English Language Bookstore Roundup on Asia

Thailand: 

The book scene in Thailand may not be great but it gets better all the time with over twelve Asia Books stores, well over 18 Bookazine (Distri-Thai) stores, three Kinokuniya stores, way over 100 B2S stores, and lots of used bookstores as well.  Dasa Books has opened on Sukhumvit, a good used bookstore, not far from the Elite Used Book Store, also on Sukhumvit, near Villa Market.   It may seem as if the cluttered but interesting Elite shop has been at that spot since the time of the founding of the Chakri Dynasty but it has been a bit less than that: 19 years!  A very long time for a used bookstore to survive indeed.  Dasa Books goes from strength to strength.

Chiang Mai has better used bookstores than new and more of them.  Two of the best are the Lost Bookshop on 34/3 Ratchamanka Road, and Gecko Books at 2/6 Chang Moi Kao Road.  Another excellent one is Backstreetbooks at 2/8 Chang Moi Kaw Road which has been there for several years.  They have six very large rooms of books, one of the largest selections of titles in Chiang Mai.  Tel: George O'Brien, owner, to check if they have a title: 053 874143.   For new books there is the Bookazine at the Chiang Mai Pavilion Night Bazaar, the Book Zone at 318 Tha Prha Road, and Duangkamol (DK) Chiangmai Group's store at 79/1 Kotchasarn Road.   There is also Suriwong Book Centre at 54 Sridonchai Road.

Asia Books (which bought Bookazine chain in 2007)

Branches in Bangkok: 

Sukhumvit near soi 5, Peninsula Arcade, Landmark Hotel Arcade, Thaniya, Times Square Building, World Trade Center, Central City Bangna, Seacon Square, Siam Discovery Center, Emporium Shopping Complex. And many more.

Bookazine (now owned by Asia Books in a non-cash merger deal)

Branches in Bangkok:

Patpong (CP Tower), Ploenchit (Sogo Dept. Store), Silom Complex, Silom (Dusit Thani) Siam Center, Sukhumvit (Nai Lert Bldg.), Bookazine at soi 49, Wireless Road (All Seasons Place), Bookazine Gaysorn (Gaysorn Plaza), Bookazine Samitivej (Soi 49 inside the Samitivej Hospital), Bookazine Zuillig, Zuillig House, Silom Road, Terminal 21 (and growing).

Branches outside Bangkok:

Bookazine Nichada, Samukkee Road, Nonthburi; Pattaya 1 (Royal Garden Plaza), Pattaya II (Big C), Jomtien Beach Bookstore (2 stores); Hua Hin (opposite Sofitel Hotel); Chiang Mai (Chiang Mai Pavilion Night Bazaar); Phuket (2 stores in Phuket), Samui (3 stores in Samui).   More being added all the time.

Kinokuniya head office is 10th floor, unit 10A Vanissa Building 29 Soi Chidlom, Ploenchit Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330on Soi Chitlom. 

Branches in Bangkok:

Emporium Shopping Complex, World Trade Center, Siam Paragon.  Largest bookstores in Thailand, some seats for customers to sit down and read.  Most pleasant bookstores for those who like to browse.

*******************************************

In Bangkok, many smaller independent bookstores are run by industrious individuals such as Books@ 53 (Sukhumvit soi 53) and Passport Books, 142 Pa-Athit Road, Chanasongkarm, Pranakorn, Bangkok 10200.  Nearby Khao San Road also has bookstalls such as Shaman (huge stock, a bit pricey).  There are also DK bookstores and a few other small ones in Bangkok and Pattaya. 

Dasa Book Café opened in Bangkok in June 2004. The store boasts a stock of 10,000 secondhand books, both paperback and hardcover, on two floors of a shop on Sukhumvit Road. The majority of the books are in English, but they also stock French, German, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and Russian language titles. Dasa will pay cash for used books or accept titles for trade credit. Customers can also enjoy a downstairs coffee shop which, in addition to fresh brewed coffee and tea, also sells homemade cakes and cookies. Dasa Book Cafe has also begun a book club and all are welcome to participate.  Contact them for details.  Dasa Book Café is located at 710/4 Sukhumvit Road, between Soi 26 and 28. It is about a 5-minute walk from the Emporium Shopping Center and the BTS Phrom Phong Skytrain station. They are open daily from 10 am – 9 pm. All books are kept on the store database, which can be downloaded online at: www.dasabookcafe.com

Phone:

Quite naturally Bangkok has plenty of Thai-language bookstores but there are also areas with several book shops selling both Thai and English or else English-language vendors cheek-by-jowl with Thai-language vendors.  For example, there are about 12 to 14 used book vendors selling their wares on the "B Floor" (Basement) of Fashion Island Mall on Ram Intra Road.  The easiest way to find them is to locate the main (lower) entrance to Big C.  Then, if walking out of Big C, bear left and go down the first escalator.  You will be right where they start when you get to the B Floor.  Some only sell Thai books but about half of them also have English language books and magazines ranging over a wide selection of topics, both fiction and non-fiction.  Prices are erratic but, overall, fairly reasonable.  Don Watson, a bibliophile who can often be found browsing here, found one of my out-of-print photobooks (Images of Thailand) for only US$5.  A bargain.

The Khao San Road "backpacker" area has been expanding greatly in sprawl and in up-market hotels, bars, etc.  And bookstores are now scattered about the area including Shaman Bookstore, 71 Khaosan Road (also one store in Chiang Mai), Aporia Books, 131 Tanao Road (just off Khao San), Wisard Books, S.D. Bookshop, Alleycat Books, Saraban Books, and more.  The stores and shops have new books or used books or a mixture.

Folks living in Pattaya are fortunate to have several bookstores such as DK, Soi Post Office, several used bookstores tucked away here and there, two or three Bookazine stores in Pattaya and one Bookazine store in Jomtien Beach (near the police post).  There is also now one of the B2S bookstores in the Royal Garden Plaza right in the heart of Pattaya.  B2S is a chain of nearly 180 stores which offers Thai language books but some English language books as well.  The chain is owned by Central Retail Corporation and its large flagship store (4,500 square meters) has opened at the newly refurbished Central-World complex.  You can also mail letters there at their small postal counter.

Alas, many smaller or more remote towns even with some farangs living there do not have any English-language bookstores.  So, if, for example, you live in Nakorn Phanom, what do you do?  You trade literature between one another of the small resident farang gang living nearby.  It probably gives you a healthy respect for the printed word (although not to the level of some Chinese dynasties in which they had to burn rather than throw away anything with writing on it.  They also had special containers into which anything with writing was to be placed.  Ah, to have been a writer in those days.)

The BBG meets the second Wednesday of each month, for dinner and discussion, at a restaurant of the book selector’s choosing. They also have an email list for discussion. They are also planning to attend films together as well, especially good caliber films shown at theaters like House Rama 2 theater at RCA and other choice locations. If you are interested contact their group leader Tommie at: tjrd12@excite.com

I had heard of Hornbill Books up in Nong Khai practically overlooking the Mekong and Laos but had never been there.  It is a small shop with an interesting collection of new and old books and is run by the affable Saranya Senaves.  They even had a copy of The Go Go Dancer who Stole My Viagra for sale so that shows you it is a top quality hi so shop!  They also have a computer cafe in the back room.   There are also a few stores in Chiang Rai and a quite good used bookshop in Pai called Siambooks, the largest in that town.

*****************************************************