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ColonelCurmudgeon posted:And it's hard for the indies to protest, too. "Start supporting independent shops again! This charitable organization is stealing our business!" They do complain about it, you just don't hear it because happens at the planning stage. We have an oxfam bookshop in our small town and the council had to be convinced that they wouldn't put the indie bookshop down the road out of business. I prefer the oxfam shop by a long way though, as the indie shop seems to go out of its way to stock nothing of interest whatsoever.
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Mar 20, 2010 23:03
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That's the problem--in my neighborhood Oxfam Books is the only decent used bookstore, the only place that has anything of quality. There's some stuff in the city centre that isn't Oxfam, I'll go check them out. I had no idea that Oxfam creates such a weird situation, I'll definitely keep that in mind.
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Mar 21, 2010 11:31
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The biggest thing that I dislike about my current neighborhood is the book shopping selection. I live maybe five minutes from a good-sized BN. Their selection isn't great, but it would still be my go-to bookshop just based on location if it wasn't for some funky humidity problem they seem to have. I hardly go there any more, because it's too common for me to find something I want only to notice that the pages are all wavy and the covers are curled up on every copy. They also have these huge windows on the second story, where the sun bleaches the spines of everything on the nearby shelves. Yick. The Borders stores around here tend to have a better selection, but their locations are less convenient. I also hate their stupid, over-complicated loyalty card program with a passion, so I never go there for new release books because I'd rather get a set percentage off with my BN card. There are only two used shops in a decent driving distance, one is large but full of a lot of DVDs and crap. Their selection is really odd and I rarely find anything I want there. The other is small and comfortable but seriously overpriced. They have great stuff but only maybe half of it is worth the expense, even with the constant "30% off your entire purchase" coupons you can print from their website.
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Mar 21, 2010 15:53
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There is no decent independent bookshop in the Leeds area that I know of so most of my money goes to Oxfam books in Headingley, ah well, at least it goes to a good cause.
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Mar 21, 2010 16:07
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deety posted:I live maybe five minutes from a good-sized BN. Their selection isn't great, but it would still be my go-to bookshop just based on location if it wasn't for some funky humidity problem they seem to have. I hardly go there any more, because it's too common for me to find something I want only to notice that the pages are all wavy and the covers are curled up on every copy. They also have these huge windows on the second story, where the sun bleaches the spines of everything on the nearby shelves. Yick. I've noticed this with BN too. The one I used to live by had some flooding problems about 4 years ago when a water pipe burst, so I put the amount of lightly water-damaged books down to that, but I went there recently and there's still curled covers and yellowed pages on books that were fairly recent releases. It's like they know nothing about book preservation. I guess it's more likely that they don't care because the people who come in to buy their giant stockpile of home improvement books, illustrated hand gun guides and conspiracy rags about the Templars don't really give a poo poo.
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Mar 23, 2010 03:12
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There are a number of independent bookstores in my neighbourhood (which is in Canada) that sell both used and new books, usually with the new displayed near the front and the used filling the remaining space. They tend to buy their used books selectively, so there are lots of little-worn student cast-offs etc. I imagine they do well because people like me come in to browse the used books and end up buying a new one or two while we're there. Do your chain bookstores in England at least mainly stock books? The last large chain store I went to had at least 20-30% of its floor space devoted to gift-wrap, plush toys, chocolates, plant pots, I don't know what else. I suppose I deserved what I got for going into a bookstore across the parking lot from a mall-sized Walmart, but still.
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Mar 23, 2010 04:16
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Facial Fracture posted:There are a number of independent bookstores in my neighbourhood (which is in Canada) that sell both used and new books, usually with the new displayed near the front and the used filling the remaining space. They tend to buy their used books selectively, so there are lots of little-worn student cast-offs etc. I imagine they do well because people like me come in to browse the used books and end up buying a new one or two while we're there. Depends. Places like Borders, just like in the States, had a big section for chocolate, stationery, cutesy little tchotchkes, things like that. WHSmith even sells sandwiches, art supplies, and board games in some of their stores. Waterstone's here just has a few things and of course a coffee shop.
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Mar 23, 2010 08:01
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I work 5 minutes walk from Foyles on Charing Cross Road, and if they don't have it there is Blackwells across the road and a Waterstones 5 minutes away. 
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Mar 23, 2010 12:13
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Yeah this thread actually makes me appreciative of my city. I have a Borders, plus countless regular chain bookstores like Dymocks and Collins, plus at least three great indie bookshops, plus three second-hand bookshops within 10 minutes driving distance.
