How/Where do you buy your books? (Thread #2)

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How/Where do you buy your books? (Thread #2)

1CliffBurns
Nov 4, 2019, 10:40 am

Haymarket Books is offering their ebooks at 90% off:

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/52-90-off-all-ebooks-at-haymarketbooks-org

2Limelite
Nov 4, 2019, 4:50 pm

Amazon e-books (they don't take up living space and don't make me sneeze)
Abe and Thrift books for used, old hardcovers, hard-to-finds, monthly selections for grandkids
Chirpbooks for great audible deals on current and classical items
LT Early Reviewers and Net Galley for latest new reads in exchange for reviews
Pass-along gifts from friends on occasion

Used to be I only went to the library and Barnes & Noble. No more.

3iansales
Nov 5, 2019, 2:22 am

Since I moved to Sweden, I've been buying mostly ebooks (Kindle, natch), in some cases even buying ebook copies of hardbacks or paperbacks I had to leave unread in storage in the UK. I've bought some paperbacks - the English Bookshop here in Uppsala is the best in Scandinavia, and a secondhand sf & fantasy - mostly US and UK - bookshop opened in the town a couple of months ago.

4birder4106
Nov 6, 2019, 10:33 am

I hardly buy books.
I borrowed my books for most of my life. Most of were lent from public libraries.
Since I have an eReader, I have been borrowed my books at www.onleihe.de as ebooks.

I have three accounts with three different libraries.
So I come to most of the books I want. The rest I buy at Amazon independent online bookshops.

I could never afford to buy as many books as I have read throughout my life.

5CliffBurns
Nov 11, 2019, 12:01 am

Affordability is an important point. I just bought a paperback of Ben H. Winters' UNDERGROUND AIRLINES, which has a retail price of $21.00 Canadian.

We're talking about a trade paperback. Not cheap.

I bought it at a wonderful secondhand bookshop in Edmonton called The Wee Book Inn.

If it wasn't for used/discounted books, my collection would be tiny indeed.

What really bugs the shit out of me if the high cost of poetry releases--verse is a tough sell in the first place and to overprice it seems counter-intuitive, if not dumb.

7Limelite
Modificato: Nov 19, 2019, 3:46 pm

Able to obtain first edition hardcover copy of The River That Flows Uphill by William H Calvin for part of grandsons' Christmas bundle of books.

All thanks to online used book"store" Vakia Books in Albuquerque, NM. Too far for me to visit except for it being at my fingertips via WiFi and keyboard. One of the good reasons for the existence of the Internet.

UPDATE

Just received another treasure, a first edition, first printing of Born Free by Joy Adamson intended for the same lucky recipients.

All thanks to another online book"store" Bungalow Books of Pueblo, CO.

8CliffBurns
Nov 20, 2019, 12:17 pm

Verso Books is having another great sale--50% off and shipping is dirt cheap:

https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4494-50-off-all-our-books

9CliffBurns
Dic 3, 2019, 11:56 am

Discovered a used bookstore in Saskatoon I hadn't encountered before.

Peryton Books on 20th Street.

Amazing selection, charming staff. Great atmosphere too.

I picked up a volume of poetry by Charles Simic and a history book by Ian Kershaw. Could've spent a lot more time and money there but I wisely watched my wallet.

10Limelite
Dic 3, 2019, 3:39 pm

Love used books; they feel more "alive" than new ones because they come with a past that one can wonder about when reading them. I've been buying an increased number of used books recently since getting older volumes and "discovering" new writers from my pre-literate lifetime can't be accomplished with new books. Using many small used bookstores around the world via Amazon vendors.

11RobertDay
Modificato: Dic 4, 2019, 5:46 pm

>10 Limelite: And sometimes you can do a little biblioarchaeology to try to piece some of that history together. For instance, about six weeks ago, I had a charity shop find, a rather nice (if slightly timeworn) Victorian edition of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss. It was a charity shop find and cost me something like £3 or thereabouts.

When I looked inside the front cover, though, i saw a pencilled price that was much, much higher; £45. How so? i thought. There was nothing unusual about the volume, it certainly wasn't a rare edition, and there were no bookplates or inscriptions to show that it had had any sort of notable owner.

