Searching for that perfect book in English during your stay in Buenos Aires? The good folks over at Argentina’s Travel brings you “Buenos Aires’ Brilliant Bookstores: Finding BA’s Best English-language Book Selections.”
As a literary type I spend way too much on books. Even when I was a librarian and had access to a library of millions of books, I still spent about us$50 a week on my own books and magazines. (My book budget is now a lot lower, down to around 50 pesos a month).
The guide to English-language bookstores, written by Natalie Gourvitch, starts off with my favorite: Walrus Books, which has the best selection of English-language literary fiction in Buenos Aires.
My criteria of quality for evaluating articles about bookstores in Buenos Aires includes examining what is said about El Ateneo Grand Splendid. Yep, it’s a beautiful place but it’s actual inventory isn’t great. Natalie writes, “While El Ateneo, as is true for chain
stores like Cuspide and Distal, is great for finding popular romance/thriller novels with a spattering of Shakespeare thrown in for good measure, it lacks a large selection of classics and quality modern fiction titles.” I assume that she’s talking about the English-language books but I never been very pleased with El Ateneo’s selection of Spanish-language titles, either. I go there all the time to browse around but rarely do I buy anything there.
I’m reminded of my quest last year: Searching for Galeano in the bookstores of Buenos Aires, a odd tale in which it was actually easier to find books in English translations than in the original Spanish.
February 17th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
how are Argentine’s when it comes to reading? Unfortunately reading isn’t very popular in Puerto Rico. I love reading and I have spent loads of money on books alone.
February 17th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Hi Gricelle:
I find Buenos Aires to be a very literary city, much more than anyplace I’ve ever lived.
February 20th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Yes, but unfortunately it is also true that we must be the country where authors like Coelho and Bucay sell more than any other.
Anyway, Jeff, I want to ask you something:
I used to shop in a nice little bookstore in Av. Santa Fe called “La boutique del anticuario”, a very nice place, small but with an interesting selection of books in English and other languages, besides Spanish. About two years ago the bookstore was replaced by a clothing store (maybe because there are not enough of those along Av. Santa Fe). I really miss it. Do you have any idea whether the bookstore closed for ever or was moved somewhere else?
February 20th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Hi Ricky,
Unfortunately, I don’t know if that bookstore relocated. Too bad it’s not still there….can never be too many bookstores in the world. But, I guess some people feel the same about clothing stores!
February 21st, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Of course you know ABC library, a small hidden place on Suipacha 200 and something.
For some English and Spanish literature I would choose Miles, in Gurruchaga and Honduras.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Daniel – Thanks for the suggestion of Miles. I didn’t know about that place.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Hi Jeff, I’m happy that you liked (and linked) our bookstore guide. Finding good books in English is a problem a lot of travelers who are here for just a few months seem to have.
I also read your post on looking for Memoria del Fuego and all I can say is that you are one determined (and funny) guy. And as a bonus I learned about the Parque Rivadavia books stalls. Thanks!
March 24th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
reminds me of buying the final Harry Potter around the corner from our bs as apartment last july. a young girl asked me if i was really going to read the whole thing in english. i replied that i would, and she said, “me lo podes traducir?” well, i offered to translate the first page for her. it was enough to make her happy! on the subte people would approach me and ask what the last page said. i had to refuse to look!
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Hi! I’m from Buenos Aires, and I’m trying to find some English bookstores where I can find not only the classics but also recently (or maybe not so recently) published books. Actually, I’m trying to find a book in particular, an Oliver Sack’s book called The man who mistook his wife for a hat. I called Walrus Books, and they don’t have it. Kel, Yenny, El Ateneo, Distal, Cúspide, any of them have it. Maybe they can get it in El Ateneo, they said. But I don’t know any other English bookstores here, do you?
If I don’t get it in a bookstore I’ll have to buy it through amazon.com, and that’s going to be expensive.
Thank you!
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Hi Florencia,
That’s a great book. Unfortunate that it’s difficult to find in BsAs. Kel & Walrus were the best options. I don’t know of any other places that would have it. Sorry.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Hi Jeff,
I run a home-based, appointment-only English language bookstore in Belgrano. Its a shame i did not see Florencia’s comment before as i recently sold that book. Perhaps it will come back in an exchange, as the buyer is a regular customer.
Anyone can visit my website and contact me for an appointment.
I also stock books in spanish, french, german and others…
Thanks
April 30th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
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May 27th, 2010 at 6:38 am
Buenos Aires looks like a beautiful place, one day I would like to visit.
July 27th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
You can purchase any guide book as well as any other type of book (in print) that Amazon.com sells and have them shipped at a very reasonable cost to Buenos Aires. I am an American expat here in B.A and I do it all the time. Just go to Amazon.com and place your order using a B.A. shipping address. The only limitation is that the book be sold directly by Amazon.com and not by one of its thousands of retail ”˜partners.’
