Are you appalled at the price of books?

I love my bargin bins at the local books store, since it seems the be the only place I can actually get books. Plus my little discount card helps big time, even on the 2 dollar books. As you know I've boycotted my "local" library, but it obviously hasn't gotten any (good) new books since the last time I was there. For alot of my more expensive comic books (that I now refuse to buy since they've all went up in price) I read them online. It's free, but it ties up the phone line... Although it's better than paying insane prices for them. If you probably looked hard enough you could find free (or cheap) e-books...

I do feel your pain malamar! I have that same problem. New books are way too expensive and my library is very outdated (not to mention it is several miles away from our home). We have a smaller branch closer to our home but it is seriously lacking and I swear I feel as if the shelves are all dusty when I walk in that place. Their hours are limited and I have read every book they have on the shelves (that I am interested in) already. I do have a library that is closer but it is one county over from me and I would have to pay a $25 out of county fee for a one year pass. I am seriously thinking about doing this. I ddid belong to a book swap with several friends and family members. I moved to a different location this summer and that swapping has come to a screeching halt. I will have to find another group to swap with around here. I have several books that my cousin gave me that I have read and they are just waiting on me to find someone else to share them with. There are a few used book stores one county over from me that I stop in occasionally to browse/buy books. Thrift stores are also great for used books as well. Good luck with your hunt. I am in serious need of stimulating reads!

I feel so lost if I do not have a book to read and no, I can no longer afford to buy books. I hunt out places that sell books second hand. Out here, the local chapter of the Cancer Society sells on th road side once a week and I but at least six to read. Unless I specifically want to keep the book, I often give them back to the Society for a resale as they sell for about US50 cents each. Then ther is a coffee shop that again sells books cheaply and the proceeds go to a children's home. So I buy and donate there too. My third option is to borrow from friends and exchange books too. It really is awful but I just cannot buy. If there is something that I desperately want to own then I drop hints to my children so I may get it fro Birthday or Christmas as a gift.

For me, reading is a hobby that i enjoy alot since it has the ability to transport you away without even moving. other activities seem to lack it. :) anyway, books are getting more and more expensive these days and it is most probably because of the increasing prices of paper and cost of machinery. this has caused some readers inconveniences as not everyone can afford the books. i suggest going to the library's website to check online regularly about new updates and reserve the books you want. these usually cost a small fee for them to reserve the book but it is a small price to pay for getting the book you want.

Hi malamar, well reading has always been my indulgence and luckily I have a good library here in the house but the buying of new books for myself has had to be put on hold as just way too expensive. Obviously English language books which are possible to obtain here but not my kind of stuff are very expensive which leaves the internet. However Greece does not do well in the postal department and most places refuse to deliver to Greece even though we are part of the EU. If they do deliver the cost of the postage also adds to the cost. As most of the stuff I like could be obtained from such sources as Amazon second hand it is a real shame that they won't post here and it is such a rigmarole ordering and then having them delivered to someone in the UK to then post out to me, plus it doubles the postage costs. So for the last year I have been completely reliant on either re reading or using the local book swaps which are set up so English speakers can swap books without cost, and tourists can leave their old books behind. So it all rather depends on the type of tourists and what they are reading. This year has been the worst ever and I am craving some good reading.

One of my favorite ways to stock up is used book stores. You can sell books you no longer want (I've never felt that particular emotion), plus get a whole bunch of books that you haven't yet read, or buy books that you've read, but no longer have. I have a couple favorite used-book stores the owners of which I've come to know, and they'll keep an eye out for stuff they know I have an interest in (it's great to have connections ;).) Secondhand stores are also a great place to go for books. Amazon.com is okay. Shipping is 3.99 each, and you can find a LOT of books used for $.01. Happy hunting!

Thrift shops, yard sales, and used book stores (some let you trade your old books for new ones). Also ebay. At ebay, don't buy the books individually - search for "lot" and the author or type of book you like to read - I have been able to get a large grouping of books for as little as $2 per book (including shipping and handling) by doing this. Occasionally you may get some duplicates; but, those you can - donate to charity, sell at your own yard sale, trade at a used book store, or even resell on ebay!

Goodwill, a couple of bucks for a book - if you don't have a Goodwill there, look for another thrift shop

The price of books is too high in my opinion! I love to read but I have not been able to buy a new book in a long time. Once in a blue moon, I will browse used book stores and buy something used but never new anymore.