Only when I was looking through the endpapers did I find the publisher's advertisement for "books uniform with this volume", including a nine-volume set of "The Works of George Eliot". I realised that the £45 price most likely applied to a complete set. So why was this book on its own in a charity shop in Leicester, with few other shelf companions of similar vintage? Well, knowing collectors as I do, I reasoned that a proper book collector with a uniform edition would nonetheless always be on the lookout for copies of books they already own that are in better condition. I know, I've done it myself when I've come across a far better copy of a book I already own for a reasonable price. So now I have an idea of some of this book's history. It's based on a lot of supposition, but it's part of the fun.

12Limelite
Dic 4, 2019, 4:32 pm

>11 RobertDay:

Exactly! In USA there exist Goodwill charity shops where one can give oneself over to pawing through dusty musty bound volumes and find exactly the kind of mystery inscriptions like yours. I think my favorite ones are personally inscribed ones that once had been gifts or awarded volumes. It's so easy to lapse into a daydream about the gifter and recipient's relationship and their lives.

No, I'm not a voyeur. ;^)

13Cecrow
Dic 5, 2019, 7:29 am

>12 Limelite:, I've willingly and happily bought used copies of books with underlining and notes in the margin, for similar reasons.

14bluepiano
Dic 8, 2019, 4:03 am

Two Lines Press have 20% off their entire list until end of year: https://www.catranslation.org/books-journals/. Some wonderful stuff there.--Had decided to cancel my subscription this month, saw list of 2020 books, now dithering--that's a ridiculous price to pay for a few paperbacks, yes but it's a good cause, but this year I was sent that novel that I'd lose patience with after 20 pages, but I'd be getting a couple issues of their journal as well as the books . . .

I agree--inscriptions in a 2nd-hand book are a bonus.

15CliffBurns
Feb 1, 2020, 11:27 am

16lilithcat
Modificato: Feb 1, 2020, 11:49 am

New books:

Seminary Co-op: http://www.librarything.com/venue/20/Seminary-Co-op-Bookstore
57th Street Books: http://www.librarything.com/venue/19/57th-Street-Books
Newberry Library Bookstore: http://www.librarything.com/venue/73868/Newberry-Library-Bookstore

I also occasionally use Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com (They don't charge shipping costs, which is nice, and the base price is generally the same or better than I can find elsewhere.)

Used books:

Powell's: http://www.librarything.com/venue/354/Powells-Hyde-Park
Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference Book sale (every Columbus Day weekend)
Newberry Library Book Fair (last weekend in July)
Blackstone Branch Library book sale (every April)

I also use Abebooks and Alibris for used books.

And, of course, any other bookstore or book sale I happen to run across.

18CliffBurns
Feb 5, 2020, 10:42 am

Shakespeare & Company--how I'd love to pop in for a visit:

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/11/18/the-secret-feminist-history-of-shakespe...

19bluepiano
Feb 8, 2020, 5:14 pm

If it's any consolation, after scouring the place all I bought there was Linda Lovelace's biography--because I was very mildly curious about it, because it was a bargain & because, I suppose, wow I'm in Shakespeare & Company. Which reminds me of my visit to the Strand: I was many hours there but could find only one book to buy. (It was though The Straight Dope which so delighted me that I've re-read it 2ce at least & read at least once all the Straight Dopes that followed it.)

20Crypto-Willobie
Modificato: Feb 9, 2020, 10:38 am

>15 CliffBurns:

I like the idea of Bookshop, but it appears they don't sell or give access to used books? Or maybe I'm missing something. Almost all of what I buy is out of print books, or very expensive academic books I'm waiting for the price come down on.

Search engines: ABE is the best, Amazon has breadth. But whenever possible I buy from Biblio or Alibris; ABE when necessary (it's more bookstore-like than Amazon but it's owned by them); and Amazon as a last resort. Since many many used sellers list more or less the same stock across these sites, it's easy to look something up on ABE or Amazon and then buy it from the same vendor with a coupon or a discount on Alibris or Biblio.

I'd like to use Powell's but they refuse to clearly grade their used stock for condition, and I find their website not user-friendly.

And of course all of the above can be seen conveniently laid out at ADDALL.com or Bookfinder.com. I used to use Bookfinder but now I prefer ADDALL.

Then there's eBay, but that's a different animal. Some stuff you'll see nowhere else, though there's also some overlap with the above sites. But too much overpriced stuff.

21CliffBurns
Feb 28, 2020, 10:45 am

22Cecrow
Feb 28, 2020, 12:06 pm

>21 CliffBurns:, this reads less like advice for well-intentioned shoppers, more like a list of the boors that booksellers have encountered.

