstore’s signature virtue. But the place has atmosphere as well. The haphazard stands and tables and shelves bursting with books present a welcome contrast to the cookie-cutter corporate bookstores that are so common in contemporary Asia. This place has an appealing air of careless authenticity, like the well-worn library of a careless, book-loving uncle.

It’s true that the layout can be a bit confusing. Each floor has a different proprietor, so customers are asked to pay before switching floors. And each floor has its strengths: the fourth floor, for instance, specialises in narrative non-fiction, such as trips across China or up the Yangtze, and books on doing business in China, which are so plentiful that the tables literally sag under their weight. The ground floor is where many of the China books are, while all the floors have an abundance of fiction, both modern and classical.

THE SERVICE: As this is China, sometimes the staff can help visitors, but more often, they can’t.

CONTACT: 390 Fuzhou Road, near Fujian Zhong Road, tel 86 21 6322 3200, www.sbt.com.cn. Open daily from 0930 to 1900.

Brent Hannon

SYDNEY
The right stuff

Abbey’s straddles that yawning chasm between contemporary chain bookshops, with their welcoming airiness and reader-friendly coffee shops, and those eccentrically dusty-and-fusty bolt-holes run by chain-smoking aficionados.

Airy, Abbey’s certainly is, but it doesn’t have a coffee shop. It’s seriously about books – and it’s our longstanding Sydney favourite. We can read unbothered by staff inquiring whether they can help. Nonetheless, should we need assistance, it is inevitably close at hand. We have spent hours between its rows of shelves, often enticed to unplanned exploration of some wondrous volume, inevitably leaving with an unintended but irresistible purchase. This isn’t Sydney’s highest-profile bookshop but it’s arguably the best.

WHERE IS IT? In the heart of the city, just behind a fashionable downtown mall called the Queen Victoria Building.

THE COLLECTION: Turn sharply to your right as you enter the shop, and you’ll find yourself amid a plethora of Australiana: fiction (tip: grab anything by Perth-based Tim Winton, one of the country’s leading young novelists), as well as coffee-table books about the outback. Closest to the street is the store’s extensive collection of travel guidebooks, including obscure destinations favoured by intrepid travellers.

A sign points upstairs to the Language Book Centre, Sydney’s biggest collection on books in foreign languages, including printed courses teaching a multiplicity of tongues. Want to learn Latvian from a book? Abbey’s is the place to go.

THE SERVICE: Abbey’s hires enthusiasts. They know their stuff. Many are multilingual. Ask a question and a helpful person will give advice or button-hole a colleague better versed in the subject. No robotic time-fillers are on the payroll here.

CONTACT: 131 York Street, Sydney, tel 61 2 9954 9734, www.abbeys.com.au. Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 0830 to 1900, Thursday from 0830 to 2100, Saturday from 0830 to 1800 and Sunday from 0830 to 1700.

Chris Pritchard

TAIPEI
Non-stop action

In a city of bookstores – Taipei also boasts the iconic Caves Books on Zhongshan N Road, and Asia’s biggest bookstore, Page One Books in the Taipei 101 Mall – Eslite stands out. The place, which derived its name from the 12th-century French word for “elite”, has wonderful interiors, with subtle lighting and soft woodwork everywhere, on the floors, on the shelves and in the panelled corridors.

Enticing tables groan with good reads, from colourful volumes of photography and science and philosophy to cheap and cheerful paperbacks that last no longer than a cup of coffee.

It’s big, too, with plenty of room to wander and browse.

And these folks want you to browse. Nooks and crannies abound, where the good folks of Taipei, most of them young, like to hang out and read.

Browsing is also encouraged in the magazine section, where countless thousands of magazines are displayed in a huge circular space. Near the magazine racks, with a view of Renai Circle, is a cosy coffee shop.

WHERE IS IT? Eslite opened its first store in the Da-an district, Dunhua South Road and now has 48 branches, including one kids’ store and four music stores throughout Taiwan in Keelung, Yungho, Taichung (pictured is the Chung-yo Department Store), Tainan and Kaohsiung among others.

THE COLLECTION: Selection-wise, Eslite doesn’t disappoint. It has a fine variety of English-language books, ranging from sports and cars, to language books, to cuisine, and history, along with plenty of fiction, both popular and classic. But in particular, Eslite always has those rare, hard-to-find Taiwan titles – in English – that shed light on the country’s history, culture, and politics. Some of these books are rollicking reads, filled with Formosan headhunters and wild pioneering tales, while others are sober discussions of the White Terror period, geology, history or wildlife. These books don’t last long because of limited print runs, but if they are current, Eslite has them.

Prices at Eslite are about what you’d expect – that is, not exactly cheap. But sales racks are common, and if a book is damaged, the staff will knock 10 or 15 percent off the sticker price.

Besides these virtues, Eslite has its own special claim to fame: it was Asia’s first 24-hour bookstore. What, you may ask, are people doing here at 3am? They sit, they sprawl, they thumb through magazines and they gaze at one another over the tops of their books. In late-night Taipei, Eslite is the new singles bar.

THE SERVICE: The staff will answer questions, help you find a book, and, in some cases, if you ask, even give you a better price.

CONTACT: 2/F, 245 Dunhua S Road, Section 1, Taipei, tel 886 2 2775 5979, www.eslite.com/en. Open 24/7.

Brent Hannon

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