It's been tough to visit all these highly literary cities in South America knowing that the…read morebookstores won't do me much good because my Spanish is so poor. So I was excited to learn that El Mundo del Libro has an English-language section. (I also thought my reading comprehension might be good enough for a YA novel.) Many bookstores in Argentina are very tiny shops that just don't have a lot of space for a wide selection, so Mundo del Libro is fairly large by comparison, with two medium-size floors. I saw science fiction, YA, and children's books on the ground floor, with nonfiction and English-language books upstairs. I had to be directed to the English-language books, as there aren't many of them - literally just a couple of small shelves. The mix is, ah, eclectic: book 2 (but not 1 or 3) of the Hunger Games trilogy, a Nevada Barr thriller, some Stephen King. It's kind of fun to see what's there and speculate as to how those particular books were chosen. As with many bookstores here, the books are shrink-wrapped, so you can't really browse through them. Overall, it looks like a good bookstore - unfortunately, there just wasn't much I could read there. If you've run out of reading material and need something in English, you can take a chance and see what they've got in stock.

Located in the Galeria Barrio in Cordoba's Güemes neighborhood, Volcano Azul is a small but cute…read morebookstore with an artsy flavor. This little storefront makes the most of its square footage with cheerful orange walls, a good selection of literature and fiction, and gifts like notecards, art prints and original paintings of authors, artists, and musicians. A small lounge area has a couch with magazines, books, and incense burning. Sadly, my Spanish isn't good enough to read even a children's book, so I didn't buy anything here. But it's a cute store and fun to browse through if you're a book lover or looking for a gift.