Bookshops in India

steven_ber

Yeh Bill there the ones, I didn't word my last reply very well.

There are some interesting bookstalls there, I was reading old Indian comics at one stall for about an hour, walked off without buying anything, it took me a good half hour to realise why the stallowner was angry with me..

There are also loads of cloths stalls on the walk from Churchgate station.

oldhippie

I agree those guys sell great stuff. I read an article recently (Time Mag) which claimed that a lot of them were being shut down by the publishing houses as part of a crackdown on piracy.

I really enjoy the Indian comicbooks. I have a collection of stuff I have picked up over the years including some mags called Chandamama from the 80's. I also came across some second hand bookstores around Shivaji Park and Dadar with a lot of old Indian mags and comics from the late 70's - 80's in perfect condition.

I plan to buy stacks of these on my next trip and have them shipped home by surface mail.

Bill

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jonnybardo

Wow! Loads of great replies, very useful--especially the Bangalore ones as I plan on going there in a few days (am currently at the Ramana Maharshi Ashram in Tiruvannamalai).

Anyone know any good shops in Mysore?

vistet

On the net , I`ve used Vedams which have been trustworthy : normally I receive the books 7-8 days after ordering.
I`ve also been able to order titles that aren`t listed , like books from the Tibetan Works and Archives.
Most titles are in the 10-30 dollars range , which include airmail charges.
Example : Ortners Life and Death on Mount Everest, hardcover (a must read for all climbers & trekkers) :

Vedams 25 USD
Amazon 55 USD
Oxford bookstore, Darjeeling 595 Rs

wonderwomanusa

I think you said elsewhere that you are travelling with Mrs. Bardo, so she may be interested in this:

Womans Words in India:
The International Feminist Bookshop and Info Centre in India is located at: #67, 2fl, Blumoan Complex, MG Rd., Bangalore, 560011, Karnataka. It stocks books, journal and posters. It also provides space for women to meet.

jonnybardo

Okay, I've checked out some of the Bangalore bookshops. The best one seems to be Gangaram's which is the best bookstore I've seen in India so far; Higginbottom's is pretty good too. While Premier was 'interesting', it was pretty difficult to browse and almost impossible to get a book down: the books are stacked in high piles all leaning against eachother; as the Lonely Planet described it, it is like a big game of Jenga. The one used bookstore I checked out, Select, was somewhat disappointing: they didn't have much in the way of fiction and also didn't pay that well for the books I had.

SoulCurry

If you're ever in Mumbai, and looking for a good read, I'd say head for Strand on PM Road (also known as "Fort" locally). Mr Shenwi is one genial host & loves a genuine book-lover! Lotus in Bndra(West) is another fabulous place...
Many people seem to swear by Crossword & Oxford theese days, but I found their collection of books really shallow...

Watson

A nice shop in Varanasi with a large selection of both fiction and non-fiction. They have a very large selection on religion, new-age, and spiritual reading.

Address:
Pilgrims Book House
B. 27/98 A-8, Nawabganj Road, Durga Kund
Varanasi
Fon: (91-0542) 231 4059
Email: pilgrims@satyam.net.in

The place is located near the Durga temple.

vistet

My favourite in McLeod . The owner, Jampa , a man rich in knowledge and generous with it : he gave me several tips on out of print books that could be found in the library.
At the higher end of Temple Road.

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albaruni

Chennai has a few good bookstores. There's higginbothams (sp) there's Landmark, There are a few of them near the theosophical society. (most people have commented about the bangalore bookshops). Cochin has some good bookstores on MG road.

beach

At Chennai

Higginbothams near LIC junction at Mount Road is the best in Chennai. You can walkarround and pick. I think they close at 7.30 or so in the evening. So go early. They ring a bell just before closing so that people don’t get trapped between the bookshelves , in fact there are two bells the warning and the final.

Then there is the American Book center (or shop?) next to it. It is a bit over crowded with books; you can hardly get inside the shop. But they also have a good collection. If you are looking for a specific book just ask them, they’ll pull it out from a remote corner which you yourselves would have never looked at.

There is the famous secondhand bookseller near by at the same side of the road. He also has a huge collection. It’s a bloody heap with thousands of books. He literally sits on the top of it. What amused me is his memory and the way he quotes price. If you ask him for Guyton’s ‘Text Book of Medical Physiology’, he would say the one copy he had was sold last week and ask you to come by the weekend. Always he quotes the same price for the same second hand book. This place is mostly crowded with students who want to sell and buy books at the semester beginning.

Landmark near the US consulate is also a nice place. Along with books you can buy a lot of other things like music CDs, postcards, posters and the likes.

Then there are numerous pirated booksellers along the pavements. Harry Potter three volumes are available for rs350 (pre negotiated price!) and Stephen Hawking’s ‘A Brief History of Time ’ is on sale for rs25.!

At Bangalore

Sapana somewhere inside the city center is a nice place.

At Cochin

The 'Pai' at the end of the Broadway (in fact it is a narrow road!).It’s at the first floor and you have to look up to find the shop. A very narrow stairway leads up. A decent bookshop.

Then a lot of railway stations have the Higginbotham bookshops at the platform entrance. I like this bookshop because it is the perfect landmark to tell a friend “I’ll wait for you at the Higginbotham!”

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Hampi info

Jeroen

India is great for English language bookstores - every small town here has a better selection than in Eastern European 'expat cities' like Prague or Warsaw (and I wish they had Indian prices).

Mysore (since you asked in November): there's a small but decent shop near the northern exit of the big market. They have 'On a shoestring to Coorg' by Dervla Murphy - essential reading in those parts before you board the bus to Bylakuppe or Madikeri.

Delhi: if you can't find it in one of the shops around Connaught Place (like Amrit [near Wimpy's] or Bookworm), go to the lovely Khan Market in south Delhi where there are at least three good bookstores close to each other. I just found the Rough Guide China there yesterday. One of the shops has the excellent Cafe Turtle on the top floor (with a/c - nice).

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tstan

One of my neighbours, who operates a book search enterprise (Bookpost) has informed me that India has the cheapest rates in the world for sending books by post.

If you want to send books home, make sure that you do all the wrapping at the post office so that the counter staff can see that you are not sending other material. One of the hallmarks of being a highly civilised country is offering a discount for the postage of books.

If you have any space in your bulging backpack, it is a good idea to stow away a few old books that you can dispense with because in the backpacker areas around India, there are plenty of bookshops that are happy to exchange books.

Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata have the best selection of antiquarian bookshops.

aether

My favorite was Idiom in Fort Cochin. Not a huge store, but they had some nice art books and a good selection of literature books.

shere

Bookworm is well worth a visit. I called in on an afternoon at around 2:00pm and required books by 5:30pm which they did not have in stock. The cashier said he would get me the books by 5:00pm. I turned up at 4:30pm and he had all the books ready for collection.

Could have got the books cheaper in Darya Ganj but did not fancy a trip down there.