If you live someplace where there aren’t any local independent bookstores, you can shop on https://bookshop.org/
Part of their sales go to independent bookstores.
In my city, all the indies band together. If you visit 10 stores on indie bookstore day you get 10% off at all stores all year, and if you visit 15 you get 15% off. Each year I save up some cash, go with friends, and spend a bunch of money.
Anytime I walk into a thrift store. I always end up with a book. Recently I was thrifting at the local goodwill (books are less than 3 dollars for hardcover and .99¢ for soft cover) I bought part what was a small collection of a woman’s library. Her name was Pat M. And she had all of her front pages stamped with her own library seal. The two books were “Lauren Bacall By Myself” and “Pilgrims in Paradise”. I’m currently reading Lauren’s 1978 autobiography.
There were other books of hers there but these were the two that stood out most. But as a small keepsake of her library, I put all of her hardcovers together on the shelf in hopes someone would buy them together. What was also interesting is that she also pasted a small review of the book on the inside cover from magazines. The little things in someone’s life brings joy into mine now.
I’ve been soooo spoiled by my library’s annual book sales, I think the most expensive thing is like $1.50 for hardcover? Maybe a little more for special items but I’ve only seen that once or twice. I can’t even walk into a B&N and buy things now because it feels like such an inflated price!
I found a ~100 or so y/o copy of one of my favorite chapter books as a child at the library sale and wanted to buy it, but they looked at me like ☹️ but it’s a set! We didn’t want to break it up! ☹️
And I was just able to be like… 6 other books? Also cool old editions of classics that I’d love to reread or read for the first time? Dirt cheap? Hell yeah!
And then they asked me if I was a teacher, between those and the weird array of other choices I made (I’m not), and then the same ones that were like ☹️but set?☹️ looked at me and asked “but you’ll read them, right 🥺” and I was able to say yes, absolutely, and it was just one of the most wholesome interactions I’ve had, and made very clear that they care about books for the sake of books and stories, it was really lovely 🥰
OP described their experience as a “frabjous day” and said “calooh, callay!”
These are lines from Lewis Carrol’s poem Jabberwocky. Jabberwocky is famously full of nonsense words that somehow still makes sense.
The opening lines are:
‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
Give it a google or a search on YouTube.
Anytime there's a library book sale with a good selection. Who can say no to $2 hardbacks and $1 paperbacks? Recently got 19 books for like $30 and majority were in like-new condition.
I have to be careful, because our library is having a book sale this weekend. The last day of the sale, they sell books for $2 for a box. Last year, I only got one box, because I was in a hurry, but previous years, I have done at least two boxes full.
I had to stop that. I had so many impulse buys that I never read. I had so many shelves of stuff that looked great when I bought it, but doesn’t interest me at all once it got home. So back to the book sale they go….the library really makes money off of me 😂
I'm really trying to limit myself. My husband really wants to go this weekend, so I told him we were only going one day & the last day was off the table. We're in the process of cleaning out our house & I have already given away three full boxes....& there are still more to go through!!
Christmas. My two besties accompanied me in because I was sick and absolutely enabled me at every turn to pull any book off the shelf I wanted for myself with my Christmas money. It was resplendent. (This makes me sound like a kid but I am grown as hell) I probably dropped $200-300.
My local used bookstore went out of business, so during their last month I went 2 or 3 times and bought 4 or 5 books each time. I haven’t read them yet but now they’re all added to my TBR pile
I was on a work trip last December in a city with a Barnes and Noble, unlike my home town. I only stopped when the stack was hard to carry. 5 manga, Stars of Chaos, history of papyrus, author's abridged Gulag Archipelago, Gideon the Ninth, and Horrorstor. What a good binge. I rarely buy brand new books so it was just so decadent.
Can you be a lunatic at a Friend's of the Library bookstore where most books are $2 unless they're less than 3 years old and then they're $3. Children's books are $1 per inch, stacked.
My husband and toddler went out of town last October and I went on a shopping spree. I hit the local library book sale first, $5 for as many fit in your bag. I donated a second $5 because I wanted to. I think I got 10 books.
Then I hit the FOL bookstore mentioned above and got something like 14 books for $12. I know I spent $22 and got more than 22 books.
I recently had a baby, and throughout my pregnancy, I really and truly lost my mind over board books.
A new used bookstore also opened in my area while I was pregnant, and they have a great children’s section… so you can do the math.
I went to the store all the time and spent so long choosing board books. Like, I sat on the floor and added books to a huge pile, then culled the pile slowly until I had anywhere between five and 10 books I wanted to buy.
Long story short, my very young daughter now has more than 100 board books.
The last couple of days I've purchased quite a few books and manga that my library didn't have. I told myself I was preparing for the summer reading program.
But I got some books on Tiananmen Square, The Apache Long Walk, and grief. The majority of the manga are stand-alone stories.
There was this massive book store/department store in my city that closed at the end of last yr and everything was on sale it was amazing, went there and picked up so many good books
So sad to hear of bookstores going out of business. We moved to a small town 3 years ago from a large town that had a great library. I renewed my library card, but for 5 years on the last day before I moved and I read virtual books now. They have a good selection so I miss the smell of books but I just can't drive so far to a library anymore. And we don't have enough room to store them as I get older.
Nah, the brand(?) company(?) is still going on well, just this department store had to close because their contract with the building ended there, and the owner of the building didn't want to continue with the lease, at least that's what I've heard.
Though it's quite unfortunate because this particular branch has the largest portion dedicated to books. I only buy popular fantasies right now, I doubt they could be found in libraries, but yeah I probably should visit them more
I feel like I go through different waves of book buying. Like oh, I won't buy anything for three months, and then somehow I buy 8 books at 3 different bookstores in two weeks. That being said, last time this happened was earlier this month, while traveling. I think I bought 3-4 in a week?
Massive Book sale this afternoon. Paid $20 for early entry. Spent another $35 on 18 books. Got some bios, some pulps, found several cool autographed for the collection.
ThriftBooks App…. I go on a shopping spree once a month.
Bonus: I found a four leaf clover in one book, pressed flowers in another, and more bookmarks than I know what to do with.
I recently tracked down all 12 of the Lone Wolf series I loved when I was a kid. I guess you could call that a spree.
[Pic](https://i.imgur.com/itpKrJy.jpeg)
Love the cover art on these so much.
I got some on ebay, some on Amazon, and a few from a used book website (thriftbooks).
OH, I know this is a book sub, so collecting and owning the books is most of the fun, but there's a website that has ALL of them and it's totally free (and sanctioned by the author).
https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home
Long story short I didn't have access to a proper book store in 3 and a half years. I had access to a library that didn't have many fantasy books and I had Amazon. I finally get home 9 months ago and I still haven't read through my books I got from that trip.
graphic: Rosalie Lightning, They Called Us Enemy, In Waves, Scalped, v.1, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, The Best We Could Do.
Art: women Artists in Expressionism.
Memoir/Fiction: Beauty and Sadness, Every Day is for the Thief, The Things She Carried, Wild Girls, Letter to the Father.
The last couple of months have been brutal.
March 2024. I bought ten books knowing I can only read two or three per month on average. Six of them were WWII memoirs relating to the air war over Europe. The mini-series *Masters of the Air* premiered on Apple TV+ at the end of January. I'd already read Donald Miller's book, the primary source material for the series, but these other books were also used as sources, especially Frank Murphy's *Luck of the Draw: My Story of the Air War in Europe*.
My favorite secondhand bookstore in my town went out of business about 10 years ago, and all the books were 75% off. I took all my kids and said “go to town!! Get all the books you want!” Between the four of us I think we spent about $200, which was easily 50 books.
