34th Buenos Aires International Book Fair

 

34th Buenos Aires International Book Fair (Year 2008)

Today, Sunday, May 12, 2008, the 34th Buenos Aires International Book Fair came to an end. It took place from April 24 to May 12 at the La Rural fairgrounds (2704 Sarmiento Ave., Plaza Italia, City of Buenos Aires). This year's slogan was The Reader's Space.

I used to go every year—in fact, I’ve already mentioned it on the blog. This year was different; I didn't go. I let the days pass. On one of them, I was tempted, but I saw an extremely long waiting line—one I had never seen before—and another secondary line to pick up tickets. Nevertheless, I walked over to the book fair—mostly used books—the Plaza Italia Used Book Fair, on the boulevard of Santa Fe Avenue, which is located right across from La Rural, where the Book Fair has recently been held since the year 2000.

At this Plaza Italia Used Book Fair—which has quite a few stalls and many books, and is open all year round every day—browsing and rummaging carefully through the tables, I managed to get a couple of books cheaper than in a bookstore. But I think that was an exception, speaking of new books; it was mostly luck. And with that, I was satisfied. At these plaza fairs, you have to look patiently; sometimes you find bargains, not always. Sometimes you can benefit from the price, and other times from finding the book itself, which might be hard to get elsewhere.

I’m not disowning the International Book Fair, and I was able to read online and in the media mixed opinions: a large number of visitors, some found deals, others didn't. That comes down to taste; you also find deals and interesting books at other permanent fairs or in some bookstores—it's all about searching and knowing what to look for. It has its nice, positive side because you can go accompanied (to the other fairs as well), but at this particular one, being larger and taking place over just two weeks a year, you can walk through it with friends, partners, or acquaintances, focusing solely on the Fair, and going through it takes a good amount of time, in addition to serving as a hobby, an outing for entertainment, and a way to spend a pleasant day, or rather, an entire afternoon. In my particular case, I prefer to visit when it's less crowded; it doesn't open in the morning, so past noon and not on a weekend, but mid-week instead.

A newspaper published an article titled "The Book Festival Bids Farewell with a Record" http://www.lanacion.com.ar/EdicionImpresa/cultura/nota.asp?nota_id=1011670. There was a record number of visitors. At the same time, another news article from the cultural section of the same paper says in its headline, "58% of the Population Did Not Read Any Books in the Past Year" http://adncultura.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1009949, which leaves room for reflection and discussion.