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Book Stores Antigua Guatemala

Yolkobsens recently completed a survey of bookstores with gringo-appeal in Antigua Guatemala.The following provides a list of bookstores, their locations, some info on their shelf stock,general personality and like-ability.

With some exception, las libreras we scouted out carried used books, mostly paperback andmostly English versions. Almost all of them have an over-representation of chick lit tomes (fromJennifer Weiner to Sophia Kinsella to Mary Higgins Clark and Kristin Hamel). It seems that

young traveling women trade these in with monotonous consistency and with an unquenchablethirst for more. And pretty well all of the shops visited had a large selection of paperback crimenovels, whose authors ranged from Elmore Leonard to John Grisham to James Ellroy.

The used paperbacks, which dominated the shelves in almost all of these outlets, had an averageprice of 40Q (about 50 cents US).

Heres the Yolkobsens Antigua Guatemala Used Bookstore List and Review.

http://www.jgrisham.com/http://www.jgrisham.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Higgins_Clarkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Higgins_Clarkhttp://www.jenniferweiner.com/http://www.jenniferweiner.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_bookstoreshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_bookstoreshttp://maps.google.com/maps?ll=14.5666666667,-90.7333333333&spn=0.1,0.1&q=14.5666666667,-90.7333333333%20%28Antigua%20Guatemala%29&t=hhttp://maps.google.com/maps?ll=14.5666666667,-90.7333333333&spn=0.1,0.1&q=14.5666666667,-90.7333333333%20%28Antigua%20Guatemala%29&t=h

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DYSLEXIA 1a Avenida Sur #11

Dyslexia is hands down the best gringo bookstore in Antigua Guatemala. Sure, it has a smallsection of chick lit oaters and good crime novel time-wasters. Also, theres a smattering of booksin German, Dutch and Spanish. But its centre table is the store star. Here you will find books

that the owner has bought in lots from reader/traders who have a broad range of interests. NoShopaholic or murder and mayhem titles on this wonderful table. Instead, there are MargaretAtwood, Richard Ford, John Updike, Norman Mailer and Michael Ondaatje nestled, amongJames Joyce, Herman Hesse, Emily Bronte and Jane Austin and Henry James. As well, you willfind larger hard cover books on history, sociology and an anthropology of Maya culture. Best ofall the owner truly loves books and if you are interested, will walk you through whats on theliterary table, running his hands over each volume, and telling you he wishes he had time to readthem all. As he totes up your bill, he handles each book like hes letting a delicate bird out of acage. You can also return the books when youre finished reading and then trade them in for halfprice.

NIM PO T 5a Avenida Norte #29

Way at the back of this massive monster-size emporium ofGuate chachkas, nick-nacks, curiosand fabrics, sits a fairly substantial collection of used books for sale. Along with the old-ishpaperback bestsellers, chick lit (of course), crime and thriller novels, you will find a few classicofferings peppered in between. Mrs. Y couldnt resist buying Sister Carrie by TheodoreDreiser for 32 Q (40 cents US) since Ive been meaning to read it for years. Also, for the non-fiction fans, there are modest selections re religion, self-help, travel guides, poetry and history.

RAINBOW CAFE AND BOOKSHOP 7a Avenida Sur #8

The front of this cafe-bookstore combo is very appealing because it looks like an old fashioned

bookshop with dozing-gently clerk at the counter. All is quiet here and its a great atmospherefor browsing. Id say 80 percent of their stock is in the chick lit, murder, thriller, historicalfiction niche. There are a few books in Spanish and some new guidebooks along with what lookslike some self-published work by various Spanish childrens writers and zine creators. TheRainbow also has a regular lecture series, mainly about social issues facing Central America ingeneral and Guatemala in particular. If you spend 30 Q on books, they give you a free coffee ortea. Cozy cafe to read in as well.

EL COFRE 6a Calle Poniente #26

The El Cofre is a small restaurant specializing in crepe cuisine. It has about 200 books for sale.

Surprisingly, there is a relatively large selection of French, German, Danish, Norwegian andDutch titles represented in the south wall book shelf. The English books are the usual potboilers(as mentioned in the above reviews of other stores). Whats odd about this place is some of thebooks have prices marked and others dont. When I asked the young woman who functions asbook clerk/cook/waitress why this was so she explained that all the books are $3 US, but Iinferred that you could negotiate the price down. So if you have a real yen to re-read TheMayor of Casterbridge, for example, (and, of course, who doesnt) it might take you a while to

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negotiate the price down to the competitive 50 cents that it would fetch just about everywhereelse in the used book underworld of Antigua Guatemala.

LIBRRERIA METAFORA 5a Avendida Norte #34

This is primarily a Spanish book shop with a two small shelves of used English crime, thrillerand chick lit books.

LA CASA DEL CONDE 5a Avenida Norte #4

Located on the west side of Parque Central, this bookstore has only new merchandise and theykeep a pretty pricey inventory. Their stock consists of mainly new English and Spanish fictionand non-fiction books, many of which are coffee table photo books of Guatemala. Its also oneof the only places in town that has a reasonable selection of Spanish-English dictionaries, verbprimers and general grammar books. These kinds of language books are not to be found veryoften in the second hand books shops around town, alas.