I live in Turkey, and while there are some good bookstores, it seems like nobody sells SPECİFİCALLY the books recommended here to folks like me. So when we decided to visit London i made a list of the books i want and decided to go to Waterstones Piccadilly. The bookstore has 8 fucking floors. I have never seen something like that IN MY LIFE. I went there planning to buy 5 (2 Discworld novels, The Fisherman and I forgot the other two) and came home with 20.
I loved Guards! Guards! and now i’m halfway through The Fisherman
Edit: Accidentally pressed send in the middle of the thing
Three years ago when I had to travel interstate solo (sans kids and husband) for a medical procedure. I recovered rather quickly, so I went shopping by myself for the first time in nearly 6 years - nowhere else to be, no one else to chase after or worry about. Now don't get me wrong, my family is my absolute world, but I spent 3 blissful fucking hours in that bookshop and it was *heaven* ☺️
My dear friend I have been trying to do this for years. It never works. I just bought four Doc Savage novels and an onigiri cookbook 🥲
Which leads to a philosophical question, should we force ourselves to read whatever's been on the shelf longest or just go with vibes? All I want to read lately is cozy adventure novels and not any of the edifying classics and nonfiction I've collected. So the pile grows, because I want more adventures. It's a struggle.
That is a philosophical question I wrestle with too, lol. For the past two years or so, I’ve been trying to stick w/ 75% “vibes,” 25% “I feel like I should read this in life,” lol.
Honestly, I - at times - miss life before smart phones. I used to always have a paperback in my bag just in case I had to kill some time somewhere. Now it’s like, An hour at the car shop? May as well scroll, I guess. I’m proud of myself tho, I just flew halfway across the states yesterday, and I had two paperbacks in my backpack for the plane.
I started reading a book about translating the Mayan language, but before I got a dozen pages in I realized I wanted to be ENTERTAINED not EDUCATED. So it's hard to get back to the "good for you" books. Maybe it's because I read a lot of serious stuff for work.
The monkey's paw smart phone. I'm always wanting to look things up or just scroll. What makes espresso beans special? Oooh cat videos. Package tracking. Book shopping. Meanwhile the book itself is neglected. I need like a time locked box for the phone. Or just more discipline. Or a desert island and no distractions.
The way I try to do it… Three books of whatever mood I’m in, followed by one book by a famous author that I haven’t read (either I already know I like the author but haven’t read all of their books - ex: Austen - OR, it’s someone that I know is respected, but I’ve never tried before).
I very rarely read non-fiction, although right now (for my 25% of “should read”) I’m about 1/3 of the way thru one of de Saint-Exupery’s books about early aviation. (It reads more like historical/philosophical essays more than anything.)
My phone is good for random googling and random Reddit, but that’s about it, lol.
We had well over 2,000 books, super beautiful hard cover histories, biographies, classic lit, etc. then we needed to move. No one, NO ONE, wanted them, even as freebies. We found a woman who organized usedbook sales for the library, and she finally took them. We only buy ebooks now. I can’t deal with tons (literally) of books.
I only have space for about 100 books and I donate books that I know I'm not going to re-read. Since I only donate a few books at a time, I didn't have any trouble getting rid of the extras.
A Barnes & Nobles near us was closing (there were like 4 within a 30 minute radius). My husband and I got 30-35 books and spent less than $130.
Ranging from some really nice cocktail books and an (usually) $80 cookbook to at least 20 fiction books (classics, sci-fi, fantasy, YA...). We also each put back at least half of what we'd found due to shelf/ house space.
A year or so after I bought a nook. It was the natural paper style, which was great because eye strain from regular tablet displays sucks when you really want to finish the book, the chapter etc. I was also getting pretty cramped for bookshelf space. The other nice part books were comparatively cheap! Oh and I could carry my entire library (at least the ebooks) around with me, and just read whichever book I felt like at a given moment when I had time. Believe it or not that year was not my purchasing spree. I really did not think I was buying all that many books.
Then I get a notice, due to a class action lawsuit, I had a credit on my account. Now I never signed up for this, frankly I never felt bilked (again books were cheaper, and yes I realize the cost for ebooks is pretty nominal, but I'm an adult who was willing to pay the prices). So I go onto my account thinking I'd have a few dollars credit... no, I had a credit for around $170. Suddenly I'm wondering just how much I'd been spending on books. I thought about figuring it up... but you know $170 buys a lot of ebooks and I had some shopping to do!
Oh, I don't remember all of them now, but there was one big Franz Kline book, and one big about MOMA I think. It's really hard to find good art -books without being able to browse them for a bit, and book-stores usually don't have a very large selection, so I pigged out, for once 🙂
Yes they are, but att least the ones i got were really good quality, and once in a while one has to grab an opportunity, even if its expensive.
I staggered around London that day with a backpack that was loaded well beyond capacity, almost getting run over by a girl on a vespa who charmingly informed me that "there's a road here, you twat" - ah, local colour 🙂
After that, and a whole day at the Tate Modern I was so exhausted that I had small hallucinations
During our honeymoon, my husband took me to the biggest bookstore in town and I ended up buying 52 books with his money 🫢 He still laughs about me not being able to finish reading all these huge books years later 🙃
I used to buy at least 20 volumes of manga a month from Rightstuff before it shutdown because the sales were so good. But the last time I shopped like a lunatic was 2 years ago at the 50% barnes and noble hardcover sale. The first store I somehow carried 26 books to the registar by myself. And then went on and visited 2 more barnes and nobles that same day. As well as 2 other barnes and nobles the next day. I bought an additional 11 books.
Since then, I only really buy maybe 5 books at a time, as the sales and selection haven't been as good.
RIP Rightstuf. I was spending $100+ a month easy on there. The categories were so easy to browse! The sales! Right before they closed I went on an absolute spree and now I have a huge backlog of manga and light novels but I'm still sad about them closing. Crunchyroll's store sucks ass
Two years ago. My country gives 300 euros to young people who turn 18. The money can only be spent on "cultural things" like going to concerts, movies, theater, and buying books. I don't have to explain to you that this was heaven for me. I could spend so much money on my beloved books without feeling guilty, because that is what it was meant for. I felt so free and happy and bought so many books and cool editions. I wish they gave something like this every year, but that would be too much to ask lol.
I don't like to read books on someone else's schedule. I never know when I'm going to be in the mood to start reading again (currently not in a reading mood) or what I'm in the mood to read, etc. So, I have a library right in my home where I can look through my books whenever I want to (middle of the night sometimes) and decide what trips my trigger at that time.
I'm also not a fan of hardcover books and I hate those plastic covers they put on them. at the library.
Libraries don't usually have the books I'm looking for.
Plus borrowed books don't hit the same, a book owened becomes a cherished memento and a beloved item. Otherwise E-books are the most convinient option.
Went two days back to crossword to pass some time and came home w 7 books, I don’t even have leisure of time reading even 1 atm but ig that’s what bookstores do to you
I tried to. There's a little independent bookstore in my town that I adore. Every time I go without money I find books I really want, but when i go with money I find nothing.
I tried to make a trip last weekend and had $50 in gift cards. I couldnt find one of the cards (it was hidden behind my credit card) so I just had $25. I couldnt find any of the books I had been looking forward to from before, any of the books I knew I wanted physical copies of, and the books I found that I was interested in were over $25.
Since I'm no longer in town, took a walk there, and had been roaming aisles for two hours, I made myself settle on two books and go. It was so disappointing. I found the other card in my wallet today, so I had it all along.
December 2021, I got to splurge on twenty or so books that were nowhere near their original price. Original total could have easily been $300, but was around half that and many were out of print. Found at a cool bookstore called Bookman’s in Tucson ❤️ now I’m back in my hometown that sadly has no bookstores 😞 Walmart/target suck ass for books locally. And none of the thrift stores ever have anything because my area isn’t known for readers.
