Books

If you're not passing by for one of Art Lounge's visual art exhibitions, film screenings or club nights, it's worth dropping in to peruse their large selection of art books, lifestyle magazines and other hard-to-find titles, including some limited editions.

As well as Lebanon’s three favourite languages, the library stocks books in Armenian, German, Tamil and Ethiopian. Come with a passport photo, a copy of your ID card and LL10,000 and receive membership good for a lifetime of borrowing

Owned by Antoine Abi Heina, an expert in antique books and manuscripts, this library is a rare collections of 16th-20th century books. Call for an appointment beforehand to explore the historical documents, antique books, Islamic texts and manuscripts.

Brush up on your Arabic at this well-known Hamra bookshop that carries Arabic books only. Spend an afternoon browsing the shelves, and stock up on novels, biographies, history books, and more.

This mid-sized bookshop is the perfect one-stop shop for all your school supplies. Here, they sell a wide selection of stationary, including pens, pencils, notebooks, binders and note cards, in addition to art supplies, books, newspapers and magazines.

Art Lounge, beneath River Bridge, next to Adam's Factory and Naggiar, Quarantina. Driving manuals and Lebanese drivers clearly have a love-hate relationship. Celebrated the launch of 'Driving in Lebanon: A User Manual' by Joumana Medlej. The illustrator combines comic strips and diagrams for a realistic guide to handling the country's roads (and obstacles).

Located in Jesuit Public Garden, this public library offers pleasant indoor and outdoor reading spaces to enjoy their diverse collection of books and journals. Internet access is also available.

Be transported into a Narnia of books, art and childhood memories in this children's bookshop that caters for adults too. There's a wide selection of books in French, English and Arabic, as well as a reader's lounge and bijou café to enjoy your new literary finds. Don't want to buy? Pay LL50,000 a year for membership of their upstairs lending library.

This well-established chain is a book lover’s haven, with a large range of titles in Arabic, French and English. If you can’t find the book you are looking for, their friendly staff will happily order for you.

With a wide selection of Arabic and French books for both pleasurable reading and academic use, the Librarie des Lettres is chock-full of goodies for kids other than books, including educational toys, gadgets and, believe it or not, candy!

A comprehensive bookshop for all ages, stocking everything from political biographies to children's books.

This chain of bookstores carries a reasonable collection of novels, dictionaries, biographies, cookbooks, newspapers, magazines, maps and travel books. All titles sold are in French, English or Arabic.

This Lebanese bookshop specialises in children's books. Let your kids pick their way through the colourful covers of the Arabic, French and English books laid out just at their eye-level.

Comic books, novels, textbooks, children's books and cookbooks, all in French and Arabic are on offer at Stephan. The Achrafieh branch also has a small selection of English books.

This French library holds the most diverse collection of french books, DVDs and documentaries, as well as CDs.

Dedicated to the well known journalist, the museum exhibits personal artifacts and documents, and holds over 10,000 articles he published in the Al Nahar newspaper. The museum also includes a public library with more than 3,000 political, historical and philosophical books of particular interest.

This public library is a bijou bibliotheque tucked behind Monot Theatre. As well as the usual fiction and non-fiction, the library prides itself on its fine selection of books on film, theatre, arts and architecture.

Specialists in art, design, architecture and photography books. A huge array of local and international magazines are also on offer. Homemade cake, Victorian tiles and a sliding ladder make it easy to spend hours rummaging amongst their well-stocked shelves.

This library caters specifically to the blind and those with poor vision. Check out cassette tapes and/or CDs to take home and listen to, or take advantage of the wide selection of large-print and Braille books.

Spend hours in this massive store, that sells everything from music, movies and computers, to books, newspapers, maps and even clothing. One of the largest selections of English books in Beirut.