You walk up to a vending machine expecting the usual suspects: a bottle of water, something sweet or maybe a snack you definitely didn't need but bought anyway. And then there are books.

That is the idea behind the Bookends book vending machines, bringing books into everyday spaces and making it possible to stumble across your next read somewhere you might not expect it. One of them can be found at the American University of Sharjah, putting books right within reach of students, staff and book lovers around the university.

It is fun, a little unexpected and there is something wonderfully strange about choosing your next read from a vending machine. But behind the novelty is an idea we take pretty seriously at Bookends: getting a book should be as easy as getting a snack.

Books shouldn't feel hard to find or hard to afford. Reading shouldn't require a special occasion or an elaborate plan. Sometimes the difference between I should read more and actually opening a book is simply having the right book within reach. That is what this idea is really about.

What Is a Book Vending Machine?

The concept is beautifully simple. Instead of reaching into a vending machine for your usual snack, you can pick up a different kind of treat: a snack for your brain. A book vending machine takes a familiar, convenient format and fills it with stories, ideas and new worlds to explore, placing books directly in spaces where people already spend their time.

You might be heading to class, meeting someone for coffee or simply passing by when a title catches your attention. We love the spontaneity of that. Most readers know the feeling of entering a bookstore for "just a quick look" and emerging with something they had absolutely no intention of buying. A book vending machine brings a tiny version of that experience into everyday life. You might have gone looking for a quick snack and end up leaving with something that keeps your brain busy for the next few days instead.

More importantly, it brings books to the reader instead of always asking the reader to go looking for them. That fits naturally with what Bookends has always been about. Whether someone discovers a book at our physical bookstore in Dubai, browses our collection of used books online, gets a recommendation from a friend or unexpectedly spots something interesting in a book vending machine, the result we care about is the same: another good book finding another reader.

Making Books Easier to Reach Really Does Matter

It is easy for people who already love reading to assume that books are everywhere. But access, affordability and simply having books around you can make a real difference to reading habits.

The latest research from the National Literacy Trust offers an interesting reminder of why finding new ways to encourage reading matters. Its 2026 survey of more than 125,000 children and young people in the UK found that only 36.1% of 8 to 18-year-olds said they enjoyed reading in their free time, while just 20.3% said they read daily. These aren't UAE statistics, so they shouldn't be treated as a description of reading habits here, but they do illustrate a much wider challenge: creating lifelong readers takes more than repeatedly telling people that reading is good for them.

Books need to be interesting. They need to feel relevant. They need to be affordable. And they need to be easy to reach.

The same research found a particularly strong relationship between enjoyment and frequency: 49.8% of young people who enjoyed reading said they read daily, compared with only 4.5% among those who didn't enjoy it. That is one reason we think discovering the right book matters so much.

Nobody falls in love with reading because somebody tells them they ought to. Usually, it happens because they find that book. The thriller that somehow turns midnight into 2 a.m. The romance they finish in a weekend. The self-help book that arrives at exactly the right moment. Or the children's story that gets requested at bedtime so many times that the adults in the house could eventually recite it from memory.

Small Ideas Can Create Big Reading Habits

There is something rather fitting about such a simple idea representing a much bigger ambition. Bookends has set a goal of 1 million books read collectively by 2030, turning every finished book into part of something much larger. One reader discovers a new favourite, another shares a story with their child, someone else picks up a book they might never have noticed before. Little by little, those individual reading moments become a shared achievement, bringing a whole community of readers closer to that one-million-book milestone.

A book vending machine isn't going to transform reading habits across the UAE overnight, and that isn't the point. What it can do is make a book easier to discover today. Maybe somebody spots a title while going about their day and decides to try it. Maybe that book gets passed to a friend afterwards. Maybe somebody who hasn't read for pleasure in months finds something that reminds them why they used to love it.

Small moments accumulate, and there is even a rather appropriate Bookends title for that thought. James Clear's Atomic Habits is built around the idea that meaningful change can grow from small repeated actions. Finding a secondhand book also gives that idea another dimension: one copy can have more than one life and reach more than one reader.

The Best Book Is the One You Actually Want to Read

If we want more people reading, we also need to stop acting as though there is only one "correct" kind of reader. You don't have to read a 700-page literary classic to count as someone who reads.

Read romance. Read fantasy. Read a biography. Read something ridiculous that makes you laugh. Read a business book because you have an idea you can't stop thinking about. Read a mystery because you desperately need to know who did it. Read with your children. Read something in Arabic, English or whichever language makes a story feel most like home.

Choice matters. The National Literacy Trust has also highlighted freedom of choice and connecting reading with someone's existing interests as important drivers of reading motivation. That makes perfect sense to us. People are much more likely to read when they are choosing something they genuinely want rather than something they feel they should be reading.