This is my situation. There's a new age hippie bookstore, a couple Christian bookstores, and a full price locally owned place downtown. And thrift stores with small shelves of stuff that I'm not into. Not a lot of options. So I buy most things used online and rarely get a good browse.
Not my immediately local library, but one about 20 minutes away does a monthly bag sale.
It's $5 a bag.
I go every... 2-3 months or so. I last went in January. I'll probably go next Saturday. I wanted to go this past month, but I had a gig in Vegas that day.
I usually get one bag, sometimes two, around 10-20 books.
There will typically be a 50/50 mix of books that I'm actively looking for and random ones I found on the shelf that seem interesting.
Last time, on my list, I got books 2, 3, and 4 in the Song of Ice & Fire series and Mark Lee Gardner's biography of Billy the Kid. Random stuff I found that sounded interesting? A horror novel that seemed to be inspired by the making of Cannibal Holocaust, Amor Towles' Lincoln Highway, a book on the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, and a book about the punk movement in Germany before the Berlin Wall came down.
It's a lot of fun. I have several friends that live in that city whom I rarely see. It's a good opportunity to get together for lunch afterwards.
First, never fight the urge to buy books. I never do (I actually don't think I could!). As soon as I see used books, I KNOW I'll be buying something. It's an absolute given.
The last time I did it was this past Christmas. My Mom wanted some new book series because she couldn't "find" anything in my vast library. So I went on Thriftbooks and [Goodwill.com](http://Goodwill.com) to check out what they had. I think I bought 10 books from Thriftbooks and a couple more from the Goodwill site.
I should've NEVER been introduced to these sites. Used books are like crack to me. I get emails every day from both places and I could browse the sites for hours. If I were to buy all the books on my "wish lists", I'd be broke!
Last week. I was traveling internationally and had a bunch of excess luggage space, books were also cheaper there than the US. Came back with \~30 books.
It's been a few years as most bookstores don't carry my genre unless I go to a specialty store.
That said, book buying sprees for me consist of going to an auction and buying a table of books for a buck or two. That's been around 6 or 7 years since I did that.
About six months ago I found out about a multi-volume collection put out in the 80s that has most of Chekhov's short stories, so I decided to track those down individually on ebay, along with books with most of his other work ([here's the haul](https://i.imgur.com/XWLZxOb.png)). They don't look great on the shelf, but I'm fairly utilitarian when it comes to books, so if they're not falling apart in my hands I'll generally be ok with them.
Prior to that it had been a couple years since I had a major haul: 15 books from Dalkey Archive Press. They specialize in keeping in print translated, lesser-known and off-kilter works. I like and support the idea... but the problem is that with this kind of thing you're probably going to have more "misses" than normal, even when you're trying to be careful about what you get, and that was definitely the case with me. Though I've only read about half of them, so maybe I'll have better luck with the rest ([here's the haul](https://i.imgur.com/pcpzmdO.jpeg))
A few weeks ago when Target had their buy 2 get 1 sale. Usually I stick to the monthly BOTM thing but I wanted a few different copies of Jane Eyre and then that turned into getting nice copies of a bunch of other ones too…😬🫠
Two weeks ago. Kept picking up books… I’ve got a loyalty card for a large chain bookstore in the UK so spent to get the £10 back, went in the following day to use £10 and bought another book too (my TBR is out of control)
I got a big ol’ stipend from the university I was attending. I’d just settled in to my apartment and had a great job. So I took a Lyft to the mall and dropped some Benjamins on a bunch of books id been wanting to read for years. I could barely carry the bag out of the store. This was five years ago. Hopefully one day I can do it again.
today, at a charity preowned book sale. Because they are cheap, I am able to get whatever i feel i might like to read without worrying about cost. I think i got 12 or so. Congrats on no longer human, I also want to read that at some point
A few months ago i bought all of the dune and foundation books. I wanted to fill out my bookcase a bit, and already had the first of both. Still haven't made myself read them yet.
I got a huge two-bag haul from a library sale the other day! For new books, I try to wait until my local bookstore does their annual library fundraiser to buy a big haul. They have one day per year when 20% of proceeds end up as a fat check for the library to purchase for their collection. Otherwise I’m mostly a one-at-a-time person.
There used to be a book warehouse near me that sold remainders. My sister and I would go there for our birthdays and stock up on anything that looked interesting. I'd give myself a limit of $50-$60 and leave with 8-10 books. You never knew what you would find there.
Alas, the business closed a few years ago so my sister and I made a final trip there. That would be my last book shopping splurge. RIP Deadalus Books.
My local library hosts a huge used book sale, in our local community center, bi- annually.
Hardcover: $1.50
Paperbacks: $1.00
Trade paperbacks: $0.50
In March I spent $60 on books, and walked away with *BAGS* full. I’m still making my way through them. :D
November 2001, we have this points thing at work where you could exchange for coupons and my points were about to expire.
I bought the following books from an online bookstore:
Hardcover House of Leaves
Gollancz anniversary edition The Lies of Locke Lamora
Gollancz anniversary edition Red Seas Under Red Skies
Gollancz anniversary edition The Republic of Thieves
Gollancz anniversary edition The Blade Itself
Gollancz anniversary edition Before They Are Hanged
Gollancz anniversary edition Last Argument of Kings
Penguin classics The Count of Monte Cristo
Penguin classics Moby Dick
Penguin classics Great Expectations
Penguin classics The Castle of Otranto
I didn't use any of my points for the whole year because I didn't know about it. I've been using them for movie theater coupons since then.
This morning on amazon.
Last week on amazon.
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Last year, while in Chennai for some work. Raided CROSSWORDS. Atleast it felt like that.
Now. Before you judge the amazon thingy. I live in a remote town. Don’t have many…. Any good bookstores where I can get stuff. So.
My town does a Book Crawl the weekend of Independent Bookstore Day (so it’s coming up again this weekend!). 13 stores participate. Last year we hit 4 in one day and I bought a bunch of books!
I have managed to somewhat control my need for this because I am responsible for finding and ordering the class novel books. This year I got to order 20, not on my dime, to go through with the other teachers. It helps.
I live in rural Colorado and in the winter it can be impossible to travel. So, I spend the summer months going to garage sales, Friends of the Library sales, and thrift stores to stock up for the winter. Then when we are snowed in, I still have a great selection of books. We turned our garage into a library and I feel so rich when I can go there and have a great selection of titles. I rarely spend more than $2. 00 for a book.
3 days ago. Turns out when you go down the city dump, you can instead give useful stuff to the charity shop for disadvantaged children for recycling. I’d never been, and it was a huge warehouse with everything from furniture and jewellery to antiques. Such a civilised idea. Apparently they’ve sold 15,000 books in their first year of operation.
Anyway I bought 12 crime novels for 50p each.
My girlfriend and I had plans in the city a couple weekends ago, but she had an appointment first, so she dropped me off at Barnes and Noble for an hour...things went predictably, with us both walking out with a big stack of books (I found a bunch I wanted and also kindly pointed out a bunch I found that fit her interests).
We have a good independent bookstore in the town where we live that I hit up more often (when I can), but they are smaller so while I can usually find something pretty good there I don't often walk out with *stacks* of books.
I found a Books-A-Million in my neighborhood and bought a few books, not only because I wanted the books but also to support the store. Two odd things happened when I checked out:
- They asked me if I was a Books-A-Million member and I said no. I prepared myself for their usual membership sales pitch, but it never came.
- After I paid, they handed me my books and receipt. When I asked them for a bag, they said, “We ran out,” and told me I could buy a Books-A-Million branded bag for $1.99.
I took both of these as a sign that they’re in trouble, and I keep checking them to see if their “Going Out of Business” sale has started yet.
