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For some reason Malta hasn’t really embraced a reading culture. It’s not that the Maltese are an illiterate bunch; it’s just that reading doesn’t seem to be as popular with them as it is with people of other nationalities. Whereas in many European cities you’ll often find people sitting in coffee shops or in parks just reading, you won’t find much of that in Malta. Blame it in the Maltese’s need to socialise instead of read, or on the lack of long distances on public transport, or the education system or whatever…it’s just the way it is.
That’s not to say that there are no book shops in Malta. There are. There just aren’t many bookshops of the second-hand, fusty, dusty type. In fact, there are hardly any.
You’ll notice that there are very few small, independent book stores on the island. What you will find instead are outlets of various local book selling chain stores. These sell all manner of books – paperbacks, hardbound, educational, fictional….pretty much the lot. All new and mostly quite commercial. Specialised subjects can be a little bit scarce on the shelves. This is a common theme in all Maltese bookshops.
Most Maltese bookshops have a very good Melitensia collection. This is a section of books about Malta. These include history books, coffee table books and even fictional novels set on the island. You will also find some Maltese language books but good luck learning the language – it’s pretty tricky. Malta must be one of the few places on earth where a small proportion of the population can’t even speak its own language properly.
Books of an academic nature can be found at one of the handful of bookshops outside the University of Malta in Tal-Qroqq.
There are a couple of small bookshops on the island, but these tend to be out of the way and rather difficult to find. They stock new books, second hand books, student text books and audio books. You are welcome at some of them to browse at leisure and just sit and read for a while. One of them even calls itself “an internet cafe, a coffee bar, a stationery, a rental book service, a photocopy service and all amalgamations”. So you could technically, read a book, buy it, photocopy it (yes I know it is illegal to do that) and rent it out all in the same place! One we know of has a small café where you can chill out and read.
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Agenda Bookshops. Malta’s leading chain of bookshops, Agenda can be found in most shopping malls and districts as well as at the airport, the university and the cruise liner terminal. They stock all the latest bestsellers as well as specialised books and an extensive selection of magazines and newspapers from around the world. For more information call (+356) 2166 448.
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