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gpk

May 15, 2003, 9:48 AM

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Books

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If you need books in English--San Miguel de Allende may be your best choice. The library there is great. It's very expensive to buy books, and English books are somewhat rare, so check for reading material sources before you move.

Jean

May 15, 2003, 2:44 PM

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Re: [gpk] Books

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The Lake Chapala area has many "Brits" as well as Germans, Americans & Canadians.

The Lake Chapala Society also has an english library and used paperback books are sold at the market on Wednesdays in Ajijic by volunteers for Anita's Animal Shelter with the money going to support the shelter.

http://www.anitasanimals.com
Retirement Communities
http://www.retirecommunities.com

Biggles

May 16, 2003, 4:50 AM

Post #3 of 8 (973 views)

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Re: [Tuatha_de_Danann] Books

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Wonderful! Those are two things that I'm really interested in.

I'm doing a lot of investigating (reading, reading, & more reading) to get a good feel of the areas that would work for us, but it sure sounds like Chapala is a very good place to start.

Thanks!

Cheri

Jerry@Ajijic

May 16, 2003, 6:45 AM

Post #4 of 8 (963 views)

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Re: [Tuatha_de_Danann] Books

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The Lake Chapala Society has about 30,000 books in English and a seperate library building with Spanish books. LCS also has a very extensive collection of old and current movie videos for borrowing by members. In addition I think LCS has the only Library of Congress (outside of the US) talking books facility.

jennifer rose

May 17, 2003, 10:05 PM

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Re: [gpk] Books

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There are a lot of us living in outposts with no English-language library, but we aren't exactly starved for reading material. In many expat communities are very informal circles of book-lending among friends. It's sort of interesting to watch newcomers, those who brag about selling all of their books before moving down here, those who don't return books or return them in terrible shape, or those without any books stand on their heads asking to become part of the club. Yes, we can be very picky about those to whom we lend books!

My advice to anyone planning to move here or even visiting: bring those books. Those books will garner you admission to book exchanges, enhance your social life, and provide much-needed wampum.

Piece of advice #2: living where there is no local lending library or Barnes & Noble, be prepared to broaden your reading choices. You may find yourself surprised dipping into some book that you never in your wildest dreams would contemplate reading back in the Old Country.

PeggyS

May 18, 2003, 12:36 AM

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Re: [jennifer rose] Books

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M bags, Jennifer?
That's how we got three big bags of books down here safely to our APDO box at little expense.

Brian

May 18, 2003, 7:52 AM

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Re: [PeggyS] Books

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For those who like to listen to their books, Audible.com is a great solution when living in places where hard copies are not available. They have an introductory offer which includes a free mp3 player if one commits to downloading two books per month. Cost is $19.95 per month.

Carol Schmidt

May 18, 2003, 9:10 AM

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Re: [gpk] Books

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San Miguel also has several bookstores with English language books, and El Tecolote will order anything you want and have it to you in a week or two. Tecolote may not be the size of a Border's but it always has a bunch of books I want to buy!

The Biblioteca has something like 50,000 books, half in English, many of them very old, of course, but it has a sizeable paperback novel section, a New Books section, mysteries, and classics. You'll find several flourishing book clubs as well, and your used books are indeed good for trading. At every garage sale there will be a box or two of books.

The Centro art store, Lagundi, has a sizeable U.S. magazine section, heavy on art books of course, with current mystery paperbacks on display at the counter.

The weekly local English-language paper, Atencion, runs book reviews each issue, often of classics rather than new works, but you can keep up with publishing trends and reviews via the internet. You can feed your reading habit here!

Carol Schmidt