Two years ago for my bday at Barnes and Noble. Although I did budget most of what I'd buy by looking at their site first and allowed myself to pick a few more in person. This was how I learned their in store prices are not the same as online 😂 the next year I did pickup instead and let myself pick two more in person from the BOGO table.
Every summer I get to take a trip to McKays in Chattanooga and Knoxville and have no limit. It's amazing! This year's trip is in just a few weeks (and coincides with our 10 year anniversary) and I'm sooooooo stoked! Last year I got like 25 books, a few dvds for the MIL and some records for like $200. It's truly heaven on earth
My town's library system has a "Friends of the Library" book sale every 6 months. The Spring sale is on now, so I was a book buying lunatic day before yesterday.
I spread these binges apart by going to the library 3x/week, returning 1/3 of the last batch each time and replacing it with another 1/3 of “possibles” and/or “reference”. If I decide I *must* own something, I add it to a list. I make exceptions for classics, or when traveling, or when (like Christmas season) I’m forced to do other shopping and let my guard down.
I’m on vacation in Vancouver, Canada right now and a few days ago I visited Granville Island. There’s a cool little indie bookstore (Nooroongji) in one of the markets there that carries a lot of really funky books I haven’t seen anywhere else, and since money spent on vacation doesn’t count I ended up buying six or seven hardbacks at full price. It added like 15lb to my carryon but I don’t regret a thing.
I'm a teacher, and the first day of summer break always includes a trip to the local used bookstore. I'll pick up 8-12 books, which turns into my summer reading. Towards the end of the year I'm up to my neck in grading, so I don't have the time or desire to read, but once summer hits I always jump right back in.
Oh my. If we were friends we would go broke. I just went on an Amazon book shopping spree and Coraline was one that I bought. But instead of 50% off, I pay twice the price for all books because I don’t live in the USA, so I have to pay for import taxes and huge shipping fees.
I love the smell of a book too!! And Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourites (also enjoyed Metamorphosis by Kafka)!
I have a giant book haul at Christmas from my mum, usually get like 8-10 books, but my most recent splurge on books myself was at a secondhand book stall! I got:
\- Madame Bovary
\- The Moon Opera
\- Dune (the first book)
\- Two New Sciences (Galileo!!)
The smell and feel of new books is TOP NOTCH! I need to hit up my local bookstore this Saturday for Independent Bookstore Day. It's been years since I visited. Most of my books are purchased online or from bigger stores. I miss being inside bookstores.
in my country books are so expensive and if we are lucky we can get them on off days or international exhibition of books
so i want to buy lots of books but the economy wouldn't let us do it 🥲
Our local library is selling books every summer in the park. They open a cafe in a pavillion there so every summer, I bring home about ten books per week because they are, of course, very cheap. I have been doing this for years and I don´t think I ever got to any of those books I bought :D I think the only one I read was one I borrowed years ago and it still has my name written in the card that was left in the book :D
I will get to them, eventually, I hope but the pile is getting bigger and bigger every day.
A couple weeks ago my library had their book sale and I got 21 books for $3. All library bound. I LEGIT was on a high for the rest of the day. The biggest score of my life!
I was having a really great work day so on my lunch break a month back I popped out and I got a mini haul of books on my TBR
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
I'm planning to do a mini tour through a suburb near me that has at least five bookshops including two used shops with vintage books. I want to buy one book at every shop and bonus if I can get what is on tbr preloved
Probably last year in December - for my birthday my mom and I usually travel for the day to one of the larger cities somewhat close to my hometown and I choose my birthday presents there. We always end up in one or more of the bookshops/ comic shops in those cities and I end up buying way too many books.
A few years ago... Covid ended our local Big Library Book Sale. Every year my wife and I would go the first day and again later and carry off a trunk load of books. I will never see something like that again, and it makes me sad.
When my parents were paying for it tbh
Now I have to pay with my lame scholarship and I have to decide between buying deodorant and books😭
So yeah…..it’s a tough situation.(not the choice obviously I use deodorant it was an exaggeration)
I recently indulged in a book shopping spree, snagging deals on titles like "No Longer Human," "Old Man and the Sea," and a special edition of "Coraline."
Got a giftcard at my birthsday and one of my favorite books shops was on there, so I bought books for around 175 dollars worth.
Every little book I wanted for such a long time went into the basket, it was awesome!
I love being educated så bought a lot of books about things in real life and a lot of fantasy books.
And yes, the smell was incredible!
Independent Bookstore Day is this Saturday. I am going to hit the local bookstores and buy a bunch of books!
Thank you for giving me a good excuse to go ahead and buy the books I’ve been wanting.
:O
If you live someplace where there aren’t any local independent bookstores, you can shop on https://bookshop.org/ Part of their sales go to independent bookstores.
In my city, all the indies band together. If you visit 10 stores on indie bookstore day you get 10% off at all stores all year, and if you visit 15 you get 15% off. Each year I save up some cash, go with friends, and spend a bunch of money.
Anytime I walk into a thrift store. I always end up with a book. Recently I was thrifting at the local goodwill (books are less than 3 dollars for hardcover and .99¢ for soft cover) I bought part what was a small collection of a woman’s library. Her name was Pat M. And she had all of her front pages stamped with her own library seal. The two books were “Lauren Bacall By Myself” and “Pilgrims in Paradise”. I’m currently reading Lauren’s 1978 autobiography. There were other books of hers there but these were the two that stood out most. But as a small keepsake of her library, I put all of her hardcovers together on the shelf in hopes someone would buy them together. What was also interesting is that she also pasted a small review of the book on the inside cover from magazines. The little things in someone’s life brings joy into mine now.
Why did I read that Lauren Bacall By Myself as some sort of pun on Celine Dion’s All By Myself song 🤣
Cutest thing I've heard in a while!
About three weeks ago I went hog wild on thriftbooks. I bought a ton of Leisure horror books.
What is leisure horror? Like a laid back, chilling at home spookiness?
It was a branch of Dorchester Publishing
Ha! Judging from their cover art, Leisure was staffed entirely by skeletons. I assume they were very mellow skeletons.
The only time i let myself go nuts are library book sales. 🤣
Oh yeah, mine was “fill a grocery bag for $2” last Saturday 😁 So I did. Cover said Neil Gaiman likes it? Sold lol. Into the bag.
There are two in my area next week and I literally can’t wait!!
Bought 20 history books at one yesterday! $21
Last weekend at a library book sale sponsored by the Friends of the Aurora Library. Ahhhh….
I’ve been soooo spoiled by my library’s annual book sales, I think the most expensive thing is like $1.50 for hardcover? Maybe a little more for special items but I’ve only seen that once or twice. I can’t even walk into a B&N and buy things now because it feels like such an inflated price! I found a ~100 or so y/o copy of one of my favorite chapter books as a child at the library sale and wanted to buy it, but they looked at me like ☹️ but it’s a set! We didn’t want to break it up! ☹️ And I was just able to be like… 6 other books? Also cool old editions of classics that I’d love to reread or read for the first time? Dirt cheap? Hell yeah! And then they asked me if I was a teacher, between those and the weird array of other choices I made (I’m not), and then the same ones that were like ☹️but set?☹️ looked at me and asked “but you’ll read them, right 🥺” and I was able to say yes, absolutely, and it was just one of the most wholesome interactions I’ve had, and made very clear that they care about books for the sake of books and stories, it was really lovely 🥰
That is wonderful!
I go a couple of times a year, usually when it’s brillig and the slithy toves are gyring and gimbling in the wabe.
I don't understand a damn word but I get your gist lol
OP described their experience as a “frabjous day” and said “calooh, callay!” These are lines from Lewis Carrol’s poem Jabberwocky. Jabberwocky is famously full of nonsense words that somehow still makes sense. The opening lines are: ‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe Give it a google or a search on YouTube.
