second hand book shops in pattaya

[Norfloxacin400 87]

Does anyone know where there are any decent second hand english language book shop is in Pattaya. I spend about 4 months a year in Thailand (mainly pattaya for some reason) and need a good source of books to pass the day without breaking the bank. Also I like to bring at least 10 books back to work with me when I am not in pattaya as there is bugger all else to do in the evenings where I am. Prices at bookazine etc are just damn expensive.

 

oops, just say the thread for canterbury books. Ok any other book shops besides canterbury???

Edited August 24, 2010 by Norfloxacin400

[Bushcraft 2,572]

Don't know of any apart from Canterbury Tales, the owner has a very good selection, is a nice guy and deserves support, even if there are others.

[bigorange1 0]

i always trade in my books at canterbury tales and then you receive a credit toward a new purchase. and theremis a very good selection of paperbacks, great place and wild bars across the soi!

[The_Fat_Controller 25]

Buy a KINDLE from Amazon.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Wireless-Re...=sa_menu_kdp3w2

 

Classics are often free, and some of the latest best-sellers are less than £3.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Kindle/b/ref...;node=341689031

 

I am waiting for mine right now.

 

No dirty, dusty or snot covered pages and the books are yours forever.

[Daveuk 28]

There is another second hand bookshop on the upper floor of TOPS supermarket, Second Road. Has quite a varied selection, including a larger proportion of non-fiction than Caterbury St.

Also its suprising what you can find in the reception area of the larger hotels. Books left by guys leavig for home.

[jasonbalmer 2]

Last time I was there, there was one on Soi Diana on the right walking away from 2nd Rd.

[MM 6,562]

I have no need for any other second hand store other than Canterbury tales since Dave hasa wholly adequate selection every time I go in there. Other places exist but none I know of have the selection and turnover his place has. Canterbury Tales for me every time! I always get a nice breakfast each time I go there too! And he's a really nice guy too even though he is not much of a reader as he will admit if pressed :)

[biggles 509]

A lot of smaller bars have a "swap" service for books, which I use often. One second hand bookshop that I have used is in Soi VC, right down the end in the lane leading to the Yensabai condos. its a charity shop run by falangs for poor thais. books are 80 baht and they give 40 baht credit on your returns. A good selection of books in there and they would love any donations.

[bigdelta 46]

The bookstore on the 2nd level of Royal Garden Plaza (Beach Rd side) had apparently been going of out business for some time.Prices are drastically reduced-75%-but the chioce has dwindled accordingly.

Edited September 4, 2010 by LTGTR

[chris2004 67]

I agree Canterbury Tales is about the best in Patts but I miss a good selection of non fiction.

[samfreeland 64]

Christ you guys must have been there for awhile. The last thing id be doing is reading books in pattaya .apart from the one that tells you were all the bars are.

[bastax33 28]

There is a used bookstore on soi boakeow (sp?) also. If you return a book to them they will give you 50% of the cost toward a new book. It's before the boakeow market near the first curve.

 

http://www.pattayaphotoguide.com/?ALuRUFuqkcFDKDaA

[logan 1]

I normally stay at Canterbury Tales Cafe, reason being the rooms are a good price, the food is good, the book choice/price is 2nd to none in Pattaya and the regulars very knowledgeable about Pattaya.

There is a mix of ex-pats and holiday makers as well as a steady flow of newbies who stay there, we normally put on the right track when they are there, most days between 10am & 2pm the place is full out front and great banter and many of the local opposition cannot offer what Canterbury Tales offers.

The best thing about the books is the choice and price and Dave offers the best exchange rate in town, the A/Z of fiction is always up to date and so many non fiction, true crime ( my favourite) war, sport, travel, history, classics etc etc.

Dave will also trade books in from anywhere, someone mentioned Diana books but they went bust ages ago.

[Norfloxacin400 87]

Thanks for all the good info guys, I will check them all out. At the moment in the evenings i am going through a book every 4 or 5 days and somtimes start on a second one whil i am still reading the first one. I would read probably one every 2 weeks in Pattaya. Thats about 50 a year so can be an expensive habit.

[stevemcm 1]

I know of two in Jomtien, 1 is on Beach road Soi 2 (It used to be on Soi 3 but moved to a similar position on Soi 2) and the other on Soi Chaiyapruek.

 

On my last visit I downloaded some ebooks onto my iPod Touch via wifi. The problem with the iPod is small screen size & short (ish) battery life.

 

After some research I recently bought a Sony ebook reader off ebay and now have a huge collection of ebooks downloaded from the enternot. The Sony has a battery life of over 2 weeks and a bigger, though only monochrome, screen. I find it excellent, you need a computer to load books on to it 'cos it doesn't have wifi. BTW the sony reader software is far inferior to the free "calibre" program which you can download.

