Availability of English books in Qatar

And if you read anything other than fiction your choice will be fairly limited...

"one book store" is slightly unfair. You'll find a selection of popular cheap paperbacks at Carrefour, Lulu Hypermarket and some of the self-styled "bookshops". There's a small reading library at Garvey's, but most of the English readers I know stock up at LHR departures and then swop amongst themselves. Doha Players had most of the old British Council selection, but of course, that was destroyed by the bomb.

Article in today's Gulf Times: "300,000 books go begging for readers".
Apparently the Qatar National Library, which contains 50,000 books written in English and is free to anyone who can get past the paperwork and joining formalities, has a declining membership. Could this be that no-one knows it is there? I've done my homework on Doha and I haven't come across a public library, and it has not been mentioned on this forum. Does anyone know where it is located?

Isn't it along the Corniche somewhere? Maybe sort of in the Post Office region....?

PS apologies to Square Peg, but I wrote that last bit too quickly and didn't realise how much I was duplicating him/her.

Did this thread come to nothing? Does it exist or not?

"When you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer...Superstition ain't the way, no no no..."
Stevie Wonder.

How do you get membership of the qatar national library? Do they allow females?

No, the Qatar National Library isn't currently by the main post office. Reason being it's under construction, and from what I understand they're experiencing delays. I believe they're having the same issues as the other ubiquitous construction projects here--running out of cement, permits, etc.

Mr Niceguy's directions are good-- check out a map and you'll see what he's talking about.

Here is an alternative: how about the Education City libraries? Georgetown, I know, offers public membership. They have a nice collection, guys. I just read John Grisham's newest courtesy of them.

There's 38,000 books, and they are buying at a furious pace. Their most-used vendor, for instance, they receive anywhere from 3-400 books a week. This is very large-scale acquisitions...

You pay a 50 riyal deposit and can check out 6 items at a time, for 2 weeks tops. No audio/visual stuff, or course reserves. No ILL services available. They buy magazines that people want to read. You may sit and read. http://library.georg...

I don't know about the other schools... well, I do kind of. Cornell doesn't offer public membership. But TAMU-Q, Carnegie Mellon, and VCU-Q... I don't know about their public borrowing policies. You'd have to ask. TAMU-Q has some fiction stuff. VCU-Q and Carnegie Mellon don't really so much. Your best bet is Georgetown.

Well, sometimes you'll find a newer book at Carrefour. However, their prices are purchase-prohibitive. They had that Bernard Lewis book "The Middle East", which I wanted to read. I picked it up to learn that their price tag said 140 riyal, or something. You could order from the States via Amazon, pay the shipping, and still have dinner money left. So, unfortunately, they're a little proud of their stock IMHO. You just have to watch prices here, otherwise you can really get quite a few items. Otherwise there's always amazon.com, or amazon.co.uk.

but no library is open to general public. That is really sad for a country that wants to be a hub of education. I wanted to get some books from a library in education city and they said you have to be a student or faculty at the EC to borrow.
So now I download books from the internet. it is easier and and doesnt cost a dime.

I was just about to say that the Virgin megastore at Villagio has an awesome selection of books, and also the gift shop in the Sheraton, but they might be a bit pricey.

Do Qatar book shops sell romance novels?

I think I saw people saying, like you have, that "So now I download books from the internet. it is easier and and doesnt cost a dime"

How does that work? I mean .. do you actually print the entire book off the internet?

Forgive my ignorance, here, but I've no idea how that works and I remember someone PMing me to ask if I'd download the latest Harry Potter for him/her and read it to see if anything was left out!?*&%?

You're very welcome, Knox, and happy reading :)_______________________________________________________
Love is the answer...

I'm not a member of EC, and would like to know if you wouldn't mind recommending the website where you download books.   I'm working on my thesis and need more reference material.  

I'm sorry we haven't been there but we heard about that it exist. we now have the Virgin bookstore here at Villaggio and they have good selection of books and we also have Jarir Bookstore otherwise, my hubby buy his books through Amazon. Have a nice day!

http://www.gulf-time...

The Gulf Times link said its going to be ready in 08?

-*-*-*-
--Rosa sat so Martin could walk, so Obama could run, so our children can fly

Actually, there are Jarir BookStore and Abu Kharbal Bookshop, Virgin at Villagio, Family bookshop, and we have Qatar University Library as well as George Town University. eeeeeemm may be there is a library in Qatar Foundation "Acadimic Bridge", but regarding the universities, I'm not sure if they do have borrowing system for non students.

Guys, there are TWO Virgin bookstores here now as well as Jarir, and anyone can become a member of the Georgetown library at Education City. I know several people in Qatar who recommend Qatar National Library (I haven't been there but eveyrone i've spoken to about it likes it)....

The other is in the Land Mark =)

then, contact me....