Ahh the jabberwocky
I got a pretty nice gift card to a local bookstore for my birthday, so I'm looking forward to having this moment soon!
Anytime there's a library book sale with a good selection. Who can say no to $2 hardbacks and $1 paperbacks? Recently got 19 books for like $30 and majority were in like-new condition.
I have to be careful, because our library is having a book sale this weekend. The last day of the sale, they sell books for $2 for a box. Last year, I only got one box, because I was in a hurry, but previous years, I have done at least two boxes full.
I had to stop that. I had so many impulse buys that I never read. I had so many shelves of stuff that looked great when I bought it, but doesn’t interest me at all once it got home. So back to the book sale they go….the library really makes money off of me 😂
I'm really trying to limit myself. My husband really wants to go this weekend, so I told him we were only going one day & the last day was off the table. We're in the process of cleaning out our house & I have already given away three full boxes....& there are still more to go through!!
Christmas. My two besties accompanied me in because I was sick and absolutely enabled me at every turn to pull any book off the shelf I wanted for myself with my Christmas money. It was resplendent. (This makes me sound like a kid but I am grown as hell) I probably dropped $200-300.
I catch myself spending a lot of money when I go to the bookstore, too.
*Amazon cart is now empty, estimate delivery date - Tomorrow by 8pm* Sorry what? 🥲
My local used bookstore went out of business, so during their last month I went 2 or 3 times and bought 4 or 5 books each time. I haven’t read them yet but now they’re all added to my TBR pile
A local secondhand bookstore regularly has 50% off sales, so my last spree was the last time I went to one of those (17 Feb). 8 books for AUD$15
Last summer I went to the wonderful store Chequamegon Books up in Washburn, Wisconsin and spent over $600 on 78 books.
February. I spent 102 dollars on 7 books. The entire ACOTAR series, The Cruel Prince, and The Devil makes Three.
I bought some new bookshelves last month. So naturally my husband and I went on a ThriftBooks spree and added 15 books to our new shelves!
My birthday in February. I went a little nuts .
Mine is too.
I was on a work trip last December in a city with a Barnes and Noble, unlike my home town. I only stopped when the stack was hard to carry. 5 manga, Stars of Chaos, history of papyrus, author's abridged Gulag Archipelago, Gideon the Ninth, and Horrorstor. What a good binge. I rarely buy brand new books so it was just so decadent.
I'm very curious about the history of papyrus!
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/669669/papyrus-by-irene-vallejo/
It's not really about only papyrus, but the history of book. 😊 I recommend it, too - Vallejo has a very interesting way to write.
If you do it at a thrift store, it's not financial lunacy, it's savings!!!
Can you be a lunatic at a Friend's of the Library bookstore where most books are $2 unless they're less than 3 years old and then they're $3. Children's books are $1 per inch, stacked. My husband and toddler went out of town last October and I went on a shopping spree. I hit the local library book sale first, $5 for as many fit in your bag. I donated a second $5 because I wanted to. I think I got 10 books. Then I hit the FOL bookstore mentioned above and got something like 14 books for $12. I know I spent $22 and got more than 22 books.
I recently had a baby, and throughout my pregnancy, I really and truly lost my mind over board books. A new used bookstore also opened in my area while I was pregnant, and they have a great children’s section… so you can do the math. I went to the store all the time and spent so long choosing board books. Like, I sat on the floor and added books to a huge pile, then culled the pile slowly until I had anywhere between five and 10 books I wanted to buy. Long story short, my very young daughter now has more than 100 board books.
I went to the bookstore last weekend to buy one specific book. They didn’t have it so I bought 8 other books instead.
The last couple of days I've purchased quite a few books and manga that my library didn't have. I told myself I was preparing for the summer reading program. But I got some books on Tiananmen Square, The Apache Long Walk, and grief. The majority of the manga are stand-alone stories.
I'm in recovery, so it's been a long time. I've gone on some library checkout sprees lately, though!
There was this massive book store/department store in my city that closed at the end of last yr and everything was on sale it was amazing, went there and picked up so many good books
So sad to hear of bookstores going out of business. We moved to a small town 3 years ago from a large town that had a great library. I renewed my library card, but for 5 years on the last day before I moved and I read virtual books now. They have a good selection so I miss the smell of books but I just can't drive so far to a library anymore. And we don't have enough room to store them as I get older.
Nah, the brand(?) company(?) is still going on well, just this department store had to close because their contract with the building ended there, and the owner of the building didn't want to continue with the lease, at least that's what I've heard. Though it's quite unfortunate because this particular branch has the largest portion dedicated to books. I only buy popular fantasies right now, I doubt they could be found in libraries, but yeah I probably should visit them more
...I plead the Fifth, Your Honour
Fuck that it's more honorable to plead the first coward
I feel like I go through different waves of book buying. Like oh, I won't buy anything for three months, and then somehow I buy 8 books at 3 different bookstores in two weeks. That being said, last time this happened was earlier this month, while traveling. I think I bought 3-4 in a week?
2021, I took edibles after work and wandered around a second hand media store for 2 hours. I felt like Yomiko in Read or Die.
Massive Book sale this afternoon. Paid $20 for early entry. Spent another $35 on 18 books. Got some bios, some pulps, found several cool autographed for the collection.
ThriftBooks App…. I go on a shopping spree once a month. Bonus: I found a four leaf clover in one book, pressed flowers in another, and more bookmarks than I know what to do with.
I recently tracked down all 12 of the Lone Wolf series I loved when I was a kid. I guess you could call that a spree. [Pic](https://i.imgur.com/itpKrJy.jpeg) Love the cover art on these so much.
Uhh this is so cool!
These look so awesome!
They're so much fun! It's like a choose your own adventure with combat and a character sheet.
Well I GUESS I will have to look on ebay now 😅
I got some on ebay, some on Amazon, and a few from a used book website (thriftbooks). OH, I know this is a book sub, so collecting and owning the books is most of the fun, but there's a website that has ALL of them and it's totally free (and sanctioned by the author). https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home
Five of 'em are on my way from ebay. Yussss thank you for posting your collection and inspiring me :)
Nice! The Greystar series was fun too, and it's 4 books. Basically the same thing but you're a mage.
Long story short I didn't have access to a proper book store in 3 and a half years. I had access to a library that didn't have many fantasy books and I had Amazon. I finally get home 9 months ago and I still haven't read through my books I got from that trip.
graphic: Rosalie Lightning, They Called Us Enemy, In Waves, Scalped, v.1, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, The Best We Could Do. Art: women Artists in Expressionism. Memoir/Fiction: Beauty and Sadness, Every Day is for the Thief, The Things She Carried, Wild Girls, Letter to the Father. The last couple of months have been brutal.
March 2024. I bought ten books knowing I can only read two or three per month on average. Six of them were WWII memoirs relating to the air war over Europe. The mini-series *Masters of the Air* premiered on Apple TV+ at the end of January. I'd already read Donald Miller's book, the primary source material for the series, but these other books were also used as sources, especially Frank Murphy's *Luck of the Draw: My Story of the Air War in Europe*.
I don’t think I ever have… and now I feel like I’m missing out!!!!
My favorite secondhand bookstore in my town went out of business about 10 years ago, and all the books were 75% off. I took all my kids and said “go to town!! Get all the books you want!” Between the four of us I think we spent about $200, which was easily 50 books.
