After quite a long time of studying German, I still find it hard to speak naturally and accurately. And one of the reasons to that problem was my sad, almost none existent vocab base. So in addition to developing the confidence of throwing any German phrase that I kinda know to strangers, one of my goals this summer was to develop my German vocabulary through reading. And I was very lucky that Berlin is a great place for books. Below I present to you some of my favorite book places.
In front of Humboldt: In front of Humboldt University is a second hand book sale that occurs almost daily. There, you’ll find a wide range of German and English books (mostly fiction) in very good quality for a tiny fraction of the regular new book price. (Novels for half, one or two euros mostly.)
- Otherland Buchhandlung: Fantastic English and German Sci-Fi, Horror and Fantasy book store . A very wide variety of cool books that I have not found elsewhere in Berlin. And they accept bitcoin! (But doesn’t have a toilet.)
- Galeria Kaufhof: Another cheap place near Humboldt. Most of its books are regular priced and the standard collection, but it often puts out a discount section for books with a little imperfection. So here you can get entirely new books (with, perhaps a scratch on the cover) in German and English for one to three euros. So if dusty books aren’t your thing, this is your place.
- Buchhandlung Hugendubel: One of the closest, largest bookstores near the hotel. Located within KaDeWe, it is the perfect place for browsing after brunch on the gourmet floor. But just like everything else in KaDeWe, it is a bit overpriced, especially its English collection.
- Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus: This is probably the king of Berlin Bookstores. It is near Humboldt University and it is massive, with tons of German books in its main bookstore (It is, however, lacking on the Sci-Fi front.) and a separate bookstore just for English books. It has very helpful staff who will navigate the bookstore for you and find you pretty much whatever you’ll want. However, with great variety comes great pricing. Be prepared to pay the standard price (As I’ve never seen a discount here. ) for any book you purchase here, which typically ranges from seven to twenty euros. (Still cheaper than KaDeWe!)
