Secondhand bookstores

[insiket]

Hi, 3/4 yrs back I bought some books from a Chiang mai bookstore.An Irish guy owned 3 stores and provided a package and postal service.Can anybody tell me the name of this bookstore please?

[masuk]

https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl#q=gecko+books+chiang+mai

[insiket]

Thanks masuk..

[Sparkles]

George is the Irish guy.owns Back Street Books, next to Geckos main shop, and Lost Books.

Just bought some this smorning.Excellent range.You can google for locations.

[Frank James]

You must be referring to Backstreet Books and Lost Bookshop, both owned and operated by local legendary figure "Irish" George O'Brien. These are a pair of the greatest used/new bookshops to be found anywhere on Earth, and we are lucky to have them in Chiang Mai.

http://www.chiangmaiplaces.com/the-lost-bookshop-the-backstreet-shop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feGL2mR8tP4

[insiket]

Thanks sparkles and Frank.George is definitley the right guy.As I mentioned,I purchased some books from him before and he offered postage and package.I live in isaan so some good reading is a godsend.I agree you are very lucky to have such a bookstore in Chiang Mai.

[Beachwoman]

Hi

Was thinking back over the years and the used book trade in Chiangmai, decided to make a list of all the English used book stores that have come and gone in the last 20 years or so. I might have missed a few, so no losing the plot if I do.

Maybe not in exact chronological order.

1. Chiangmai Book Exchange, closed

2, The Lost Book Shop still open

3, Overlander, beer and books beer still there books gone, mad dogs

4, The Bookshop on Loi Kroh, closed

5, Gecko Books Chiang moi Kao road still open

6, Hobo Books beside Darets closed

7, Backstreetbookscm Chiang moi Kao road still open

8 Chiangmai book exchange Thae Phe Road closed German Fred

9 The Moon, near Johns place closed

10 Thae Phe gate books, gecko, closed

11 Shaman off thaephe road moved to Thae Phe gate still open

12, Loi Kroh Books English Peter Closed

13, Gecko Junior Ratchamanka road still open

14 on the road, English rob still open

15, annex gecko closed

16 Star books so I 8 closed

17, gecko books Chiang moi Road closed

18 Big Mango gecko books closed

19 Gecko books Loi Kroh 2 shops at different times both closed.

Me thinks this there might be a few more on the verge. A lot of books has passed through Chiangmai over the years.

Not an easy game I should think, if just selling no problem I would say, but when you bring buying off the punters that's when the fun starts I should think.

If anybody can think of anymore well and good.

Keep reading

[Ulysses G.]

Very thorough list. There are probably a few missing from over the years, but - other than The Irish Rover - I can't think of them

[warthogblues]

A lot of shops have closed in the three years I,ve been out of CM.There used to be a shop near the night bazaar selling books for 99 baht each,but it seems to have closed.The Gecko book shop near Tha Pae gate is much smaller than it used to be.I used to go there a lot but dropped by the other day and almost missed it.The trend now seems to be that there are fewer,but larger bookshops.Not sure if this is a good thing when you,re looking for variety and competition.

[naboo]

The competition is in digital. I have an ereader, proper one with e-ink, no backlit screen.Wonderful. I take 100 books to the beach and can buy a new one in my front room in the time it takes to write this post.

There are people who will always want a paper copy of a book, but the market is shrinking and the bookshops will slowly fade away.

[Beachwoman]

So I missed a few,

20 Irish Rover closed

21. The Bookshelf closed

22 supreme guest house German Peter moved to Chiang rai

23 The guy on Thai Phe gate, books and fish massage books gone fish still there

Might get to 30.

George Orwell worked in a second hand bookshop in London, At the corner of Pond Street and South Green Street, he lived above the shop and wrote, " Keep the Aspidistra Flying' there.

He did say " Working in a bookshop is too closely associated paranoiac customers and dead bluebottles.

Keep thinking bookwards

[Beachwoman]

Yes e books might well be the downfall of the bookstores, but I love them and all that goes with them dead bluebottles and all. Put a e book in a cupboard and one of them there kindles and leave it for 30 years, come back book no problem, kindle, well might be in hologram by then, there is room for everything.

Books don't run out.

[Frank James]

Books forever. May the booksellers who are still left continue the good fight. I have an e-reader, but nothing compares to a real book. I think the greater problem is the general trend toward general illiteracy. All of the answers in life are not to be found at a mouse click, or the swipe of a finger, as wonderful as the new technology may be.

Books, old books!

[chingmai331]

I'm no ebook fan. I believe, correct me if mistaken, but the ebook 'owner' only rents the content (the Book). He does not own it and cannot sell or give the content to anyone else. Thus one read, or one machine use only.

This correct?

[TheAppletons]

I'm no ebook fan. I believe, correct me if mistaken, but the ebook 'owner' only rents the content (the Book). He does not own it and cannot sell or give the content to anyone else. Thus one read, or one machine use only.

This correct?

Not exactly. If you buy an ebook, it's yours to keep....it doesn't expire or disappear after a set period of time. It's always on your machine and you can read it as many times as you wish. (In contrast to "renting" movies online in which the content disappears from your device after you watch the movie.)

You are correct in that you cannot transfer it to another device - but you can't do that with a paper book either. You loan the medium in which the content is presented (the paper book) to someone else to read (I suppose you could Xerox it but, really, no) and then that person returns it when finished.

Similarly, if I buy an ebook and want to loan it to you, I loan you the medium in which it's presented - my tablet.

[masuk]

You are entirely correct in regard to e-books borrowed from your local library. However, they can be kept on your e-book or in the computer as long as you like.

[Ricardo]

Chiang Mai's good range of second-hand bookstores were one reason I moved here !

ebooks don't have the same appeal for me, and never will do, until I retire to the 'Great Bookstore in the Sky', where overdue-fines are permanently waived !

One can only thank those happy few, who keep the stores going, long may they prosper, or at least run a modest profit !

[Konini]

I use my Kindle pretty much daily, but I miss the smell of books terribly.

[DavidOxon]

I confess to being an ereader... PURELY for the fact that i don't have to hold it when I'm reading in bed, and when i wake up in the middle of the night, i can read quietly without the need for a light which would disturb the others who sleep in my bedroom. I do however buy books for my daughter and am always on the lookout for suitable reading material for her in English, new or second hand.