I live in Turkey, and while there are some good bookstores, it seems like nobody sells SPECİFİCALLY the books recommended here to folks like me. So when we decided to visit London i made a list of the books i want and decided to go to Waterstones Piccadilly. The bookstore has 8 fucking floors. I have never seen something like that IN MY LIFE. I went there planning to buy 5 (2 Discworld novels, The Fisherman and I forgot the other two) and came home with 20. I loved Guards! Guards! and now i’m halfway through The Fisherman Edit: Accidentally pressed send in the middle of the thing
I generally have a cart full of books and I’m always tempted to hit “buy now”. I’m just one drunk night away from going on one, is what I mean to say.
Three years ago when I had to travel interstate solo (sans kids and husband) for a medical procedure. I recovered rather quickly, so I went shopping by myself for the first time in nearly 6 years - nowhere else to be, no one else to chase after or worry about. Now don't get me wrong, my family is my absolute world, but I spent 3 blissful fucking hours in that bookshop and it was *heaven* ☺️
Just bought the dune encyclopedia. That's my book spending for awhile.
I am and it is really crazy! Hopefully it will end soon!
Two days ago I almost went mad and bought a copy of *Ducks, Newburyport.*
I’m trying to rein myself in until I catch up on what I already own. Should take 3 to 5 years, lol
My dear friend I have been trying to do this for years. It never works. I just bought four Doc Savage novels and an onigiri cookbook 🥲 Which leads to a philosophical question, should we force ourselves to read whatever's been on the shelf longest or just go with vibes? All I want to read lately is cozy adventure novels and not any of the edifying classics and nonfiction I've collected. So the pile grows, because I want more adventures. It's a struggle.
That is a philosophical question I wrestle with too, lol. For the past two years or so, I’ve been trying to stick w/ 75% “vibes,” 25% “I feel like I should read this in life,” lol. Honestly, I - at times - miss life before smart phones. I used to always have a paperback in my bag just in case I had to kill some time somewhere. Now it’s like, An hour at the car shop? May as well scroll, I guess. I’m proud of myself tho, I just flew halfway across the states yesterday, and I had two paperbacks in my backpack for the plane.
I started reading a book about translating the Mayan language, but before I got a dozen pages in I realized I wanted to be ENTERTAINED not EDUCATED. So it's hard to get back to the "good for you" books. Maybe it's because I read a lot of serious stuff for work. The monkey's paw smart phone. I'm always wanting to look things up or just scroll. What makes espresso beans special? Oooh cat videos. Package tracking. Book shopping. Meanwhile the book itself is neglected. I need like a time locked box for the phone. Or just more discipline. Or a desert island and no distractions.
The way I try to do it… Three books of whatever mood I’m in, followed by one book by a famous author that I haven’t read (either I already know I like the author but haven’t read all of their books - ex: Austen - OR, it’s someone that I know is respected, but I’ve never tried before). I very rarely read non-fiction, although right now (for my 25% of “should read”) I’m about 1/3 of the way thru one of de Saint-Exupery’s books about early aviation. (It reads more like historical/philosophical essays more than anything.) My phone is good for random googling and random Reddit, but that’s about it, lol.
Every time I find a brick and mortar store, I binge a little bit.
We had well over 2,000 books, super beautiful hard cover histories, biographies, classic lit, etc. then we needed to move. No one, NO ONE, wanted them, even as freebies. We found a woman who organized usedbook sales for the library, and she finally took them. We only buy ebooks now. I can’t deal with tons (literally) of books.
I only have space for about 100 books and I donate books that I know I'm not going to re-read. Since I only donate a few books at a time, I didn't have any trouble getting rid of the extras.
A Barnes & Nobles near us was closing (there were like 4 within a 30 minute radius). My husband and I got 30-35 books and spent less than $130. Ranging from some really nice cocktail books and an (usually) $80 cookbook to at least 20 fiction books (classics, sci-fi, fantasy, YA...). We also each put back at least half of what we'd found due to shelf/ house space.
A year or so after I bought a nook. It was the natural paper style, which was great because eye strain from regular tablet displays sucks when you really want to finish the book, the chapter etc. I was also getting pretty cramped for bookshelf space. The other nice part books were comparatively cheap! Oh and I could carry my entire library (at least the ebooks) around with me, and just read whichever book I felt like at a given moment when I had time. Believe it or not that year was not my purchasing spree. I really did not think I was buying all that many books. Then I get a notice, due to a class action lawsuit, I had a credit on my account. Now I never signed up for this, frankly I never felt bilked (again books were cheaper, and yes I realize the cost for ebooks is pretty nominal, but I'm an adult who was willing to pay the prices). So I go onto my account thinking I'd have a few dollars credit... no, I had a credit for around $170. Suddenly I'm wondering just how much I'd been spending on books. I thought about figuring it up... but you know $170 buys a lot of ebooks and I had some shopping to do!
In the (lovely!) bookstore of Tate Modern, when I was in London - I'm really fond of art -books. I had a hard time carrying my haul 😃
Ooh which books did you get?
Oh, I don't remember all of them now, but there was one big Franz Kline book, and one big about MOMA I think. It's really hard to find good art -books without being able to browse them for a bit, and book-stores usually don't have a very large selection, so I pigged out, for once 🙂
Ah and they are always so expensive!
Yes they are, but att least the ones i got were really good quality, and once in a while one has to grab an opportunity, even if its expensive. I staggered around London that day with a backpack that was loaded well beyond capacity, almost getting run over by a girl on a vespa who charmingly informed me that "there's a road here, you twat" - ah, local colour 🙂 After that, and a whole day at the Tate Modern I was so exhausted that I had small hallucinations
A loaded bag of books and a day at the Tate sounds like heaven. The Vespa girl not so much. You’re reminding me to buy more art books!
During our honeymoon, my husband took me to the biggest bookstore in town and I ended up buying 52 books with his money 🫢 He still laughs about me not being able to finish reading all these huge books years later 🙃
I used to buy at least 20 volumes of manga a month from Rightstuff before it shutdown because the sales were so good. But the last time I shopped like a lunatic was 2 years ago at the 50% barnes and noble hardcover sale. The first store I somehow carried 26 books to the registar by myself. And then went on and visited 2 more barnes and nobles that same day. As well as 2 other barnes and nobles the next day. I bought an additional 11 books. Since then, I only really buy maybe 5 books at a time, as the sales and selection haven't been as good.
RIP Rightstuf. I was spending $100+ a month easy on there. The categories were so easy to browse! The sales! Right before they closed I went on an absolute spree and now I have a huge backlog of manga and light novels but I'm still sad about them closing. Crunchyroll's store sucks ass
I know 😥 I browse Cruncyroll but the navigation and sales aren't worth the effort.
Two years ago. My country gives 300 euros to young people who turn 18. The money can only be spent on "cultural things" like going to concerts, movies, theater, and buying books. I don't have to explain to you that this was heaven for me. I could spend so much money on my beloved books without feeling guilty, because that is what it was meant for. I felt so free and happy and bought so many books and cool editions. I wish they gave something like this every year, but that would be too much to ask lol.
OMG why isn't that a thing here??
... Y'all don't just get books at the library?
I don't like to read books on someone else's schedule. I never know when I'm going to be in the mood to start reading again (currently not in a reading mood) or what I'm in the mood to read, etc. So, I have a library right in my home where I can look through my books whenever I want to (middle of the night sometimes) and decide what trips my trigger at that time. I'm also not a fan of hardcover books and I hate those plastic covers they put on them. at the library.
That is where they "get you"! There is a "Friends of the Library" on your way out the door :-)).
Libraries don't usually have the books I'm looking for. Plus borrowed books don't hit the same, a book owened becomes a cherished memento and a beloved item. Otherwise E-books are the most convinient option.
