Where do you get your books from, and what do you do with them when you have finished?

[lucyellensmum]

A comment on another thread, got me wondering about peoples attitudes to the books they read, with regards where they get them etc.

On the most part, i tend to get my books from second hand shops, i will occasionally buy new, but unless there is something i am waiting for i buy second hand. If i went to buy new i wouldnt be able to decide because of the cost, but second hand at about £1.50 ish, it doesnt matter too much if the book is shite. I used to keep all my books, but then got rid, now i tend to give them to charity shops or pass them on to friends.

Just wondered about everyone else?

I get mine from charity shops and the 2nd hand bookstalls in local markets. Once in a while, as a big treat, I buy a new one, but it's always an author I know - can't afford the risk of spending all that money on something rubbish. No one seems to believe me when I say the best present they can give me is a book token, though my mum gave me a cheque for Xmas to spend on Amazon. The last book I got new was from Smith's and it was The Island (V Hislop), which has reinforced me in my rule to only buy authors I know new. What a disappointment it was; all that money wasted.

I can't bear getting rid of books. I keep them all, as I often re-read, and often refer. They are my friends and I love them. I also think they're the best decoration a room can have, shelves and shelves of them, everywhere you look.

I like them to look like they've been read too, with broken spines.

By the way, anyone know of an author similar to Robertson Davis?

I buy all of mine in charity shops, love 10 for £1.

Once read they all get handed back in.

I joined BookMooch last night and already have five requests!! Unfortunately I also found four books I wanted straight off... so no more shelf space.

Interested that so many people have success buying from charity shops. I've never even looked because my impression was that there was never anything worth reading in them. Am I wrong?

Also, we have a fabulous remainders bookshop in town, which also has regular warehouse sales. Paperbacks for a quid, large-format paperbabcks for two, hardbacks for £2.95. I've picked up a lot of stuff from here.

I get given new books for Christmas and birthdays, usually from the lists that papers publish at Christmas time and in the summer.

When I'm back in the UK and have space in my suitcase, I go mad in charity shops. I'm making up for a mis-spent youth reading trash. I pick up anything that looks good and interesting.

If you go to a proper second-hand bookshop, the owner will often be able to point you in the right direction of genre/authors, esp if you frequent them often. The downside is that these can be pricey if you just want to read the book once.

Charity shops where I live tend to stack boxes of books out on the pavement so you can browse in peace (albeit in the street) without having rummage around in clothes or toys. Seems to work.

I tend to keep all my books unless I know I am only going to read it once or didn't like it very much. I also like having sets of authors so I tend to go through a phase of reading one author & getting all their books I can!

I have started buying second hand recently from charity shops & also from the library. I also use read it swap it

charity shops can be great. you often get a really diverse selection of books, and my closest charity shop sells them for 50p each. trouble is i don't have time to read the armfuls of books i come home with!

plus I got a monsoon top for 2 quid on saturday, so I'm extra happy .

Mostly library, I would say 90% of my books which means I can try books but am not out any money. For a treat, I buy them occasionally and usually pick a book I want to keep for my book shelf. My family and I share books alot so they pass theirs onto me and vice versa.

I get them from the library and then take them back.

I have actually bought one book in 6 years - because I enjoyed it so much I wanted to own it.

i know what you mean barn about them being lovely decoration, although mine are scattered everywhere and i tend to pass mine on, i like the thought of them being read again. I dont tend to re read anymore, as i dont have time to read them once at the moment, i just have a shelf full of unread books at the moment .

I daren't get books from the library, which is a shame really as DD loves books, i tend to buy hers from charity shops, but would like to chop and change, but i am so rubbish about returning them that i daren't get them, last time it cost me £30 for books that would have cost less than a tenner had i bought them

Quite a few of my friends are novelists and the following might interest you.

