It is true that reading literature and poetry is not part of the general stereotype of technical university students. Yet, there do exist some of us who would rather seek for a nice mind-travelling book rather than spending some more time on youtube or chatting on facebook. Buying books from amazon is definitely a nice way to quench your thirst for literature fast and easy. But how about doing it the old way? How about going out in the local book stores looking for hidden treasures? Discovering a nice cheap book that you'd never heard of makes you more motivated to read it, doesn't it? However, for an expat staying in Eindhoven, it is an issue where to focus your quest for books written in english. Thus, in the rest of this article we pinpoint some hot spots in our beloved city where you can practice book-hunting.
1) The Saturday Kiosks at Rechtestraat
Assembled every Saturday on the street that connects V&D and Piazza and dismantled on late afternoon of the same day. Selling lots of decorative stuff yet also second hand books. Most of those in Dutch but there are always some stuff in english too. In general, very nice prices and, for some strange reason, one of those consistently offers quite enough fantasy/fiction books. Also there you can find lots of vinyl lp's and 7" ep's (thumbs up!). Especially for vinyls, you can look at the kiosk in front of the carousel (at the main square) the same day.
2) De Slegte
On the same street, just a couple of squares further towards the cathedral you will find a big book store called De Slegte. It occupies quite a few floors and it's known for its nice prices on first/second hand books. There you will find all shorts of stuff, mostly in Dutch, but there is also a distinctive section for books in english, mostly second hand. Also books in other languages (more like German and French) are there too. Seek and thou shall find. Also for those of you who are into collecting old books, you will find there some nice gems of the kind. But you shouldn't expect the latter to be as cheap, right?
3) Selexyz and yet again Selexyz
Selexyz is the big shiny corporate book-store thingie in the Netherlands, selling all kinds of, always new, books. There are three departments of the chain in Eindhoven (correct me if I'm wrong), one in Heuvelgallerie, one close to Design Academy and one at TU/e inside Hoofdgebouw building. The one in Heuvelgallerie does not have much of books in english while the one in TU/e is very small and has very limited non-Dutch stuff (though it does provide some titles in english literature). The one close to DA looks more like our actual target; it has a separate section for foreign books and a wide collection of english classics from Oxford Press and.
I hope that the above data will make your hunt more successful ;) If there is any other hot spot around that we've missed, please drop us a line to indicate it.
Good luck!
