Better Books Kuwait - used books store & more

للمهتمين بالكتب الإنجليزية في الكويت

From The Grape Vine Kuwait I knew about the spoon bending seminar :} and from there I got the thread to "Better Books"! E-mailed them since I am interested in the seminar, and got the directions to it

This is from the brochure the owner gave us with the map to the place and contact, its in the block behind Al-Rashid Hospital In Salmiyah Area, if you leave it on your left and go straight to the round about, take a U-Turn from the round about, 2 rights and then a left, you will see this weirdly dotted door on your left!

I didnt ask about the banner above whether one will be put or not anytime soon :p

However, to your right you will see this big sign :>

The stairs looked weird, walls had quotes written on them and books on the floor, ADs on the tables you can see, a lot of things hanging that need attention to grasp :}

We met the owner Maxine, who was very welcoming and offered us coffee and tea, and was kind enough to talk to us about her place, in short its a small used books store, and they have a 1/2 price back to you policy similar to the Q8Books one, when you bring the book back after reading it. She also buys books, takes them for assessment and then decides to take them or not, in addition to toys, I have seen some with price tags but I forgot to ask about them. The majority is for kids books almost half of the basement "which the store is located in" is filled with children books. Her contributions to the community are amazing, she donates books to kids in hospitals, prison library and a lot more in and out of Kuwait! Makes you really happy to know that people are contributing even with the least, a culture that I wish to be spread in our community.

There are 2 private reading area which you can go and sit with your book and enjoy your tea or coffee, here the Cafe part comes in :> in addition to an open hall with chairs to hold seminars, meeting or even movie screenings

So as I took a look around, Naguib Mahfouz books caught my attention! Felt really proud to see his books translated and are still on the shelves :)

I loved the cover and the title, felt heart warming

That paper is actually a movie schedule :p the place is adorably simple! No fancy decorations, a simple down to earth atmosphere is all over

This is a close up on one of the quotes that filled the walls :} which I believe in VERY much, I agree with that anonymous. Now don't expect a full range of books about everything in this world :) its a used books place which you can own, borrow "well buy & return for half price" and sell books!

The collection is not big in terms of "categories and number of books from each, for instance politics or history" but there are classic novels available, encyclopedias, kids books, books about the Arabic culture, Health, Cooking. All of the books are in English BUT the owner told us that she has very few Arabic books and is is only interested in classics IF anyone would want to give/sell some Arabic books.

These two books caught my attention, "For one more day" since its by Mitch Albom, I like his writings the language is simple, books are small and the idea of what if you can go back in time, for one more day, caught my attention! The other book is by Tony Buzan, I knew about him from a training course I took a while ago which introduced the concept of Mind Mapping, he is the founder of it and therefore, I wanted to know what he had about the Mind in "Make most of your mind" {:

I also registered in the seminar for the spoon bending! I shall post my bent spoon, if I can bend it :p So thank you Maxine and if you like English books pay them a visit.