English books in Europe???
 

I know I will be busy seeing and doing, but everyone needs some down time. Is there any way you can get novels in English in Italy or France? I can take a few with me, but three months is a long time to go without reading material.

Most large bookstores have an english section, though you should be prepared to pay a large mark-up in price.

As I recall, the main train station in Roma (Roma Termini) had a large bookstore that had English books.

Yes, it isn't too hard to find English novels in France, at least in larger cities. First, they are readily sold at the airport. Second, in Paris, there are entire English language bookstores, if you want, but any major bookstore will have lots of books in English. One old standby English lang. bookstore is Shakespeare & Co. on the Left Bank across from Notre Dame. At least a lot of their books are used, so not as expensive as new. Sometimes I sell my English-language paperbacks to them when I'm in Paris and want to get rid of some I've read.

In Rome, the Standa department store (one in Trastevere) carries a small collection of English classics. Standa is a chain, and you will find their stores in other cities as well. Never read Moby Dick or the Pride and Prejudice? Rectify the error at Standa.

Printemps in Paris has an English book section.

Oops, it might have been Galleries Lafayette. My BW is the shopper, I just tag along. They did have a great "fashion show", however.

If you are staying in one place for a while and have a mailing address, you could ship your books surface from your home country. Surface mail is slow but cheap, if you send them a few weeks before your trip, they should arrive about when you do. Most countries do not levy a customs duty on books, so you could ship new books and not pay any tax. You could then sell them to a used bookshop when you leave. I live in Europe, and agree that English books are fairly expensive. I think you would save money by buying them at home and shipping them via surface mail.

I have to read every night before going to sleep, but I found enough book stores to keep me going for a month long trip, and even stayed at a zimmer in Germany with an informal book exchange stocked with English titles.

In Rome there is MEL bookstore on Via Nazionale which has a good selection of english books. Then there is the English bookstore on Via Torino and an american bookstore on Via della Vite (near Via del Corso). Try also Feltrinelli International on Via V. E. Orlando, it has many books in english, french, spanish, german and russian.