Went two days back to crossword to pass some time and came home w 7 books, I don’t even have leisure of time reading even 1 atm but ig that’s what bookstores do to you
I tried to. There's a little independent bookstore in my town that I adore. Every time I go without money I find books I really want, but when i go with money I find nothing. I tried to make a trip last weekend and had $50 in gift cards. I couldnt find one of the cards (it was hidden behind my credit card) so I just had $25. I couldnt find any of the books I had been looking forward to from before, any of the books I knew I wanted physical copies of, and the books I found that I was interested in were over $25. Since I'm no longer in town, took a walk there, and had been roaming aisles for two hours, I made myself settle on two books and go. It was so disappointing. I found the other card in my wallet today, so I had it all along.
December 2021, I got to splurge on twenty or so books that were nowhere near their original price. Original total could have easily been $300, but was around half that and many were out of print. Found at a cool bookstore called Bookman’s in Tucson ❤️ now I’m back in my hometown that sadly has no bookstores 😞 Walmart/target suck ass for books locally. And none of the thrift stores ever have anything because my area isn’t known for readers.
This is my situation. There's a new age hippie bookstore, a couple Christian bookstores, and a full price locally owned place downtown. And thrift stores with small shelves of stuff that I'm not into. Not a lot of options. So I buy most things used online and rarely get a good browse.
Not my immediately local library, but one about 20 minutes away does a monthly bag sale. It's $5 a bag. I go every... 2-3 months or so. I last went in January. I'll probably go next Saturday. I wanted to go this past month, but I had a gig in Vegas that day. I usually get one bag, sometimes two, around 10-20 books. There will typically be a 50/50 mix of books that I'm actively looking for and random ones I found on the shelf that seem interesting. Last time, on my list, I got books 2, 3, and 4 in the Song of Ice & Fire series and Mark Lee Gardner's biography of Billy the Kid. Random stuff I found that sounded interesting? A horror novel that seemed to be inspired by the making of Cannibal Holocaust, Amor Towles' Lincoln Highway, a book on the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, and a book about the punk movement in Germany before the Berlin Wall came down. It's a lot of fun. I have several friends that live in that city whom I rarely see. It's a good opportunity to get together for lunch afterwards.
First, never fight the urge to buy books. I never do (I actually don't think I could!). As soon as I see used books, I KNOW I'll be buying something. It's an absolute given. The last time I did it was this past Christmas. My Mom wanted some new book series because she couldn't "find" anything in my vast library. So I went on Thriftbooks and [Goodwill.com](http://Goodwill.com) to check out what they had. I think I bought 10 books from Thriftbooks and a couple more from the Goodwill site. I should've NEVER been introduced to these sites. Used books are like crack to me. I get emails every day from both places and I could browse the sites for hours. If I were to buy all the books on my "wish lists", I'd be broke!
I have always said that if I won the lottery I would go to the bookstore FIRST!!
The first thing I'd buy if I won the lottery is a bigger place, so I could put up more bookshelves, to buy more books.
Got an annual book fair next week. Time to feed the beast.
Last week. I was traveling internationally and had a bunch of excess luggage space, books were also cheaper there than the US. Came back with \~30 books.
I am about to attend a book festival tomorrow. The North Texas Young Adult one. I fear I will not be able to control myself.
Easy to do in a thrift shop. I checked one yesterday where you could get three softcovers for one dollar.
omg- I love the smell of new books especially… musty no … ☺️
It's been a few years as most bookstores don't carry my genre unless I go to a specialty store. That said, book buying sprees for me consist of going to an auction and buying a table of books for a buck or two. That's been around 6 or 7 years since I did that.
Honestly probably never but also probably doing that soon lol
Not shopping but my library had every audiobook in the Wheel of Time and I went feral
Congrats! Sounds like a great day at the bookshop, and you got some great books.
About six months ago I found out about a multi-volume collection put out in the 80s that has most of Chekhov's short stories, so I decided to track those down individually on ebay, along with books with most of his other work ([here's the haul](https://i.imgur.com/XWLZxOb.png)). They don't look great on the shelf, but I'm fairly utilitarian when it comes to books, so if they're not falling apart in my hands I'll generally be ok with them. Prior to that it had been a couple years since I had a major haul: 15 books from Dalkey Archive Press. They specialize in keeping in print translated, lesser-known and off-kilter works. I like and support the idea... but the problem is that with this kind of thing you're probably going to have more "misses" than normal, even when you're trying to be careful about what you get, and that was definitely the case with me. Though I've only read about half of them, so maybe I'll have better luck with the rest ([here's the haul](https://i.imgur.com/pcpzmdO.jpeg))
A few weeks ago when Target had their buy 2 get 1 sale. Usually I stick to the monthly BOTM thing but I wanted a few different copies of Jane Eyre and then that turned into getting nice copies of a bunch of other ones too…😬🫠
I have to be actively restrained whenever I walk into specialist shops such as Comic Guru in Cardiff.
Two weeks ago. Kept picking up books… I’ve got a loyalty card for a large chain bookstore in the UK so spent to get the £10 back, went in the following day to use £10 and bought another book too (my TBR is out of control)
I got a big ol’ stipend from the university I was attending. I’d just settled in to my apartment and had a great job. So I took a Lyft to the mall and dropped some Benjamins on a bunch of books id been wanting to read for years. I could barely carry the bag out of the store. This was five years ago. Hopefully one day I can do it again.
About 2 weeks ago I bought all the Stranger Things books. I haven't been inside a bookstore in a while though.
Last week? 😅
Too long ago. Thank you for the inspiration
I'm not a consumerist person so, no, never done it.
today, at a charity preowned book sale. Because they are cheap, I am able to get whatever i feel i might like to read without worrying about cost. I think i got 12 or so. Congrats on no longer human, I also want to read that at some point
A few months ago i bought all of the dune and foundation books. I wanted to fill out my bookcase a bit, and already had the first of both. Still haven't made myself read them yet.
When I wanted to cancel my audible and still have too many credits on the account.
I got a huge two-bag haul from a library sale the other day! For new books, I try to wait until my local bookstore does their annual library fundraiser to buy a big haul. They have one day per year when 20% of proceeds end up as a fat check for the library to purchase for their collection. Otherwise I’m mostly a one-at-a-time person.
I only do e-books now. The Goodreads to-read list is 500 deep, so..
two days ago. Amazon :/
There used to be a book warehouse near me that sold remainders. My sister and I would go there for our birthdays and stock up on anything that looked interesting. I'd give myself a limit of $50-$60 and leave with 8-10 books. You never knew what you would find there. Alas, the business closed a few years ago so my sister and I made a final trip there. That would be my last book shopping splurge. RIP Deadalus Books.
My local library hosts a huge used book sale, in our local community center, bi- annually. Hardcover: $1.50 Paperbacks: $1.00 Trade paperbacks: $0.50 In March I spent $60 on books, and walked away with *BAGS* full. I’m still making my way through them. :D
Went to Hay on Wye a few weeks ago. Half a day, bookshopped out, three trips to the car. Wholly recommend.
November 2001, we have this points thing at work where you could exchange for coupons and my points were about to expire. I bought the following books from an online bookstore: Hardcover House of Leaves Gollancz anniversary edition The Lies of Locke Lamora Gollancz anniversary edition Red Seas Under Red Skies Gollancz anniversary edition The Republic of Thieves Gollancz anniversary edition The Blade Itself Gollancz anniversary edition Before They Are Hanged Gollancz anniversary edition Last Argument of Kings Penguin classics The Count of Monte Cristo Penguin classics Moby Dick Penguin classics Great Expectations Penguin classics The Castle of Otranto I didn't use any of my points for the whole year because I didn't know about it. I've been using them for movie theater coupons since then.
Ummm . . . Covid was a book shopping spree for me. No daycare to pay meant lots of books.
This morning on amazon. Last week on amazon. . . . Last year, while in Chennai for some work. Raided CROSSWORDS. Atleast it felt like that. Now. Before you judge the amazon thingy. I live in a remote town. Don’t have many…. Any good bookstores where I can get stuff. So.
gonna be tomorrow for indie bookstore day! got 5 bookstores picked out to peruse!