I very seldome buy a new book any more unless there is a sale at one of the book stores. here in this country they have yard sales, library book discards, and second hand book stores also. i think books are just about out of fashion or something. to many people are on the internet and can get info there or just dont have any money to spare in this economy. i have tons of books yet to read i've collected over the years. not to mention ones i've been thinking of putting up to sell.

It's inflation and/or publishing companies trying to compensate for lost profits. It's sad, but I would keep looking for new books at the book store. You may have to pay a few more dollar than usual, but it is no way out of control. If it's too hard on your budget, then go to a used book store. You can get fairly new books in good condition for a reasonable price.

I buy my books used, on sale or through special offers. Book clubs and Amazon "used and new at this price" are good sources.

I agree, the price seems to have gone up and up recently, even of paperbacks. One thing my husband and I do is every so often to order a pile of books from a site called bookcloseouts.com - they sell books from a dollar upwards and we often get a huge box of books for both of us for around $40 when we can afford it. Another thing we do is look out for library sales. Every so often our library has sales where they sell off books for 50c paperbacks and $1 hardbacks. We hardly ever buy a full price book anymore and have got some great books through these methods.

Yes!! I refuse to buy hard back books as trhey are so expensive and also difficult to read in bed!! Its a great shame as its coming up to Christmas the stores are filled with new books i want to read but they are all in hard back, well they will have to wait till easter when they are in paper back! Supermarkets over here usually do good offers on commercial books, the top 30 or so in the charts. They are 2 for £7 (about $9 at the moment) I also look in charity shops and get some bargains there. My family and friends swap books between us as we all read a lot so i get a lot that way too, the library is just not up to date, but is good for classics and things like that.

Oh yes, I used to work in book stores and it was horrible. Hodder and Stoughton are the worst I reckon. I'm talking mainly paperbacks. But all books are expensive. Even people selling used books on EBay charge a fortune for them. You can generally buy them half price at second hand stores but then again, I haven't been in one of those for ages so it could be different now. You don't see so many second hand book shops these days, more's the pity. How about writing to the publishers and offering your services as a proof reader?

I've used bomc2.com to buy new books in the past, back when it was called zooba.com, and I was quite happy with it. It's operated by Book of the Month Club, but it offers its books for a flat $9.95 each and ships the books to you for free. It's heavily loaded with bestsellers, but it does sell books that aren't usually found in book clubs. It looked to me that the size of the books were slightly smaller than the normal retail version, but the quality of paper and number of pages, etc. matched up well.

I almost never buy new books. I go to Amazon.com or ABEbooks.com to buy used books, it's a whole lot less expensive. You have to watch though, a couple of times I bought a used book and with shipping I paid more than I really wanted, sometimes it comes out to more than a new book. With Amazon.com, the shipping is usually $3.99 on used books.

Hello malamar. My local library is small, but they have an agreement with other libraries in the surrounding counties. If they don't have have a book but another one does, they will transfer it from library to library. Also, they have something that they call the "book donation program". If there is a book that I want to read but no library carries it, they will order it for me and I pay only 1/2 (or a little less) of the cost, and then when I am finished with it, I return it to them. It's a little like a rental program. Sometimes I can find books on their "for sale" cart that people have donated. For those, I only have to pay fifty cents for soft-cover books and one dollar for hard-cover books. Another idea would be to try a book club. It's just a bunch of friends that swap books. If you don't have one near you, you could always start one up. I am sure that there are many readers around you. Hmmmm. I also know that there are a few websites that will let you read books for free. I am not sure of their addresses, but if you put it into your search engine, you can find a few. Best of luck!! I don't know what I would do if I didn't have any books to read.

I usually come across new books on the internet. If I feel that I should have a look, I will try my best to downloading them(often in PDF or exe). Haha, seems unkind. But the price is really beyond my ability!

...Hi malamar, Ahhh books, one of my favorite things...I used to find good book clubs which offered five books for a membership and one dollar. I would join, stay for the time period required and leave. It was worth the time, to get the books I wanted, you have to remember to answer the monthly notice or you will have unwanted books everywhere. There is also a book store in New York, which sells bargain books, they send out catalogs with a great selection of books. The address is Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller Company, Falls Village, Ct 06031-5000. They don't supply a telephone number, drop them a note or check the 800-555-1212 information line, the company will send you a catalog. Take care.