Reuse It Or Lose It: Read It Again, Sam – Used Books

In honor of international Earth Day, which is on April 22nd, we’ll be devoting a series of posts this week to Israeli ventures and businesses that make our consumption a little greener by reinventing used materials.  If we don’t reuse our resources we may lose them altogether, so these green heroes definitely deserve our attention and support.

For the avid readers out there, how about greening your reading?  Books are a great form of non-electric entertainment, but the paper resources and energy required to produce them are significant.  There’s an easy way around this.  Read used books and share the books that you’ve finished reading.

Used books are not only better for the environment, but the atmosphere at a used bookstore can beat your generic Steimatzky or Tsomet Sfarim hands down, any day.

In Jerusalem, legendary used bookstore and cafe Tmol Shilshom is definitely the chic-est.  With its rustic charm, pointed arabesque arches, gourmet menu, and poetry readings, who wants to go to a new bookstore anyway?  Only at Tmol Shilshom could you eat pear ravioli, listen to a reading by David Grossman, and pick up a used copy of your next read.

Tel Aviv has its charming bookstores too.  Hanasich Hakatan (The Little Prince), located at 3 Simta Plonit off of King George Street, is a hallmark of the Tel Aviv literary scene and is housed in a charming building of the 1920s.  While sitting in Hanasich Hakatan’s outdoor patio and smelling the aroma of used books mixed with coffee wafting from the windows, it’s easy to forget the noises from busy King George Street and immerse yourself in a good book.

For the younger crowd of readers, Tel Aviv’s charming Jack in the Books – located between the Carmel Market and Nachalat Binyamin – offers used children’s books in Hebrew, English, and French.  Nostalgic used toys and posters of characters such as Tin Tin, Popeye, and Snoopy can be found there as well.

If you’d rather just borrow your next book instead of buying it, though, then there are options outside of going to your local library.  For English reader’s there’s AngloBooks, which allows you to post whatever books you have around the house, check out what books other people have, and swap.  There are registered book swappers from all over the country (including Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Raanana, and Rechovot) and the selection is huge.

Any other used book tips?  Please tell us about your favorite Israeli used book experiences.

Tmol Shilshom (5 Solomon Street, Jerusalem, 02-6232758)

Hanasich Hakatan (3 Simta Plonit, Tel Aviv, 03-6299387)

Jack in the Books (8 Rambam Street, Tel Aviv, 03-5160308)

See also: Review of ‘A Crack in the Earth’ by Haim Watzman, Review of ‘Into the Wild’, Review of ‘Green Chic’ by Christie Matheson’