Category Archives: nairobi bookshops

New Years Gift

Still making financial plans for 2009? Here’s a free gift forward from Oprah’s site: You can download a new free e-book by personal finance guru, Suze Orman’s i.e her new 2009 Action Plan book out this week.

The author gives some background on the books which can be downloaded here.

Saturday Reading

ranks & references

References: Looking for the latest fiction, biographies, financial or other reference books at the Book Villa? The Nairobi bookshop has moved to Norwich Union House 8th Floor (building houses Galitos/Chicken Inn on ground) Moi Avenue. New location is bigger and more spacious than the cramped old location and will soon have refreshments in a reading area with a great view of the city

Ranks: Trying to figure out why Alexa has stalled and why Technorati has refused to refresh for the last three weeks.

Best investment for a book lover

Book villa anniversary: Two years of great reading great reading courtesy of Book Villa.

I got my statement today for my second year in the Book Villa club which shows I read 25 books, ½ of which were non fiction – a slight improvement from year one

So, if you leave reading books, desire variety, or find the cost of new books prohibitive, check out Book Villa.

For Book Lover’s

Someone has beaten me to an idea I’ve had for a long time
Most new novels and bestsellers in Nairobi sell for 660 shillings ($8) and above, which is quite expensive. And once done with a book, there is little to do but pass it on to an endless string of friends until it gets lost, damaged beyond having any value, or you lose interest. One bookstore has come up with a solution to this problem

Book Villa (opp. The Stanley Hotel – Tel: 340294) on Standard Street has a library which allows members to borrow unlimited books. Bronze class allows a member to borrow 1 book at a time and costs 1,000 shillings a year, Silver – 3 books at a time (3,000 a year) and Gold – 6 books at a time (5,000 shillings a year).

There’s no time condition of books, but one can’t borrow more books until they return previous ones taken. Other terms and conditions: Membership fees not refundable, nor is a 500 shilling registration fee. Also, books borrowed cannot exceed the value of your membership and must be returned in the same condition as when they were taken.

Buy this book or we sh*t in your car

Coming Soon is a novel “Last Orders at Harrods: An African Tale” by Michael Holman, that is about two and is set in a fictional country, but is actually Kenya. It will be launched in Nairobi in May and 1,000 special copies will be made available to be sold by Nairobi street kids at a discounted price of 200 shillings (down from £10) that is more affordable for Kenyans – and street kids will keep the proceeds of the books they sell.