Inside a converted three-storey villa in Al Mushrif, a couple sits side-by-side, each engrossed in a book. Beside them, a group of university students noisily fill a table piled with magazines while, nestled on a sofa, a woman bows her head, turning the pages of a novel, oblivious to the background noise of the cafe.
Many customers inside Cafe Arabia have come to think of it as a second home, a place to while away the time with one of the many books crammed into every nook and cranny of a restaurant that doubles as a library, day and night. The cafe also hosts reading clubs and storytelling sessions for children.
A treasure trove of well-thumbed books jostle for space, including the mega-selling Millennium crime-fiction trilogy by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, suspense and science fiction titles, Stephen King novels and works by fellow bestsellers David Baldacci and Maeve Binchy.
In support of The Year of Reading, the cafe’s owner, Aida Mansour, has launched a book drive that aims to collect as many titles as possible to add to the collection and provide customers with more free reading options.
“We always want and need more books,” says Mansour, who believes cafes have a big part to play in building the UAE’s literary landscape.
“We want any books that people do not want any more, or books people think deserve another home.
“Through books, you learn about lives, about culture, about civilisation – and I want a place where there is a book for everyone to enjoy.”
Almost every genre of novel can be found in the cafe, which is on 15th street, off Airport Road, and is open until midnight during Ramadan.
There are even some specialist books, on subjects including photography, travel, art and culture.
Mansour estimates there are about 1,000 books in the cafe. Almost all of them were donated and some have touching messages from previous owners urging the next reader to enjoy the title.
Customers can read in the cafe or even take a book away – but if they do the latter, they are encouraged to replace it with one of their own.
When the cafe opened in 2010, only a handful of books were available, mostly from Mansour’s own collection with others donated by her sister and mother.
She then launched an appeal for help to expand the library. First, she put up posters in the bathrooms asking for book donations, then she started directly asking customers to bring in any books they were finished with.
Word soon spread and this led to a huge donation from Reverend Canon Andrew Thompson of St Andrews Church.
“They were the most beautiful books – hard-covered new editions that had just been released in the market,” says Mansour, who was born and raised in Lebanon. “From then on, it just started growing.”
Now, at least 15 books are donated each week. Sometimes, overflowing bags of books are left on the cafe’s porch.
Mansour says she was inspired to launch her business after falling in love with the Viennese cafe culture during her studies in Austria. She says the act of leaving a book in a cafe to be read by others is powerful.
“A lot of people are moving, changing their jobs,” she says. “Please, by all means, bring your books here. By leaving a book here with us, you leave a piece of yourself in Abu Dhabi to be appreciated by many.”
artslife@thenational.ae
