Qatar Book Club - Reconnecting people with Books!

What is the Book you are reading these days? Well. be ready to hear this "What is your Book Club reading these days?"

Yes, if you are in Doha, and felt you have left your cozy living room book clubs with your friends, then do not despair! There is one in Qatar just sprouting!

Qatar Book Club is a brain child of a Qatari and French couple and was launched in September 2014 at Katara. The event was well attended and was interactive.

Details  of Qatar Book Club could  also be found at www.rush360.qa by seraching for "Book Club"

So what is it all about?

According to their website The Qatar Book Club aims to reconnect people with books and each other. It is a project by the community, for the community. 

Apart from organizing discussions on books this book club will be hosting other activities throughout the year, such as movie screenings, workshops and more in different locations. Follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook to keep upto date of their upcoming events. 

The first book discussion will be taking place on the 26th of November at the Red Velvet Cupcakery , Katara Cuktural Village at 6.30pm  where they will be reading Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar latest book “The Dohmestics”. Location details of Red Velvet Cupcakery can be found at www.rush360.qa by saerching for Cupcakes or Red Velvet.

Who can join?

If you’re an avid reader or if you've lost connection with books and want to find your way back to reading, you knocked at the right door.

To make it easier and more accessible, Qatar book club is entirely English speaking/reading and open to all.

How to join?

To become a member, you can register here. The membership costs QR150 per person , per year which can be paid when you attend one of their gatherings.

Membership gives you access to all book discussions for free, free priority access to the books bought by QBC for the discussions, and you benefit from a 50% discount on all events and workshops organized by QBC.

Not sure you want to register for the whole year? You can still attend book discussions by paying QR30 fee per session. 

Additionally Qatar Book Club has come up with something more! Yes they are going to set up Book Exchange Booths all around Qatar. Leave a book and Take a book!

One such booth is already set up at the Youth Club. Location details for this booth could be found at www.rush360.qa by searching for "Book Exchange Booth"

So here is an opportunity for you to Donate the books you do not need any more and benefit someone else!

This is a much needed initiative in Qatar and we wish all success to Qatar Book Club! Our sincere thanks to Iman Al Doubali for sharing the information with Rush360.

PS: As they set up booths around Qatar, all booth locations will be availbale at www.rush360.qa your elegant online directory and search engine!

Qatar Book Corner - Giving a new purpose for used books!

View this post also here

Guess what Rush360 Team discovered here in Qatar! Yes a virtual online second hand used Book Store! Browse the collection from the comfort of your home, order online and get them delivered to your door step!

All details about Qatar Book Corner can be found at www.rush360.qa by searching for Books, Qatar Book Corner or used books.

Qatar Book Corner was established in 2012 by a book loving couple! Akif and Fariha say, they initiated such a project in Qatar due to the lack of affordable and variety of books in the market and the desire to help people de clutter and make room for more books. Books are not easy to part with, however the fact that they will be taken care of and given into the right hands provides much of a relief and makes the separation easier !

How does this work?

 

• They buy used books from the existing market and sell them off at very reasonable rates
• Their website is their online store for the clients to browse through with ease and in the comfort of their homes. 
• Orders are placed online however for the comfort and security concerns of the customers payments are collected in cash upon delivery/collection.

Delivery

• An order of 5 books or more is delivered free of cost within city limits (Doha, Wakra, Gharaffa area) 
• An order of less than 5 books needs to be collected from the collection points in Doha or Wakrah. These books can also be delivered at a flat rate of QAR 15/-
• Qatar Book Corner is open to shipping worldwide. They even recently received an order from UK from a client who had been searching for a book all over the globe. They are flexible on that, however shipping costs are payable by the client. 

Now doesn't that sound so wonderful!

 What kind of Books?

• All sorts of books of various genres. Both fiction and non-fiction, for adults, young adults and children.
• All books are used. Their price reflects their overall quality. However, they do not sell books that are in extremely bad shaped (torn /missing pages)

Selling your Used Books

Do you have used books that you do not need any more!? Qatar Book Corner will take care of those books. 

They buy books in bulk from people leaving the country or just about anyone who needs to make room for more, provided they have available space for more books.

Clients send them their requests for selling their lot and their estimated price. After arriving at a mutually agreed rate, Qatar Book Corner visits them to view the quality and selection of books. 

They make sure the books they buy are of good quality. And they currently do not buy coursework books (for schools and colleges).

So we asked Fariha, "It’s very difficult to get good books in Qatar and we do not have that very much of libraries and your services sound so appropriate for this country. How is your feedback. Do you have a good amount of customers. What kind of books go well with your customers? She replied,

"We are existent mainly because of the love of our clients. We have a tremendous feedback from them and 80% are returning customers. Our "little" business wouldn't stand a chance without these book loving people.

All books go well , as we have a range of all type of customers of different interests and age groups."

 When asked what are their future plans this is what they had to say,

"We hope to expand to a proper bookstore in the future provided we get a suitable opportunity. We are not looking to hike up our book prices, which would be the case if we owned a bookstore now. Our low and unbeatable prices are the main reason why this initiative actually works well! Customer satisfaction is our policy and we are open to suggestions and feedback"

You can check out their large collection of books at the MIA Bazar as well!

The online Store is pretty much user friendly and browsing is easy as it is well organized with sorting options.

So next time you need a book remember to use Qatar Book Corner from the comfort of your homes!

We thank Fariha and Akif for providing us details about Qatar Book Corner to share with all of you and we wish them all the best with their much needed initiative!