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Mar 24, 2010 16:59
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On the bus today, I saw some lady pull out her book, find the page where she'd bent the corner of the page, and continue reading. Does anybody do this? I used to do this when I was small, but now I would not be willing to damage my books like this. Watching this lady do this made me a little sick to my stomach. I used to have an assortment of old hard cover books, Hardy Boys, Biggles, Tom Swift, etc.. and I used to completely damage the pages by bending the corner. I remember that sometimes the page would break when I would do this. Now I generally use any random piece of paper that I can find as a bookmark.
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Mar 26, 2010 16:04
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The bookmark icon on my Sony Reader is a folded over corner. But before I went digital sure, I always kept my place that way.
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Mar 26, 2010 16:12
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Juanito posted:On the bus today, I saw some lady pull out her book, find the page where she'd bent the corner of the page, and continue reading. Does anybody do this? Only with paperbacks, though, my hardcovers are kept in mint condition. Then again, I don't remember when I last purchased a hardcover.
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Mar 26, 2010 16:47
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I used to be really bad and dog-ear pages. I don't anymore, I just use scrap paper, but I still have old books with bent little corners. I dunno why people pay for bookmarks, or make fancy ones. I really don't get it.
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Mar 26, 2010 17:09
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The dog-ear method is pretty abhorrent. I suppose I wouldn't mind it on utterly worthless/disposable books (mass-market pb pulps), but even then I'd go without a bookmark before I started damaging it intentionally. On the other hand, I regularly use small post-its as bookmarks, the adhesiveness of which, I'm sure, would make serious archivists cringe. They seem quite harmless to me, but if I actually owned any books older than 50 or 60 years, perhaps I'd play it more conservatively.
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Mar 26, 2010 18:07
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I try to use a bookmark, but if I can't find a napkin or something I will fold over a page of one of my own books. I never do that to books that belong to the library or another person.
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Mar 26, 2010 18:56
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buy a deck of cards 1 or 2 bucks, 52 bookmarks
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Mar 26, 2010 20:07
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Juanito posted:Now I generally use any random piece of paper that I can find as a bookmark. Until I got my kindle, I used the sales receipt. Gravy Jones posted:The bookmark icon on my Sony Reader is a folded over corner. You philistine. 
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Mar 26, 2010 20:48
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It's just a book, fold over that corner if you need to.
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Mar 26, 2010 21:21
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I usually get free bookmarks with nice designs from bookstores when I buy books. Hasn't this concept caught on where you live? If I don't have a bookmark at hand, i remember the page number - tough concept to grasp, I know.
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Mar 26, 2010 22:05
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Remember where you were in the book it is not tough bookmarks are for the weak
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Mar 26, 2010 22:34
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I can usually remember what page number I was on, but I hate leafing through a book trying to get to the page I was at. I'm the person who will accidentally read something near the end of the book and not forget it. ".. and Francis said.." I will tell myself to forget what I read, but my brain:  FRANCIS Francis isn't dead at the end of the book WHO IS FRANCIS AND WHY DOES HE SURVIVE? All that can be avoided by simply using a bookmark.
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Mar 26, 2010 22:38
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Every single one of my books is spine-broken and dog-eared. Several have lost their dust covers, a few are held together by tape. There are relevant notes in some and phone numbers or similar in the backs of others. I've torn the pages-intentionally-left-blank out of books to use if I've had no other paper handy. I envy people who own Author X's entire catalogue all in hardcovers from the same publisher, but I don't understand people who have book museums rather than just, you know, books--unless they happen to own exclusively centuries' old signed manuscripts. That said, I have friends who won't lend me books because they have this (apparently prevalent) curatorial view of the issue and I am a defacer of fine literatyoore.
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Mar 26, 2010 23:31
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I reserve dog-ears for pages I want to mark for whatever reason to come back to later. For actual bookmarks I use various scraps of paper, often receipts or ripped up bits of lined note paper.
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Mar 27, 2010 00:52
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I want all my books in pristine condition so that way all the books I haven't read blend in with the few books I have.
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Mar 27, 2010 04:19
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My books are mutilated. Every page has multiple sentences underlined and things written in the margins, along with "important" pages dogeared (either from just a compulsion to dogear them or for marking them for when I have write about them in class). I'm almost done with Nabokov's The Gift and I have an ungodly amount of text underlined and circle, pages dogeared, and little illustrations drawn in the margins. I always try to leave a mark of my first reading of books so I can "recreate" the feelings I had when reading the book -- you can only read a book for the first time one time. I wouldn't have it any other way. (though I never do this to books I borrow or check out from the library. Those books are left pristine)
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Mar 27, 2010 04:57
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I use hockey cards. Right now it's one with Chris Chelios on it. I've still got a bunch of them from when I was a kid lying around and it's not like I have a better use for them.
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Mar 27, 2010 05:09
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Juanito posted:I can usually remember what page number I was on, but I hate leafing through a book trying to get to the page I was at. I'm the person who will accidentally read something near the end of the book and not forget it. Are you reading The Secret History? 
