Saint Georges from Berlin

In the Eastern side of Berlin, close to Eberwalderstrasse and Greifswalderstrasse, at Saint Georges, I discovered two big rooms, stuffed with English books. Used books, but not second-hand. You could find there good books, 1-2-year old, at 4-5 Euro the book, but also new ones, for 10. Many many of them are dedicated to Germany's history.

The bookstore is also offering the possibility of ordering books, or if you have at minimum 15 and high-quality titles for sale, they could  visit you and offer a proper financial evaluation of your collection. A fair deal, I think.

And, of course, everybody is speaking English there.

Bookstores in Berlin: Schleichers

Just another bookstore, you might say. When I'm here - maybe every three months - I never look after English books: all I want is to have some direct immersion into the German culture and language. And I have a lot of options, with many books about politics, history, sociology and, of course, the latest titles in literature. Periodically, here are hosted various conferences and meetings with authors, and posted information about other cultural events taking place in the cultural neighborhood. And, smartly enough, Schleichersbuch is online as well, with a good and functional website.

Bookstores in Berlin: Timbooktu

As an unstoppable reader, the bookstores are almost my second home - and, by far, my favorite one, as all I have to do there is to read and look around for books. When I was running around the city sightseeing appartments, I stop for a long while at Timbooktu on Ku'damm. Every time I am in the neighborhood, I like to stop there to discover new books thinking about my special story with Berlin. You will find here various styles and kind of books - German-only, at various prices. Children are having a special dedicated section, with a playground corner and tables and chairs in the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-style. I don't think that you need anything else to love books. 

For the West, for centuries, Timbooktu was a place of the imagination, a slice of paradise. We, the book-lovers, we know how the paradise looks like... 

One week ago, I was happy to visit the place with my new camera and to make pictures there. My enthusiasm was a bit diminished - like 0.25% - by the saleswoman who asked me with a worried face if I made pictures of the shelves or? (maybe she was thinking I wanted to photograph her...) Smiling, I explained that books are my main interest, but I'm sure she wasn't convinced. Hence, I wasn't able to make as many pictures as I would like. Probably, given other recent experience, it would be wise from my part to establish a strategy of addressing people before starting to make pictures. Otherwise, I will miss many interesting shoots.