23CliffBurns
Mar 1, 2020, 3:27 pm

Smashwords has a "Read an E-Book" sale on, in case you're interested:

https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos

24CliffBurns
Mar 19, 2020, 1:19 pm

Hey, all you self-isolators, both Verso Books and Haymarket Books are offering deeply discounted titles, even some freebies. Check them out:

https://www.versobooks.com/blogs

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs

25CliffBurns
Mar 26, 2020, 5:04 pm

Free or cheap downloads of horror/dark fantasy from well-regarded Canadian press, Undertow:

https://undertowpublications.com/ebooks

26bluepiano
Mar 27, 2020, 6:57 pm

Oi CliffBurns--how does one get download? Went to a page for one of the 0.00 books but saw no way to have a look at it. Cheers.

27CliffBurns
Mar 27, 2020, 8:55 pm

Are you talking about Verso Books? Usually the interface is pretty use-friendly.

You might have to register but that's a simple, painless process. You add the free books to your shopping cart, go through the checkout process and pay zero for said books. And then they provide you with the download (either ePub or Kindle formats).

Lemme know if I can help.

28CliffBurns
Mar 28, 2020, 2:16 am

Another press offering freebie ebooks and music downloads:

https://www.calamaripress.com/Catalog.htm

29CliffBurns
Mar 28, 2020, 2:42 am

More free downloads from Expat Press (very unique):

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1j3NS8nG6MuJNvf-DEH99kJCxiU2nbwwG

30bluepiano
Mar 29, 2020, 5:39 pm

>27 CliffBurns: No, sorry, Undertow. Re having a look into the free books. Cheers.

31mejix
Mar 31, 2020, 11:12 pm

Two Met Publications, available for download, I've enjoyed recently:

Rooms with a View: The Open Window in the Nineteenth Century
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Rooms_With_a_View_The_Open_Window_...

Wonder of the Age: Master Painters of India, 1100–1900
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Wonder_of_the_Age_Master_Painters_...

32CliffBurns
Apr 2, 2020, 8:18 pm

Repeater Books has a sale:

https://repeaterbooks.com/books/

(I picked up a copy of a Mark Fisher tome as well as Terence Stamp's quirky autobiography.)

33CliffBurns
Apr 9, 2020, 6:07 pm

Wow, even a famous bookstore like City Lights in San Francisco is feeling the crunch:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/aeany-keep-city-lights-books-alive

34lisahistory
Lug 13, 2020, 3:02 am

#20 Months later, just want to say thank you to Crypto-Willobie. I had never heard of addall.com, but am an inveterate abebooks (for used) and bookshop.org (for new) user.

35berthirsch
Feb 17, 2021, 11:24 am

love the New York Public Library.

36EvOnegin
Feb 18, 2021, 2:12 pm

I buy most of my used books (and sometimes new ones) from Better World Books https://www.betterworldbooks.com/ . The shipping is free, they have a huge selection, and they donate a book to a worthy cause for each book that you buy, plus they contribute to literacy programs around the world.
The only time I buy books from Amazon is when a friend has a new book published, and I want to review it on Amazon. My book-publishing friends have told me that they really appreciate this.
I have also bought new books on-line from the independent bookstore Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC. www.flyleafbooks.com . I buy from them to help keep them in business--most independent bookstores could use some help these days.

37RobertDay
Mar 27, 2021, 5:45 pm

My village is using lockdown as an excuse to do a lot of upcycling, recycling, repurposing and generally discovering community sharing. So today I saw a Facebook post which suggested that someone had put a box of books out for charity just around the corner from me. As I live on the edge of the posher end of the village, I suspected that I might get something a bit more upmarket than the usual bestsellers (though the one book I've claimed so far was Ché Guevara's Guerrilla Warfare. much to my surprise).

And so it proved. Five minute's walk around the corner and I came away with Raymond Massie's Nicholas & Alexandria, Chekhov's The Seagull, a volume of Ted Hughes poetry, Notre Dame de Paris by Hugo, and two original 1950s Penguin paperbacks, London Particular by Christianna Brand and McSorley's Wonderful Saloon by Joseph Mitchell. A suitable donation was left.

38Cecrow
Dic 30, 2022, 9:37 am

Just read about this non-profit online bookseller that raises money for neglected farm animals. Located in Lombardy, Ontario.
https://www.secondhandstories.ca/