9 ways to order or download English books in Israel
I love walking into bookstores. I love the smell. I love rummaging and looking for great finds. I love the bargain bin. I even love reading book spines until my neck is permanently stuck to my shoulder. But if you live in Israel, there is no massive Barnes & Noble – like store or well-stocked library with English books besides Hebrew University. There are a few bookstores that carry English books but it’s very possible that you won’t find what you’re looking for. So, as much as I love dawdling around in a bookshop, I find myself drawn back to the web to find more choices. The problem is that some online stores like Amazon charge a ridiculous amount to ship books to Israel. Luckily, I’ve spotted a bunch of bookstores that ship relatively cheaply or even for free to Israel and a few websites where you can download books for free.
Note about shipping: If you order books over $50, you may be required to pay a VAT tax at the Israeli post office.
The Book Directory Free worldwide delivery
Better World Books - $3.97 shipping worldwide; Bargain Bin has 5 used books for $15
Books 4 Now- Israel-based online booksstore that sells used books in Israel. Order 4 books, get free delivery anywhere in Israel
AngloBooks – website to trade English books with others in Israel
Hook A Book – focused on Israel although prices are in dollars. Free international standard shipping. The site is a little hard on the eyes and there is no search function which makes it a bit difficult to browse but maybe they’re still developing the site as it’s pretty new. PayPal accepted.
Project Gutenberg Over 30,000 works of literature, cookbooks, reference works, periodicals, etc. in the form of e-books and audio mp3s that you can download for free.
42Scifi New and used English sci-fi books in Israel.
Bookmooch – bookswap based on points sysem. For each book you want, you have to send 2 books to others
HebrewBooks Over 40,000 classical Hebrew books for free download. Mostly Jewish books and texts. Books in Hebrew and English.
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9 Responses to “9 ways to order or download English books in Israel”
Posted by: Yisroel - 01/12/2010
Cool posting. Thanks. One other idea is to buy an ebook reader. They are expensive ($250 from amazon) but you downloan in 60 seconds thousands of titles from amazon.com.
Posted by: Adam Ehad - 01/20/2010
Mazal Tov!
This blogpost has won the “writers in jerusalem blogpost of the week”. See here for more information: http://writersinjerusalem.blogspot.com/2010/01/israeli-blogpost-of-week_19.html
Posted by: Rebecca - 01/20/2010
Thank you Adam! I am so glad you found it useful.
Posted by: Gerald - 01/21/2010
Prices on Amazon are, however, consistently lower than Barnes&Noble and certainly much cheaper than The Book Depository in the UK (especially if buying good second-hand or even new books from a third party via Amazon). Furthermore, Amazon cannot be beaten when it comes to the availability of almost any title. So, especially if you are buying a few books at a time thus spreading the cost of the minimal postal charge, Amazon is still in the long run the best option and their overall service is unbeatable. The cheapest way is to have the books delivered free from Amazon to family or a friend living in the US and then have them repost them to you or, better still, bring them for you to Israel!
Beware the tip posted by Yisroel about buying a reader – Amazon’s Kindle – to read downloaded e-books. This works only if your Kindle is physically in the US (and recently, now in a long list of other countries) when you download, BUT does not work in Israel (yet? why not Amazon?). You can however purchase e-books for download to a computer for which the Amazon website offers a free software viewer, but this method is obviously not as comfortable or as having a cool Kindle.
Posted by: Karen - 01/24/2010
Anyone looking for a good selection of children’s books in English should try Bright Sparks (based in Modi’in): Brightsparksbooks@gmail.com or call 054 678 5913
Posted by: Ariella - 01/27/2010
This is a little bit off topic – but does anyone know if the limit to avoid taxes on things you buy online to have sent to Israel is always $ 50, no matter what you buy? I have a hard time finding an answer to that question, so answers would be much appreciated!
Posted by: Gerald - 01/27/2010
Like many rules and regulations in Israel, I presume it’s the customs official on the spot that decides. I know of no “official” $50 rule – and I have had book parcels worth much more, which did not attract a VAT charge. I have also bought books in the UK, in sterling currency, that were assessed for VAT as if the amount was denominated in US dollars! I didn’t file a complaint!
Posted by: Moshe - 02/01/2010
I’ve used 42SciFi. It’s not exactly Amazon, size-wise, but if you browse their books (synopses), you’ll likely find something interesting. The prices are reasonable (by Israeli standards), and the service is friendly.
I’ll echo what Gerald said regarding:
1. Amazon vs The Book Depository. If you are ordering 1-2 books, you should check the latter, but Amazon will generally be cheaper even including S&H fees.
2. I understand that the the maximum for VAT exemption is indeed $US 50 for everything (including S&H!), but the VAT is often waived for “reasonable” personal packages. YMWV.
Posted by: Janice - 07/20/2010
The information you gave about BookMooch is incorrect. If you send a book to someone in your own country you get 1 point – and if you mooch from someone in your country it costs you 1 point. You pay 2 points to mooch a book from overseas but you get 3 points if you send to someone overseas – I love it when someone mooches a light book from me from overseas. In addition you get a tenth of a point for each book you add to your inventory and another tenth of a point when you leave feedback for a book received. You do have to keep up with a balanced ration between giving and sending – not exactly balanced but close.
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