If you're looking to support authors you should borrow books from the library rather than buy them secondhand (or from Amazon Marketplace). The average novelist only earns about five thousand a year--that can be for a book that took a year to research/write. Every time you check a book out of the library the novelist earns about 4p. They earn zilch for secondhand books.

This doesn't matter if you're PD James or Patricia Cornwell, but new authors need every penny they can get. So take that finger off the Amazon Marketplace/Abebooks button and get that library ticket out.

Of course readers might not care about the authors but I'd like to think we do.

It also supports libraries which is no bad thing either!

That is a good point bridie, i have often wondered about that, although i didnt realise that they received money when the book was lent out in the library. I couldnt afford to buy new all the time though, i am sure they would rather me read it second hand than not at all ;)

I get mine from a 2nd hand bookshop (mostly). Today I took in about 20 books which she gave me £13 for, and got £13 worth of books, which I'm interested in. I use thebookpeople for DD's books.

I have toyed with the book clubs here, but probably wouldn't get through them fast enough, as I like to 'multibook' (I like to have about 5 on the go). I try not to be too precious with the books, or we'd have no room to move in the house, so return them to the 2nd hand bookshop or give them to friends/charity.

That is a v good point about libraries, Bridie. When I get through my current backlog I shall bear that in mind when choosing my next lot! I just wish my library had a rather better range than it does.

The other thing about getting books out of the libraries supporting writers is that if a book by a writer gets borrowed a lot from a library, it's more likely that the library service will get a few copies of the next one, say. For a lot of less well known writers, sales to libraries are a large part of their sales - so it will help royalties and staying in print as well as through public lending right.

I get books from everywhere, new, secondhand, libraries, Amazon, BookPeople, local bookshops, shops in cities I visit on holiday. I buy less books than I used to in bookshops now, as our local one closed down months ago and most of the independent shops I used to love closed down years ago - Compendium, Silver Moon, Colletts, Crime in Store.

That's true, elkiedee! I like to think of my books being 'worn out' so the library has to order extra copies.

It really adds up. When my book was shortlisted for World Book Day last week the public libraries ordered in extra copies of the paperback and it will make quite a difference to my sales. I might actually make the minimum wage for the time spent writing the book!

Oh and that last sentence wasn't intended to sound sarcastic, btw, just pleased!

I use the library a lot in the UK but to bring to Nigeria I buy new books, usually 3for2 type offers and also from supermarkets. Tesco often has good titles tucked away behind all the Misery Sagas and are cheap. They have history & biographies at v good prices, too.

A librarian friend usually gives me three titles to bring back, each time we go on leave and I spend rather a lot of money in the new independent shop that has opened in our home town.

Books are like gold dust in Nigeria. I buy second hand books from an expat group (money goes to local charity) and there is a small library of books run by one of the big employers, where you give-a-book-and-take-a-book which is quite a good way of getting a decent turnover of new titles.

OMG Eliza, that's terrible.

Does that work worldwide Eliza? If so I will always get my 20 books allowance and choose some by NZ authors/ first time novelists even if I don't get a chance to read them!

Library mostly, so they go back there afterwards.
MIL passes books on, which I usually then pass on to others.
Some I get as presents (from dh - I tell him what, or my mum).

I buy them new and then take them to a charity shop or DS's school for sale at the Xmas fair. We've just got rid of about a hundred and decided not to buy so many anymore and to use the Library better.

twentypence, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt those NZ authors or first time novelists. I don't know about where you are (NZ?) but libraries are judged on how well they're doing as a service here by things like the number of loans so people who max out their library cards are great for library stats.

I haven't done it recently so much but for a few years I had 4 library cards in my name and 3 in dp's permanently maxed out (about 70 books) - it got ridiculous, and I took everything back and started reading some of my own books when I realised I was pregnant with ds. Now I just have 4 books out, and one is parenting, one is knitting. But we get lots of picture books out to read to ds, although he may not understand dp and I both love being together the three of us for his bedtime story.