Hello Hivers, happy Sunday to you all.
For the last few days, I had been waiting to make my entry out of competition for the Introduce Your City community contest hosted by the awesome @beeber, which theme this time is Books and your City. But Covid had prevented me from going out the last days and taking the photos I wanted for my post. Finally, yesterday, I was able to go out to do it.
I wouldn't say that Caracas is a city of readers. It is not like some other big Latin American capitals where there are big bookstores and many book fairs. It has never been. But the crisis that the country has gone through has affected the situation even more. And some of the good bookshops have closed their doors, although a few of them have managed to resist.
But let's not talk about what we had, but what we have. I am going to talk about one bookstore, in particular, that is one of my favorites when it comes to looking not only for new books but also for second-hand books.
Surely if anyone living in Caracas is reading me when they hear about second-hand books, they will think of the dozens of kiosks that are located under the bridge on Av. Fuerzas Armadas in the center of the city.
Fuerzas Armadas Av. bridge seen from Urdaneta Av., CaracasAnd if you are looking for second-hand books at low prices, you will usually go to this place where there are lots of kiosks selling used books. If you have patience, you can get good bargains on technical books, school textbooks, and literary classics.
Under Fuerzas Armadas Av. bridge , CaracasBut if what I want is to spend a few hours among books in a small but charming bookstore where you can find some gems in books, I'll opt to go to El Buscón.
It is a small bookshop located in a space with several cultural options, cinema, theatre, an art gallery and of course where you can have a coffee. The place is called Trasnocho Cultural and is located in a shopping center in the east of the city. There you will find this small bookstore.
They specialize in general literature, classics and contemporary, Venezuelan literature, books about Venezuela, art, and cinema. And they also have a good selection of children's books.
They sell both new and used books. And it's the first place I think of if I want to give a book as a gift. I can spend hours looking for a book because there is so much variety. I think the name El Buscón suits it. It should translate into something like The Searcher, referring to a person.
There are a few other little gems in the city in bookstores. Where you can go to browse, and where sometimes there are book presentations and talks, but we'll leave that for another time.
If you want to tell us about books and your city, the contest runs until today, so there are still a few hours left to participate.
Thank you for reading.