Free Zurich world of books

A hardback book costs CHF 33 to 40 in Zurich bookshops, a paperback between CHF 17 and 30. That's absolutely fine if you like the book, less fine if it's boring after 30 pages. However, the budget is often tight anyway and buying new publications is simply not an option. How about going on a search and picking up various books for free? There are plenty of opportunities to do this in Zurich.

A good address is the book trolley at Zirkus Chnopf in Hohlstrasse. The area is rather rough, right next to Hardbrücke and close to the railway tracks of the main station. But there are two or three hundred books in the car, of which I have found the latest novels by Orhan Pamuk and Mario Vargas Llosa - both Nobel Prize winners after all - and by Monika Helfer, who has just read at the busy Kaufleuten theatre.

A great bookshelf stands in front of the transhelvetica office on Limmatstrasse. Managing Director Michélle Fröhlich tells me that she is always surprised by how many books are added every week. The team regularly sorts out books that have been sitting for a long time and it only takes hours for the shelves to be full again. The selection here is also impressive. My latest finds: Alex Capus, Arno Geiger and Robert Seethaler.

The Badis am See and an der Limmat also offer plenty of good books. The bookstall at Utoquai is always amazingly up-to-date and well-stocked, while the offerings at Mythenquai and Oberer Letten are more mainstream. But it's always worth a look.

There are always plenty of crime novels on offer on almost every shelf: Agatha Christie by the dozen or the exciting Don Winslow, as well as page-turners by Charlotte Link or Jeffrey Archer, plus classics by Gottfried Keller, Jane Austen or Hermann Melville (I've just found the sinfully expensive and brand new translation of Moby Dick in the bookcase on the popular Hallwylplatz in District 4.)

Another way, also hugely money-saving, is the book exchange VSETH at ETH Zurich. It is a platform for buying and selling study materials and second-hand books at low prices. If you want to give books away, you can also use an online form to contact the Central Library, whose specialist departments will check whether they would like to add the offered items to their stock.

The great thing is that searching for books is always a bit of an adventure. You never know what you'll end up finding in the more than 30 Zurich bookcases. They are all listed at www.freizeitmonster.de. So there are plenty of opportunities to go on a literary treasure hunt.

Book trolley at Circus Chnopf in Zurich's circus quarter: