Wow, what a fantastic idea! I’ve mentioned before that Buenos Aires is chock full of bookstores, and that Porteños really appreciate books and authors. Well last night proved that.

In Toronto we have Nuit Blanche, an overnight celebration of art galleries. The Buenos Aires equivalent is La Noche de las Librerias, or the night of the bookstores. It’s not all night, but everything does stay open very late.

Avenida Corrientes, where you can find bookstore after bookstore for miles, was closed to traffic. All the bookstores we went into were very busy, and not just with browsers. A lot of money was changing hands. Venetia (in the first photo) bought a lovely photo book about Patagonia, and I bought a history magazine with information about the great Argentine hero General Jose de San Martin, known as El Libertador.

As you can see from the photos, these are real bookstores selling books — not the candles and gift items North American bookstores have been forced to focus on. And it’s not that Argentines don’t have technology — they do, but books are still books down here. I love that.

And outside on the street, a live jazz concert was going on to complement the book celebration. The lovely soft, late summer weather was just right for walking too, so all in all it was perfect.

Oh, and I couldn’t resist photographing this — a book of Scottish actor Ewan McGregor’s life in pictures, in Spanish! My family in Scotland will get a chuckle out of that!