I had never heard talk of a library in Bulgaria; in fact, the word had dwindled from my vocabulary since my return. Yet I recently discovered that such a concept does exist, and in plain view on Slaveikov Square, where you can buy an English-language book for 40 leva outside, or instead step inside for great free reads. I, for one, am ecstatic.

To become a member, bring along a passport photo for the membership card and a total of 12 leva, six for the yearly membership (for students and seniors, the price decreases to four), and another five leva to be able to take books home, this being a one-time fee that I am told is refundable at the end of the year with the original receipt. Once all this administration work is complete, you are ready to head upstairs to the second floor to a room allocated to foreign fiction books, or to the fourth floor to the sizeable non-fiction American Study Library, or to building 4A where the American Corner is housed.

As this is Bulgaria, after all, computerised self check-out stands are absent. Instead, every time you borrow books, you are given a large paper card on which to write down the author, title, a book code (which is handwritten about four pages into the book), a signature and date for each item to be taken out. Then a librarian checks whether everything you wrote is correct and stamps the return date inside the books, old-fashioned style, and keeps the card with the borrowing information until your next visit to return the material and take out more. Four books is the maximum borrowing amount, and you are given a whole month to read them, which can be further extended with a request in person or via the phone, though the most joyous aspect is the late-fee, a meagre one leva per month total, regardless of the amount of books.

Concerning the selection of English-language books, well, bad news first, because many renowned and classic authors are not present. George Orwell, Jane Austen, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ayn Rand, Toni Morrison, Paulo Coelho and more are absent, while an embarrassing amount of tattered romance paperbacks fill the shelves in the fiction room, and 80 volumes of aged Readers Digest Condensed Books rest solemnly. On the positive side, a multitude of contemporary fiction novels preside, with their inviting and artistic, multihued covers. Eloquent prose, lusciously fusing history and fiction, amusing casual reads, societal drama or dark mysteries, most of these books are unfamiliar, yet are undiscovered gems. In fact, some are missing bar codes, and labelled as not for sale, with a disclosure stating that aspects of the book may change before printing, so you can indulge in the feeling of being a leading book critic, evaluating a promotional first edition. This causes me to wonder where all these books come from; I understand that none of them were purchased new, instead arriving as donations.

The Sofia library has a website, considered advanced and comprehensive, but when I search Vladimir Nabokov in their English catalogue online database, nothing comes up, then a search for Lolita brings five editions (by Nabokov)! So it's better to go in person.

Within the same building (though a different entrance) at 4A is housed the US embassy's American Corner, featuring a good selection of children's books from classic fairytales to contemporary stories and teen literature. At present, no fiction books line the shelves of the adult room, only reference-style ones on subjects like art, history, nature and so on. A few prominent magazines, including Forbes and The New Yorker, are imported, but with about a month's delay. Yet the Corner is ever expanding, so further material is anticipated to include DVD's and fiction novels. At present, free internet is available to all.

The best way to approach the Sofia Public Library experience is with an open mind, because if you are looking for a specific book, it will very likely not be found. Instead remind yourself that you are in fact in Bulgaria, and that these books are free, and they are in English. Browse, read back covers, and you will be thrilled at the interesting selection of books and unknown treasures. The British embassy's large donation of fiction books will appear on the shelves soon, perhaps including those missing classics, or if not, well, I suppose we know them already.