The amount you save by ordering from Amazon.com is significant. The shipping fee to Argentina is oftentimes covered by the retail discount that Amazon.com offers on most books. For example, I just ordered a book and was charged ten dollars in shipping. The total cost I paid is the about the same as what I would have paid for the book at a retail outlet in the U.S. such as Borders or Barnes and Noble.
The cheapest shipping method takes about three weeks and the Argentine government assesses no import taxes on books. Normally, the regular postal service, or whichever other shipper Amazon.com uses, will deliver your books right to your address so there is no need to go to Retiro or Ezeiza.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
@Richard: good recommendation on ordering books from Amazon. I did have a bad experience ordering from Amazon where the books never arrived here, but that was 5 years ago.
The other times I’ve ordered from Amazon I had to go to Retiro to pick up the box of books. Maybe that’s a recent change? It has been a couple of years since I’ve ordered from Amazon. It would be really swell not to trek over to the int’l postal office in Retiro to pick up a box of books. (I always bought a number of books when I ordered from Amazon.)
Also, worth noting: in Mar del Plata evidently the customs rules are different. (This being Argentina). The aduana official told us that a 50% import tax is charged on all items with a value of over $25 – even books. They had a big sign with the 50% over $25 in the waiting room. I never had to pay an import tax at Retiro when picking up Amazon orders. Not sure what’s up in Mar del Plata.
Another option for those who don’t mind their books in digital form: order via Amazon, download to a Kindle reader as long as your account is linked to a U.S.-based debit/credit card. Kindle e-books can now be read on multiple devices via the free Kindle app (iphones, desktop, netbooks). I still prefer print but am slowly accepting that much of my future reading will be on a device.
July 28th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Jeff, please excuse the length of the following post. You raised many good points in your response which I feel deserve in-depth comment.
I am sorry to learn of your negative book experiences. Perhaps the following tips may make a difference. First, regardless of how many books I want to order, I tend to order only one book at a time. I wait until I receive a shipping confirmation email from Amazon.com before ordering the next. This is usually no more than two to three days. There are a number of reasons why I split the orders up even though this does add somewhat to the overall shipping cost.
Package size seems to matter: Ordering one book at a time increases the probability that you won’t have to go to Retiro. Amazon.com often ships one book in a heavy cardboard or padded envelope as opposed to a box which they use for multiple book orders. However, Correo Argentino is far more likely to deliver to your home one book in an envelope than it will many books in a box. The times when you are forced into going to Retiro, which I occasionally also must do, should decrease significantly.
Package value seems to matter: In my experience, the less value a package has, the less chance there is that some shady bureaucrat will try to stick you up for taxes, and the more likely it is that they won’t want you to show up at Retiro for a Q&A session about whether the shipment is for commercial purpose. I really hate these encounters.
(Just the other day, I wanted to deck one official when he kept insisting that my recrafted, at the Oregon factory, very expensive Danner hiking boots were new, and that I had to pony-up if I expected to walk out the door with them. Thankfully, my Argentine bride was able to convince him that they were indeed used.)
Smaller less-value envelopes/packages are far less likely to get lost: In reality, we all know that most lost packages aren’t lost at all. They’ve been purloined. As you know, English language books here have an incredible resale value. Your package is far less likely to get pilfered by some enterprising official if it has only one book than if it has ten.
Let’s face it, no matter what we do, some packages will disappear into the unknown: It’s far better to lose one book you are waiting for than to lose many. Also, its better to have Amazon.com investigate one missing book rather than many. My experience with them has been outstanding. They almost always resend the book or issue a refund.
As for the tax issue”¦.
The tax-free status for imported books is pretty unequivocal. I provide two separate citations; the customs declaration form we all fill out every time we reenter Argentina and a statement from the AFIP website. I interpret both citations to mean that there is no set dollar limit on books as long as you can reasonably justify that they are not for commercial purpose.
“You can bring into the country without paying any duties:
Secondhand clothes and used objects.
Books, newspapers and brochures without commercial purpose.
New goods up to a limit of US$ 300.”
http://www.afip.gov.ar/genericos/formularios/archivos/pdf/f2087_g1.pdf
“Tipos de franquicias. Existen (2) dos tipos de franquicias:
Franquicia para el ingreso de otros objetos dentro del concepto de equipaje (que no son ropas, objetos de uso personal, libros, folletos y periódicos); Franquicia para la compra en tiendas libres (free shops)”
http://www.afip.gov.ar/turismo/
Unfortunately, the reality is that the law here is often at the whim, mercy, and perhaps greed of the cranky bureaucrat you get stuck dealing with. It’s possible that the officials you dealt with in Mar del Plata scammed you.
July 28th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Hi Richard,
I think you confirmed something very important that I have suspected regarding package size:
Correo Argentino will deliver books in padded envelopes directly to your home address but items that are boxed are sent to Retiro.
I had never thought about ordering just one book at a time via Amazon but your experience convinces me that it’s worth a try.