Shanghai Book Expo

How many times have you found yourself sitting around your living room just itching to attend a local expo? Didn't think so. Well, for those out there who are interested, get those reading glasses ready. If the previously mentioned Sex Expo ("Sexpo"?) isn't quite your cup of naughty tea, then perhaps this might better suit your uptight needs. As reported last week in Shanghai Daily, the 2006 Shanghai Book Fair will be held at the Shanghai Exhibition Center (the former site of Jewish millionaire Silas Hardoon's Old Shanghai garden estate) from August 5 to 11.

According to the announcement, there will be more than 100 forums, speeches and performances held at the expo, including an appearance from former Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata and a discussion concerning copyright issues. Also scheduled to appear are "famous writers, scholars and other VIPs" who will be joined by a number of national publishing houses. Details concerning these "famous writers, scholars and other VIPs" are sketchy at the moment, but it's safe for Potter fans to assume that JK Rowling will unfortunately be absent.

As for the books, the details are also similarly sparse:

[The Expo] will present 100,000 titles at the fair, including 30,000 new books, such as My Name is Red by Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, The Last Templar by British writer Raymond Khoury and Mysteries of Tokyo by Japanese author Murakami Haruki.

Included in this 100,000 are "about 10,000 titles published in foreign languages." Although given the arbitrary whims of the local censorship bureau, the exact titles are anyone's guess.

As a fairly avid reader, Shanghaiist is getting a little tired of scouring Shanghai bookstores filled with tired old classics and copies of The Da Vinci Code in search of new reading material. Having friends bring books over from the U.S. is also wearing quite thin. Aside from Garden Books and the dudes that sells copies of counterfeit bestsellers from the back of their bikes, what are some of our readers favorite places to go book shopping?

2006 Shanghai Book Fair, Shanghai Exhibition Center (上海展览中心)
1000 Yan'an Lu or 1333 Nanjing Xi Lu (near Tongren Lu, across from the Portman). Open to the public from 10am to 6pm each day.

Picture of a bookworm from here .