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Mar 27, 2010 07:55
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Ballsworthy posted:Remember where you were in the book it is not tough bookmarks are for the weak I don't know whether or not you're joking, but my girlfriend does this. Of course, she rarely gets further than a dozen pages into a book. I'm reading The Brothers Karamzov right now, and the first page of annotations is right across from the last page of the book. I wish they'd shoved a blank page in there because trying to *not* read some sort of spoiler is soo hard.
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Mar 27, 2010 10:07
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vegaji posted:My books are mutilated. Every page has multiple sentences underlined and things written in the margins, along with "important" pages dogeared (either from just a compulsion to dogear them or for marking them for when I have write about them in class). I'm almost done with Nabokov's The Gift and I have an ungodly amount of text underlined and circle, pages dogeared, and little illustrations drawn in the margins. I always try to leave a mark of my first reading of books so I can "recreate" the feelings I had when reading the book -- you can only read a book for the first time one time. Marginalia! It's one of my favorite words. My uncle reads like this. I always mean too but I get distracted by the reading. Also he reads slight more noteworthy stuff. My wife dog-ears the pages, even in library books.  And she works in a library. Myself, I prefer sticky notes. Because they stick. And I can make notes on them. The only unacceptable bookmark in my experience/opinion is toilet paper. It's bad enough when my dad would do this with books he owned and I'd occasionally borrow. (Curious to see you stopped reading right after they ran a consensual train on that girl in IT, dad.) But it's especially unwelcome when i find it in library books  I know what goes on in the world, I just don't like to be reminded of it.
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Mar 27, 2010 17:09
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I've been using $1 bills as bookmarks for some time now and it works out pretty well. I won't use higher denominations because people will steal them and I will lose my place in the book.
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Mar 27, 2010 17:53
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Hedrigall posted:Are you reading The Secret History?  Fuckface McGee posted:I've been using $1 bills as bookmarks for some time now and it works out pretty well. I won't use higher denominations because people will steal them and I will lose my place in the book.
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Mar 27, 2010 18:39
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appropriatemetaphor posted:I don't know whether or not you're joking, but my girlfriend does this. Of course, she rarely gets further than a dozen pages into a book. Nah I was serious but it's probably easy for me because of how much I read, don't usually leave a book alone long enough to forget where I was. And yeah sometimes I get some minor spoilers but how and why have always been more important to me than what so I don't sweat it.
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Mar 27, 2010 20:47
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Has anybody here used The Book Depository before? They're a UK-based bookseller that promises free worldwide shipping. I just bought a couple books from them. It was pretty cheap, but I have no idea how long it'll take to get my books.
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Mar 28, 2010 16:52
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I have, it only took about a week for delivery to a residential US address.
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Mar 28, 2010 17:28
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barkingclam posted:Has anybody here used The Book Depository before? They're a UK-based bookseller that promises free worldwide shipping. I just bought a couple books from them. It was pretty cheap, but I have no idea how long it'll take to get my books. I've used them via Amazon many times. I don't know if that makes any difference but they are pretty quick, a few days at most if I order midweek to my lovely UK address.
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Mar 28, 2010 20:17
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I just wanted to stop in and say that I have been coming to the Book Barn for a while now and base 90% of my book purchases (and I buy a lot of books) on what people here recommend. I love this place, much love to all the people here and the mods and keep up the good work.
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Mar 29, 2010 00:05
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barkingclam posted:Has anybody here used The Book Depository before? They're a UK-based bookseller that promises free worldwide shipping. I just bought a couple books from them. It was pretty cheap, but I have no idea how long it'll take to get my books. It's ranged between 1 and 3 weeks for me (I'm in Australia). They're pretty much the best website ever and I buy all my books there. I don't mind the wait. It's so cheap and the free postage is just awesome. Isn't there a US version of the site now, though?
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Mar 29, 2010 00:14
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Wow. That site looks awesome and I can't believe I haven't heard of it before. But how the hell is it profitable? edit: Never mind. I forgot that, as with video games, books are priced ridiculously high in Australia for some reason. freebooter fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Mar 29, 2010 |
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Mar 29, 2010 11:21
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freebooter posted:edit: Never mind. I forgot that, as with video games, books are priced ridiculously high in Australia for some reason. True. Average cost of a new, small-sized paperback in Australia = AUD$23 (USD$21, GBP£14) Average cost of the same paperback on Book Depository = AUD$11 (USD$10, GBP£6.5) Edit: It's also amazing for textbooks. I got two books I needed there for $70-80 each, whereas at my uni's bookstore, even with student discount they would have been $120-130.
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Mar 29, 2010 12:48
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Yeah, it's a really good site. As long as my books don't take like a month or two to get here, it's where I'll be buying them online from now on.
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Mar 29, 2010 18:05
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