That is why Bookends offers such a broad selection of secondhand books in the UAE. You can explore our full collection of used books, find something for younger readers among our children's books or browse our self-help books. You might find something practical like Atomic Habits, something romantic like Colleen Hoover's It Starts with Us or something you had never heard of until five minutes ago.And sometimes that last one becomes your favourite.

Affordable Books Are Part of Making Reading Accessible

Accessibility isn't only about where books are available. It is also about whether people feel they can afford to keep reading.

Buying several brand-new books can quickly become expensive, especially for someone who reads regularly or for families trying to keep up with children who race through one story after another. This is where used books and secondhand books have a very practical role to play.

A book doesn't become less funny, moving, frightening or useful because somebody else turned its pages first. Quite the opposite, really. We like knowing that a good story gets another chance.

Making affordable books in the UAE easier to discover allows more people to keep reading while also giving existing books another life. That's at the heart of the Bookends marketplace. Whether you're looking for used books in Dubai, searching for books elsewhere in the UAE or simply want to buy books online in the UAE, the goal is to make that next book feel easier to reach.

And accessibility isn't only about price. It is also about being where readers are. Online shopping means you can browse from your sofa. A physical bookstore gives you the pleasure of wandering through shelves and discovering something you weren't looking for. Children's collections help parents find books for younger readers more easily. And a vending machine can put a book in someone's hands while they're simply going about their day.

Different readers need different ways into reading. The more doors we create, the better.

A Book Can Change the Mood of an Entire Day

There is another side to all of this that numbers don't capture particularly well. Reading simply feels good. In separate research into reading and mental wellbeing, the National Literacy Trust found that 59.4% of children and young people surveyed said reading helped them relax, while 46% said it made them feel happy. Again, these figures come from UK research rather than UAE-specific data, but the feelings behind them will probably sound very familiar to anyone who loves books.

Sometimes you want information. Sometimes you want inspiration. And sometimes you want to sit somewhere quiet and spend half an hour worrying about fictional people's problems instead of your own. All three are perfectly good reasons to read.

That is why encouraging reading isn't simply about increasing a number on a chart. Every book counted towards that 1 million books by 2030 represents an actual experience: someone learning something, laughing at something, sharing a story with their child or discovering a character they will remember years later.

So, Why Put Books in a Vending Machine?

Because why not? We already design so much of everyday life around convenience. Food comes to us. Coffee is available almost everywhere. Entertainment lives permanently in our pockets. Books deserve a little convenience too.

Book vending machines are simply another way for Bookends to bring books closer to the places where people already are. We hope they mean more people unexpectedly find something they want to read. Maybe it becomes someone's new favourite book. Maybe it gets passed on afterwards. Maybe it simply reminds someone who hasn't picked up a book recently how good reading can feel.

Our mission at Bookends is to encourage more reading, and our goal of reaching 1 million books read by 2030 isn't going to happen because of one enormous idea. It will happen through thousands of smaller ones, and through a community of readers who keep discovering, reading, sharing and passing books on. So yes, a vending machine full of books might seem like a small thing. But sometimes making a huge difference starts by making one good thing just a little easier to reach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it better to buy books online or from a physical bookstore?

Both have advantages, and many readers use a combination of the two. Buying books online makes it easy to search for a specific author, title or genre and compare a much larger selection without travelling anywhere. Visiting a physical bookstore offers something different: you can browse the shelves, pick up books that catch your eye and discover titles you might never have searched for yourself. Bookends offers both options, with secondhand books available online in the UAE as well as a physical bookstore in Dubai.

Where can I find affordable books in the UAE?

Buying secondhand is one of the easiest ways to make regular reading more affordable. Bookends offers used books in the UAE across fiction, children's books, self-help, business, romance and many other categories. Because the books have had previous owners, readers can often discover great titles without always paying the price of a brand-new copy. It also keeps perfectly good books circulating and gives each copy the chance to be enjoyed by another reader.

Where is the best place to buy secondhand books in Dubai?

If you're looking for secondhand books in Dubai, you can browse Bookends online or visit the Bookends physical bookstore. Shopping online is useful when you already know what you're looking for, while visiting a bookstore can be much more about discovery. Sometimes the best book you buy is the one you didn't know existed until you saw it sitting on a shelf.

Are secondhand books worth buying instead of new books?

Absolutely, especially if you read frequently. The story inside a secondhand book hasn't changed simply because somebody has read it before. Buying used books can make reading more affordable, help books stay in circulation for longer and sometimes lead you towards editions or titles you wouldn't otherwise have discovered. There is also something rather nice about knowing that the book in your hands already has a little history before becoming part of yours. 

What is a book vending machine and how does it work?

A book vending machine takes the familiar idea of a snack or drink machine and uses it to make books more accessible instead. The bigger idea is simple: getting a book should be as easy as getting a snack. Bookends is bringing book vending machines into everyday spaces, including one at the American University of Sharjah, as another way of putting books closer to where people already are. It supports the wider Bookends mission of encouraging more reading and working towards 1 million books read by 2030.