 

Many ebooks are old out of copyright classics from Project Gutenberg. Others I have got by searching for ebook torrents and downloaded using uTorrent. More than half of these titles are science fiction. There are some quite modern books to be found via torrent sites. For example I downloaded all the Terry Pratchett novels, J K Rowlings Harry Potter books & the Tom Clancy Books.

 

I shall probably never live long enough to read them all!

 

stevoh.

[MM 6,562]

Christ you guys must have been there for awhile. The last thing id be doing is reading books in pattaya .apart from the one that tells you were all the bars are.

 

You need to consider the time you are taking a shit.

 

For me, that's a book a week.

[bigdelta 46]

You need to consider the time you are taking a shit.

 

For me, that's a book a week.

Raisin Bran and/or more fruit.Fruit in fru fru drinks doesn't count!

[thaidave991 17]

Yes we have 1000's of new and mostly used books, we offer a good rate on cash or exchange for books from anywhere else, we have a vast choice on all subjects, we have most Thai related books such as Private Dancer signed by Stephen Leather & reduced books such as Money number one reduced from retail price of 450 baht to 300 and many more reduced new Thai related books as well.

Cheers Dave

[jacko 8,766]

Raisin Bran and/or more fruit.Fruit in fru fru drinks doesn't count!

Thai food?

[sinbinjack 243]

There is a good Charity book shop called Thais for life,it is just of soi 17. Travelling towards Jomtiem on second rd from the bottom end of South Pattaya rd it is the first turning on your left,go up this road until you see the Kodak shop(hard to miss as its bright Orange)turn right ,there is a family mart shop at the junction turn immediately right and then first left and the shop is on the left .They charge 80 baht for all books and allow half back as a credit when you exchange books you have bought there.They claim to have 40,000 books in many languages, but mainly english and also have DVDs for sale.I hope this is a help to you and anyone else who reads but wont pay the inflated prices some second hand bookshops in Pattaya charge.

[logan 1]

There is a good Charity book shop called Thais for life,it is just of soi 17. Travelling towards Jomtiem on second rd from the bottom end of South Pattaya rd it is the first turning on your left,go up this road until you see the Kodak shop(hard to miss as its bright Orange)turn right ,there is a family mart shop at the junction turn immediately right and then first left and the shop is on the left .They charge 80 baht for all books and allow half back as a credit when you exchange books you have bought there.They claim to have 40,000 books in many languages, but mainly english and also have DVDs for sale.I hope this is a help to you and anyone else who reads but wont pay the inflated prices some second hand bookshops in Pattaya charge.

 

I have been to this place before, very hard to find by the way and occasionally they have something I am looking for but nothing like the choice of Canterbury Tales, even tops bookshop has a better choice, as for inflated prices, last time I was in the Canterbury shop I bought Lost sybol by Dan Brown, retail 18,99 quid for 180 baht, The girl who kicked the Hornets nest by Steig Larsson retail 390baht in Asia books for 160baht & Our kind of Traitor by Jon Le Carr retail 18,99 quid for 180 baht, as well as several others by Vince Flynn & James Patterson that I had not read and all with the 50% credit refund.

[bigdelta 46]

The bookstore on the 2nd level of Royal Garden Plaza (Beach Rd side) had apparently been going of out business for some time.Prices are drastically reduced but the chioce has dwindled accordingly.

Update-the bookstore just added more books,including a ton of travel books and many more titles as of Wed afternoon.Most are 75% off.

Edited September 4, 2010 by LTGTR

[player 1]

I always go to the used book shop on the second floor of Tops, it's very convenient. Never been to Canterbury Tales Cafe, but will have to give that a try also.

[thaidave991 17]

I always go to the used book shop on the second floor of Tops, it's very convenient. Never been to Canterbury Tales Cafe, but will have to give that a try also.

 

Good stuff, we are not that far really from Tops and I am sure you will agree when you have seen our books we have a wider choice and a little cheaper, we also offer a better exchange or cash rate.

Look forward to seeing you sometime.

[sinbinjack 243]

I have been to this place before, very hard to find by the way and occasionally they have something I am looking for but nothing like the choice of Canterbury Tales, even tops bookshop has a better choice, as for inflated prices, last time I was in the Canterbury shop I bought Lost sybol by Dan Brown, retail 18,99 quid for 180 baht, The girl who kicked the Hornets nest by Steig Larsson retail 390baht in Asia books for 160baht & Our kind of Traitor by Jon Le Carr retail 18,99 quid for 180 baht, as well as several others by Vince Flynn & James Patterson that I had not read and all with the 50% credit refund.

Hi Logan,I have no doubt that you can find what you wanted in Canterbury tales ,and I am glad you think the prices are good,I don,t think the prices you quoted for second hand books are good as I almost never buy books (even second hand) but get them from my local library , so any price that is put on them is in my opinion generaly too high.When in Pattaya I generally swap a few boks in the various bars that offer a free swap service and as I read quite a lot I save myself some baht in the process.