Thread: English Books in Panama

Are English books widely available in Panama, in particular, are there bookstores in Panama City that deals with English books? Is it easy to find novels and other (new release) books there? Are the books reasonably priced?
We are toying with the idea of getting Kindle, then we save the hassle of finding and buying the actual books. And Kindle is supposed to be supported in Panama. Anyone has any experience with Kindle in Panama?
Thanks!

Yes, Kindle works in Panama. There are some minimal communication charges if you use GSM. However, there really is not much of a reason to use GSM. The Kindle 3 includes wireless so you can access the net via a hot spot. All kindles will connect to a PC and books can be downloaded easily. It is my opinion that you cannot go wrong by getting a kindle. There are hundreds of thousands of free ebooks available and I found my reading selection has expanded and I buy a lot fewer books than I used to. I downloaded 8 free books a couple hours ago. The K3 will hold around 3,500 ebooks. It is smaller than a most paperbacks. I'm storing up books for my next trip (I've overdone it as I have nearly 100 unread books on it now) but the last time I was there I ran out of reading material while in the interior and it drove me nuts. I bought a kindle when I got back to the US and wish I would have done it long ago. I think it is one of the more interesting electronic developments in recent years.

Great, thanks! Now I know what to get for my husband for Christmas!

Try Morrisons next to Rey in Via Espana El Cangrejo, they have a selection of reasonably priced books in English including some of the classics.

An additional Kindle comment regarding classics. Many of the classics have expired copyrights and are in the public domain. They are available as ebooks free through Amazon, gutenberg.org, archive.org, etc. A Canon Doyle, Jules Verne, etc., are examples. In the US, an ebook from amazon takes about 20 seconds to load on the kindle via a G3 network from the time you buy it. You then get a bill from amazon for 0.00. I'm not sure I understand the deal they made with AT&T for free G3 and G4 use.

I love using my kindle in Panama - toting beach reading material is not good for my shoulders, and we like the remote Pacific villages and islands, so English reading stores are far away. I usually download books before I go but wherever you can get a connection, you're good to go, I even download the paper when I can. I took my Kindle out to view the site of a future eco luxury resort - nothing like reading Robinson Crusoe on Isla Palenque while the more adventurous of the group hiked through the jungle. Bring your Kindle to Panama, its the greatest way to stay connected while being a world away.