To ask if you buy actual books?

[Wriggler79]

I'm having a debate with DP. I have been driving past an independent book shop each week. It has been closed for some time, and books have been piled in the window. I last bought books from there 15 years ago.
Today there was a skip outside the shop. It looked as if it was full of books. I have had a shitty week, and for some reason this was the last straw. It made me sad. I had a strop about it. I posted about it on Facebook, which was quite therapeutic in itself as I had to reason that I couldn't have rescued and cuddled ALL the books, and would have looked an idiot digging through them on a main road.
But what has puzzled me is the number of people telling me "people don't buy books any more". I haven't seen this to be true. As far as I know, books are sold as much as they ever have been in my lifetime. I know two people who own a Kindle, and only one uses theirs; the other person gave up on the idea and their device is in a drawer somewhere.
Just wondering what general experience/opinion on this is.

I mostly read on my Kindle, but I sometimes buy books from charity shops or real books that are not available on Kindle. Unless it's for a present I would normally get them on Amazon Marketplace though. I sometimes buy the children new books in Waterstone's (we don't have an independent bookshop in our town). I expect the bookshop couldn't compete with Amazon.

Books are great! never need charging and proven to last hundreds of years.

I buy far too many books, I love them. I would have been very sad to see them dumped in a skip.

Sootica me and SIL (DB's wife) are avid readers and last Christmas when we bandied about ideas for gifts to buy people on our family (eg my mum etc) were told not to buy us any more books as no room! It's true.

I got "To Catch A Watch Bird" from stepdad but SIL wanted some fabric bound Penguin classics (I would've bought her some) but I was told not to do so as she doesn't have the room for them!

I buy actual books to read at bedtime. I have a kindle too but reading an actual book makes me sleepy.

Lol my Kindle's for erotic fiction while I buy new books for everything else. Am currently re-reading the odyssey - bought a copy because the free kindle gutenberg books don't have paragraps.

I don't think it's that people don't buy books. It's just they don't go to independent bookshops. Amazon, supermarkets, charity shops and chains probably offer more convenience at lower prices.

I would have stopped and taken a bunch of books out of the skip (provided they hadn't been rained on). I love real books, buy them whenever I can, and also borrow from the library regularly. You can't beat actual books, kindles etc. will never replace them.

I think people with large collections of books are often doing it for vanity's sake. Most don't re-read them: they want the opportunity to show off

Ouch. Judgemental much? I have a big collection, on bookshelves in my bedroom. love sleeping amongst my books I don't think I own a book I haven't read at least twice. I usually read it in the library (or the first of a series), then if I like it buy it to read again, and lots of my friends borrow books off me so even the ones I've only read two or three times are usually read again by others.

What a load of bollocks. Sneering at people with books because your own shelves are bare....

Yes I buy books, usually from Waterstones or a charity shop (there is no independent bookshop in my town, much to my regret). I keep the ones I love and donate to charity the ones I won't re-read.

I calculate we have over 1000 books in our house, including the DCs'.

DH reads on his iPad some of the time but not always.

I've never used an e-reader and don't much like the idea of it.

I buy books, and very rarely ever get rid of any. My house has lots of book cases! I have had a couple of ebooks for my iPad but I'm not keen on reading from a screen; do enough of that at work and the blue light affects your melatonin before bed.

I buy loads of books. Never read a book on a Kindle or whatever. I could spend hours in a book shop! My kids have shelves of books too...

Absolutely, completely understand kindle when travelling for long periods but nothing like a good real book. I buy way too many! I look at it as saving for my retirement!

I buy books, lots of them. Not from independent book shops though, I'm not rich.
I buy them second hand online..
I distrust anybody with no books in their house.

I buy books. I buy too many books, because I drift into Waterstones when I am in town and can't resist. My job and DC don't leave me enough time for reading and my pile of books waiting to be read is about 30 books high. I do have a Kindle, DH bought it for me despite my protests that I only like real books and didn't want one. It has the advantage that it glows in the dark so I can read while sitting for a hour or 2 waiting for the non-sleeping wonderchild to finally give in and go to sleep.