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COMPASS MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2001. VOL. 8 ISSUE 10

By Chen Yi-ru

Bookstores are places to gain information, stimulate the imagination and escape from the pressures of life. Taichung possesses a variety of bookstores, from the general to the specific. Below is a small sampling of bookstores waiting to be explored.

	ESLITE BOOKS (CHUNG YO BRANCH) 161, San Min Road, sec. 3 (10F, C Building, Chung Yo Department Store) Tel: (04) 2221-1287 Hours: 11am-10pm
Eslite Books is well known for its fusion of cultural and modern spatial design concepts. The interior of the Chung Yo branch features iron railings, wood flooring and soft lighting. There are often a large number of people soaking up the comfortable atmosphere while reading. This bookstore is divided into numerous sections such as art, health, travel, literature, humor, hobbies and business. In most sections, there are both Chinese and English selections.

	CAVES BOOKS 12, Kuan Chien Road Tel: 2326-5559 Hours: 9am-12am
This book store has four floors. On the first and second floors, books and magazines are separated into sections. This is most obvious on the second floor where there are isolated "islands" of books. On the third floor, try out educational software. This is also where the children's books are located. Seating allows customers to browse through selections in comfort. The 3rd floor coffee shop offers views of the tree-lined path running in front of the store. On the fourth floor, are ESL and foreign language books.

	BOOKS KINOKUNIYA 299, Taichung Kang Road, sec. 1 (12F, SOGO Department Store) Tel: 2329-3086 Hours: 11am-10pm Mon-Fri; 10:30am-10pm Sat-Sun
Kinokuniya Books on the 12th floor of SOGO Department store is like a university foreign languages library. It has the best selection of Japanese magazines and books in Taiwan. There are also Chinese language selections, in addtion to English books that are hard to find in any other Taichung bookstore.

	NOBEL BOOKS (FLAGSHIP STORE) 186-2, Kung Yi Road Tel: 2327-0753 Hours: 9:30am-11pm
At the end of last year, Nobel Books opened its Taichung flagship store on the corner of Kung Yi Road and Chung Ming South Road. This store has an area of about 3,000 square feet. This store carries books that cover a large range of subjects, but its specialty is student reference materials. On each of its three floors there are baskets provided. An elevator, restrooms, a coffee shop and a children's play area make this a good shopping stop for the whole family.

	BOOKMAN BOOKS 6F, 2-143, Wu Chuan Road Tel: 2376-3799 Hours: 9am-6pm Mon-Sat
Located on the sixth floor of an office building, Bookman Books can be easily overlooked, even though it has been in business for 25 years. It specializes in the publishing and marketing of Chinese and English language books on Western culture, ESL instruction, translation, philosophy, society, and the arts. Here it is possible to find materials that allow local children to learn English naturally. Bookman also offers ESL tapes, videotapes, English lectures and English teacher training courses.

	KUO JI MEDICAL BOOK STORE 187, Hsueh Shih Road Tel: 2201-5386 Hours: 9:30am-9:30pm weekdays; 9:30am-6pm weekends/holidays
Do you know what it means when a mole changes color? Do you know how many cancer-causing agents there are around us? Do you have other health questions? Then, Kuo Ji Medical Book Store is the place to go. Located just down the street from China Medical College, it has been in business for nearly 30 years, specializing in medical and Traditional Chinese Medicine books. Selections include medical school textbooks, general home reference books and Traditional Chinese Medicine textbooks from mainland China.