When I came to Thailand in 2002, things changed a little bit. They had to. I was no longer at home and, at that time, I was still not sure what my future in Thailand would entail. This meant that collecting books could be problematic. Every one or two years I would change jobs and move closer to my workplace and thus, carrying books from one apartment building to another (not to mention from one city to another), became quite burdensome. So, the only thing left for me to do was to no longer keep the books that I’d already read, but swap them or resell them for a fraction of their original value. At first, I found it quite difficult to do this, as I still felt great attachment to my books, but as time passed by I got used to it.
Now, ten years later, I can say for sure that I’ve settled down. I do have my own library in Bangkok and most of it is full of books that I haven’t read yet, but the funny thing is that, with the exception of books in my field of interest/study, I no longer feel the need to keep the books that I’ve already read.
So, the only thing was left for me to do was to give them away or swap them for other books. As the space on my bookshelves is limited, it is quite important for me to keep the shelves “clean” of books I know I won’t reread in the near future.
There are a few places in Bangkok where you can swap your books, the first one that comes to mind is Bitter Brown, a cosy café on Sukhumvit Soi 21. They have a small shelf with second-hand paperbacks.
There’s also a Bangkok BookCrossers Group which meets on the first Monday of each month at 6pm at Starbucks on Lang Suan Road. The gatherings are informal and often include discussions of English-language books. The group was inspired by the concept of BookCrossing and anyone who loves to read and share books is welcome to join them. It’s free, fun and easy.
Between Sukhumvit Soi 26 and 28, there’s Dasa Book Café, by far the best second-hand bookstore in Bangkok. Until the end of this month (June 30), all books in their stock will be discounted 10% off the regular prices. You can also order discounted books by mail (Thai Post or EMS). All you need to do is check out their current list of books on the website (under the DasaBase link), and send an e-mail with your order.
If you have books you want to swap, you will also receive the discount if you purchase additional books. The sale, however, will not include the already discounted books on the Blowout sections (on the table outside the shop and on the third floor). To make more room for the new books received in the last few weeks, Dasa Cafe had pulled several hundred older books off the shelves and added them to the Blowout section. Here, prices range from 19-79 baht for most of those books. Their excellent website also has a page dedicated to the latest books in stock.
