Whenever I visit a bookstore abroad I get really high from all the books and magazine I see, all types of books with shiny colorful covers, covering all subject serious and silly for all range of ages from childhood to 100, all types of people browsing or even sitting on the floor reading their book flavor of the day. Really get my heart exploding from joy, all I need is more time and money to browse through all of these books and share all the knowledge from reading with all people i love, what a feeling!!
Unfortunately this joy soon disappear with the realization that I came with my family for a few days vacation that soon will end, in fact my return back trip is tomorrow.
What change this joy to sadness is the fact that these experiences can not be felt again for the next year if I am lucky.
Bookstore in Riyadh are merely stationary and electronics stores, and although books cover large portion of the store, they are mostly outdated with no relevance to anyone with interest on reading.
Why do our bookstore are in this state? Is it because most of Saudis can not read English? Or because we have the tendency to hate anything cultural.
(Written 4 months ago)
What can we say ?
صبرا أل ياسر
Abdullah
12 Mar 10 at 5:15 pm
there is safari online now for you technical joy, and kindle for your general reading pleasure.
Walid Shaari
12 Mar 10 at 8:50 pm
Salam Abdullah & Walid,
Walid it isn’t the same, browsing books and reading them in real life have different pleasure.
Rayed
12 Mar 10 at 11:31 pm
I actually have the same feeling when entering a bookstore. Even Jarir, I enjoy going there and *surf* the books there, but it becomes out of date especially when it comes to some of the categories. Bookstores in some countries makes Jarir look like a mini market, but that isn’t because they are 3+ storey high, but because of the massive categories and selections.
It could be over rated, specially with the online choices now, but I still enjoy the touch of a book too.
Nino
13 Mar 10 at 3:41 pm
I really don’t know what I would do without my kindle. You should really get one. You can relive the feeling you got in the bookstore by taking your kindle with you to a starbucks, the aroma of the coffee and the book you’re reading will take you there.
Feras
9 Aug 10 at 1:23 pm
Salam Feras, the kindle isn’t support it in the country, they won’t even sell you books if you live in Saudi Arabia, of course you can lay about it but I don’t want to, and above all is the atmosphere of book covers covering hundreds of meters, not just having a specific book and reading it.
BTW, Did you return back to Riyadh?
Rayed
25 Aug 10 at 11:30 am