Reading habits in Indonesia

I love reading a wide variety of stuff but English language books are hard work to find - However, there is some good news for English (and other language) speaking expats in the form of second hand bookshops. I have used several over the time I've been here and have found the most interesting to be found in markets. I've found a variety of novels, plays (especially my favourite Shakespeare), and a wide variety of other stuff.
New are always going to be expensive but seconds are cheap so you can build up a nice little private library in no time. One other sweetener - there are many rare books to be found and the shops have no clue what they have so they can be bought for as little as Rp10,000, sometimes even less.
My personal library, much as it's a shadow of what I had in England, is building up very nicely.

Books shops in my area are rare and English Language books even more rare
The few English language books I have seen are ridiculously over priced typically 4 or 5 times the price than Singapore
A small set of children's books I seen in Singapore for age 2/3 yrs old I purchased was about 350,000IDR, in  Batam the same set was 1,400.000IDR, hence I don't bother here
I have friends who bring books for me and I typically read biographies/ autobiography (sports, football, rugby, boxing etc) and military/ war history
I tend to get what I need in Singapore with the odd exception
I've tried a few times downloading books but I've never enjoyed reading this way
They is a library or two here with English study aides but it's mostly geared for students and not similar to a library in the UK
A few bars and restaurants locally do have a English language book loan/ exchange set up but nothing of interest for myself
When I'm traveling I can also get what I need within reason or find something of interest

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I normally read IT, photography and science magazine.... In Indonesia I found that most of these magazines are in Indonesian language......and with the availability of online access I normally go for these or just Youtube....

Online is an option, but not one I like.
I'm far happier with a real book then one on screen but another option, and sadly one many people are unfamiliar with, is audio books.
I've never seen any here but they are available online, some even legally.
I brought several with me from England and have downloaded others (legally), so I have a small but interesting collection.

When in Indonesia, Bali, I access all news online for Australia, Jakarta Post for local news. I am an incessant reader, 2+ books per week, fiction novels mostly, some biographies. There are many second hand bookshop with a good selection of English books.  Because of the many tourists the selection constantly changes, some in near new condition. Usually cost around 80,000rp with exchange available.

There is someone that posts secondhand books on Bali cyber market...

Where did you find second hand shop in Bali??
If may I know

In some big cities like, Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, bandung and yogya, there is an anual book expo event called Big bad wolf, where you can find cheaper book that any other book stores in Indonesia (don't compare with other country of course). Somehow I buy a lot of books, especially novels which I can read for a yeah hopefully 😄.
Also periplus bookstore do the sales quite a lot so the book can discount 50 and even 70%.
I prefer to read the real book rather than e book, it's kinda satisfying can feel the real paper book 😄

Bali, or at least Kuta, has several bookshops with a wide selection if English language publications.

Im looking for second hand book shop arround kuta, But I dont find it yet. Anyone knows?

Start looking in back streets

I've just used for the first time an online shop and free delivery worldwide bookdepository.com

Just received a stack for the kids for Christmas
A little slow on delivery but highly recommended

One of the best sources of foreign English language books is the Big Bad Wolf book fair. We visited one last year in West Java and stayed in the hotel that hosted the event. It is jam packed with children's books and I think we spent over Rp5 million on books, maybe at ridiculously cheap prices.

The book fair is held at different cities around Indonesia and it gets very very crowded with long queues to get in because it is so popular, especially the one in Jakarta.

Book resellers also buy at the fair because the prices are so cheap. And you can find them selling on the usual online selling portals at big profit.

Apart from children's books they have school books, kids activity books, novels for adults, reference books, Indonesian books, books on art, cooking and almost everything you can imagine.

We also buy books in Malaysia at shops that sell discounted or secondhand books. This is where we can buy children's colourful English story books for about Rp7,000 and where I can always find copies of the Viz Annual. The place we usually visit is in Sungei Wang Plaza in Bukit Bintang. They've been around for a very long time and there are literally thousands and thousands of books, comics, magazines etc all at ridiculously cheap prices.