posted by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_dala at 01:04pm on 30/05/2005
the_dala at 01:04pm on 30/05/2005Why do I feel this overwhelming urge to go used book shopping? Not only have I got shelves and stacks of unread books and books I'd love to have the time to reread sitting in front of me -- not only did I just get two books from Meg for my birthday -- not only did I just discover a book I really want to read in the dining room -- not only have I gotten back in the habit of going to the library -- not only have I decided that my next paycheck will go towards the 20 GB iPod I cannot stop looking at on amazon --
.....
I have no idea how to end that sentence.
Anyway, point being, I STILL WANT TO BUY NEW BOOKS.
WTF is wrong with me? I was in Borders the other night and my parents had to, like, physically remove me from the store before I bankrupted myself. There's just nothing more satisfying then -- okay, first there's the satisfaction of buying a BRAND-NEW, never-been-loved book with an unbent spine and creamy pages and that new-book smell. And there's also the satisfaction of finding a hardcover edition of all Ray Bradbury's short stories for $7, or an Australian edition of Harry Potter, or that somebody has just gotten rid of their entire Patrick O'Brian collection. They're about equal, those two thrills.
I think this is why I so rarely buy books online, which is not the case with movies and music. I like being able to thumb through the thing, I like carrying it around with me while I browse, I like digging into the bag and reading a snippet at a red light on the way home (yeah, you don't want to drive anywhere near me when I'm coming back from Book Alcove). The sense of discovery's not quite the same when it arrives in a box.
Sigh. I did reserve a copy of the new Harry Potter. 40% off and then they tempt you into buying something else along with it with a 25% coupon. This will take careful deliberation. I've got over a month, I should be okay.
.....
I have no idea how to end that sentence.
Anyway, point being, I STILL WANT TO BUY NEW BOOKS.
WTF is wrong with me? I was in Borders the other night and my parents had to, like, physically remove me from the store before I bankrupted myself. There's just nothing more satisfying then -- okay, first there's the satisfaction of buying a BRAND-NEW, never-been-loved book with an unbent spine and creamy pages and that new-book smell. And there's also the satisfaction of finding a hardcover edition of all Ray Bradbury's short stories for $7, or an Australian edition of Harry Potter, or that somebody has just gotten rid of their entire Patrick O'Brian collection. They're about equal, those two thrills.
I think this is why I so rarely buy books online, which is not the case with movies and music. I like being able to thumb through the thing, I like carrying it around with me while I browse, I like digging into the bag and reading a snippet at a red light on the way home (yeah, you don't want to drive anywhere near me when I'm coming back from Book Alcove). The sense of discovery's not quite the same when it arrives in a box.
Sigh. I did reserve a copy of the new Harry Potter. 40% off and then they tempt you into buying something else along with it with a 25% coupon. This will take careful deliberation. I've got over a month, I should be okay.
nerdy
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Seriously. If you don't read them, donate them to your library or sell 'em to your local secondhand bookstore. I just want them out of my house.
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Plus I have nowhere to put them, either :) But thank you for the offer. I'm sure wherever you end up donating/sending them will appreciate it.
Good luck with moving. I am...not so good at that, myself.
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I suck a lot at moving. I fucking hate it.
I'm only doing this two more times--once up to the city where my job is, and once a year later to my new & improved job in Austin. Then I'm not going ANYWHERE until Orli and I get married, and I'm just going to take the four things I want most from my apartment and leave the rest on the sidewalk.
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I belong to my local library (have done for the 4 years I've lived here), and the school library - but there's something vaguely unsatisfying about borrowing books... I'd much rather browse around the Oxfam bookshop, buy a few, then if I don't like them, take them back the next week... *sigh* I comfort myself that it's good for the charity, but I know that in so many ways it's just a waste of money, treating charity shops like libraries...
...and I so know what you mean about finding that book... When we visited my father-in-law & his wife, we got talking about hard-to-find and out-of-print books... and he told me of a website he likes to use (I think it was something like bookfinder.com). So when I got home, I checked it out. There's a few books I've been wanting to get my hands on for years... so I did a search... and found about 4 or 5 results for each... but I left it there & I've never been back to the site. Because it just felt ... wrong ... like I was cheating somehow. There just wasn't the excitement that I know I'll have someday when I find those books by chance in a secondhand bookshop...
...And now I've rambled waaaay too much... I just wanted to say that you're not the only one who suffers from this disease :-) Hell, I even spent part of my honeymoon shopping for books. *giggle*
P.S. Really sorry for rambling so much *blushes*
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Books in German I usually buy in bookstores, but books in English I buy from amazon. There's simply a much larger selection available.
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I was in Borders in Newcastle the other day and managed to get away having only bought one book *shock*