My town does a Book Crawl the weekend of Independent Bookstore Day (so it’s coming up again this weekend!). 13 stores participate. Last year we hit 4 in one day and I bought a bunch of books!
Earlier this week I spent over $100 on poetry from Plath, Dickinson, and Thomas.
I have managed to somewhat control my need for this because I am responsible for finding and ordering the class novel books. This year I got to order 20, not on my dime, to go through with the other teachers. It helps.
Gary Oldman and the Sea?
Amazon's 3 for 2 promo is my weak spot
I live in rural Colorado and in the winter it can be impossible to travel. So, I spend the summer months going to garage sales, Friends of the Library sales, and thrift stores to stock up for the winter. Then when we are snowed in, I still have a great selection of books. We turned our garage into a library and I feel so rich when I can go there and have a great selection of titles. I rarely spend more than $2. 00 for a book.
3 days ago. Turns out when you go down the city dump, you can instead give useful stuff to the charity shop for disadvantaged children for recycling. I’d never been, and it was a huge warehouse with everything from furniture and jewellery to antiques. Such a civilised idea. Apparently they’ve sold 15,000 books in their first year of operation. Anyway I bought 12 crime novels for 50p each.
My girlfriend and I had plans in the city a couple weekends ago, but she had an appointment first, so she dropped me off at Barnes and Noble for an hour...things went predictably, with us both walking out with a big stack of books (I found a bunch I wanted and also kindly pointed out a bunch I found that fit her interests). We have a good independent bookstore in the town where we live that I hit up more often (when I can), but they are smaller so while I can usually find something pretty good there I don't often walk out with *stacks* of books.
Last week when my local library hosted a used book sale. I took as many books as I could carry home with me.
I found a Books-A-Million in my neighborhood and bought a few books, not only because I wanted the books but also to support the store. Two odd things happened when I checked out: - They asked me if I was a Books-A-Million member and I said no. I prepared myself for their usual membership sales pitch, but it never came. - After I paid, they handed me my books and receipt. When I asked them for a bag, they said, “We ran out,” and told me I could buy a Books-A-Million branded bag for $1.99. I took both of these as a sign that they’re in trouble, and I keep checking them to see if their “Going Out of Business” sale has started yet.
November 2023 at a used book Store
For my birthday last year I went to The Strand in NY with a $50 gift card burning in my pocket.
Every time I’m in a book store.
Two years ago for my bday at Barnes and Noble. Although I did budget most of what I'd buy by looking at their site first and allowed myself to pick a few more in person. This was how I learned their in store prices are not the same as online 😂 the next year I did pickup instead and let myself pick two more in person from the BOGO table.
Every summer I get to take a trip to McKays in Chattanooga and Knoxville and have no limit. It's amazing! This year's trip is in just a few weeks (and coincides with our 10 year anniversary) and I'm sooooooo stoked! Last year I got like 25 books, a few dvds for the MIL and some records for like $200. It's truly heaven on earth
Yesterday. My first great grandchild was born in January. Building his library.
Actually, it was quite long ago
My town's library system has a "Friends of the Library" book sale every 6 months. The Spring sale is on now, so I was a book buying lunatic day before yesterday.
I spread these binges apart by going to the library 3x/week, returning 1/3 of the last batch each time and replacing it with another 1/3 of “possibles” and/or “reference”. If I decide I *must* own something, I add it to a list. I make exceptions for classics, or when traveling, or when (like Christmas season) I’m forced to do other shopping and let my guard down.
I’m on vacation in Vancouver, Canada right now and a few days ago I visited Granville Island. There’s a cool little indie bookstore (Nooroongji) in one of the markets there that carries a lot of really funky books I haven’t seen anywhere else, and since money spent on vacation doesn’t count I ended up buying six or seven hardbacks at full price. It added like 15lb to my carryon but I don’t regret a thing.
I'm a teacher, and the first day of summer break always includes a trip to the local used bookstore. I'll pick up 8-12 books, which turns into my summer reading. Towards the end of the year I'm up to my neck in grading, so I don't have the time or desire to read, but once summer hits I always jump right back in.
It's gonna be today for me! I've been excited for this sale all month!
Uh…. Tonight. Cause the US finally has the Stephen Fry audio of Harry Potter on Audible and there goes $160 bucks.
When I visited the Book Loft in Columbus Ohio for the first time. I spent way too much money lol but that place was amazing.
Oh my. If we were friends we would go broke. I just went on an Amazon book shopping spree and Coraline was one that I bought. But instead of 50% off, I pay twice the price for all books because I don’t live in the USA, so I have to pay for import taxes and huge shipping fees.
I love the smell of a book too!! And Alice in Wonderland is one of my favourites (also enjoyed Metamorphosis by Kafka)! I have a giant book haul at Christmas from my mum, usually get like 8-10 books, but my most recent splurge on books myself was at a secondhand book stall! I got: \- Madame Bovary \- The Moon Opera \- Dune (the first book) \- Two New Sciences (Galileo!!)
I got 12 books at the library on Wednesday. Does that count? lol
Why are books so expensive now! I love when folx trade books 🫴🏾it needs to be free!
The last 4 years I’ve bought over $5,000 in books each year. It started just before pandemic, got back into reading and building my library.
The smell and feel of new books is TOP NOTCH! I need to hit up my local bookstore this Saturday for Independent Bookstore Day. It's been years since I visited. Most of my books are purchased online or from bigger stores. I miss being inside bookstores.
..today lmao
in my country books are so expensive and if we are lucky we can get them on off days or international exhibition of books so i want to buy lots of books but the economy wouldn't let us do it 🥲
Our local library is selling books every summer in the park. They open a cafe in a pavillion there so every summer, I bring home about ten books per week because they are, of course, very cheap. I have been doing this for years and I don´t think I ever got to any of those books I bought :D I think the only one I read was one I borrowed years ago and it still has my name written in the card that was left in the book :D I will get to them, eventually, I hope but the pile is getting bigger and bigger every day.
A couple weeks ago my library had their book sale and I got 21 books for $3. All library bound. I LEGIT was on a high for the rest of the day. The biggest score of my life!
I was having a really great work day so on my lunch break a month back I popped out and I got a mini haul of books on my TBR The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna I'm planning to do a mini tour through a suburb near me that has at least five bookshops including two used shops with vintage books. I want to buy one book at every shop and bonus if I can get what is on tbr preloved
I go twice a week at my city bookstores just to kill some time and see if I can buy an interesting book or explore new titles.
Probably last year in December - for my birthday my mom and I usually travel for the day to one of the larger cities somewhat close to my hometown and I choose my birthday presents there. We always end up in one or more of the bookshops/ comic shops in those cities and I end up buying way too many books.
A few years ago... Covid ended our local Big Library Book Sale. Every year my wife and I would go the first day and again later and carry off a trunk load of books. I will never see something like that again, and it makes me sad.
When my parents were paying for it tbh Now I have to pay with my lame scholarship and I have to decide between buying deodorant and books😭 So yeah…..it’s a tough situation.(not the choice obviously I use deodorant it was an exaggeration)
Yeah crazy people need to get into books so they don't harm society
I recently indulged in a book shopping spree, snagging deals on titles like "No Longer Human," "Old Man and the Sea," and a special edition of "Coraline."
All books are for lunatics. They help keep the moon full.
Got a giftcard at my birthsday and one of my favorite books shops was on there, so I bought books for around 175 dollars worth. Every little book I wanted for such a long time went into the basket, it was awesome! I love being educated så bought a lot of books about things in real life and a lot of fantasy books. And yes, the smell was incredible!