For children, students and adults who want to spend their summer mostly at home, books can be the best way to make the most of their free time and enrich their knowledge by exploring the world through the printed word.
Little known to most people, there is a book store on the third floor of the City Center mall called I Spy Book Shop, where a good collection of books of varied interests is available. One can say this little shop has it all.
Bookworms might not be able to resist buying a book or two if they spend some time browsing around the shop, where the collection is segregated into different sections, including biographies, information technology, math and sciences, children’s interactive series, geography, fiction, professional books, magazines and even picturesque tourist guides on Qatar.
But the real come-ons are the top 10 bestsellers of the world showcased at the centre of the book shop so that anybody can easily notice them and start scanning through the books.
The store owner makes sure that the bestsellers are updated at least on a weekly basis since they keep abreast with what is selling in other parts of the world. A visit to the shop last week saw the bestselling fantasy romance Twilight and the sequels Eclipse, New Moon and Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer, which everyone, especially teenagers and young professionals, have been going crazy about, displayed there.
Twilight indeed was a bestseller after it was made into a blockbuster movie last year and in fact drew thousands of moviegoers a few months back in Qatar because the love story about a promising young high school girl named Isabella desperately falling in love with Edward, who turns out to be a good-looking vampire, in the 1920s, moved the hearts of millions of fans.
Another interesting bestseller on sale at I Spy Bookshop is an autobiography of William Gates Sr., the lawyer and civil rights advocate father of Microsoft founder and world renowned philanthropist Bill Gates.
The elder Bill’s life story, titled Showing Up for Life, is also something that’s worth reading. In the 186-page hard bound book, 83-year-old Bill senior talks about his own life, particularly how he lived through the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Second World War and a Cold War which, he said, “led us to the brink of a third — a situation that caused people to be so afraid, schoolchildren everywhere were taught to hide under their desks.”
Tech-savvy people would surely want to know more about how the father raised his son and never thought that his undeniable genius in developing Microsoft would revolutionise the world. And it is in this book that Bill Gates senior tells gives some interesting details everyone would love to know.
I Spy Bookshop is not just about selling books, according to the owners. For years, they have been in constant touch with schools and universities in Qatar to know what are the standard books they need to enrich more the knowledge of students.
At times, book fairs have been held in schools giving 10 percent discount to students and its proceeds go back to the libraries for more books especially alternative reading materials students will need to empower their knowledge.
“We exists to support all organizations in providing the need of knowledge, love for reading and brews inspiration from quality books and educational merchandise that we provide,” said the owner.
“Our shop is a haven for book enthusiasts who may browse endlessly to find selections that appeal to their unique, individual life style. From hobbies to fashion, Gulf travel guides to dining, fiction to stationeries and most importantly educational references from primary to secondary,” she added.
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