Where do you buy your books?

[Browneh]

Do you read an online version? Kindle, Nook?

Do you buy them from a dedicated store like Waterstones or W.H.Smith?

Do you buy them from charity shops?

[Prometheus_emissary]

I rarely prefer the online experience unless there is no alternative. So rarely Kindle is my answer.

I tend to shop in small local bookstores whenever I can because that is where I can find treasures that I would not be able to in a dedicated giant bookstore. I recently found a book in a box that was for $.50 and it was from 1874. I snatched that up because the older it is, the more it appeals to me.

However, I do love going to Barnes and Noble because it has a nice selection plus coffee shops.

Anyone else a fan of local stores?

[intelligentsiagirl]

There is only two bookstores in my city that sells new books. Barnes and Noble and Book A Million, and it is no contest what bookstore I go to -- Barnes and Noble. I do not like ordering books online, as I like to study the book before I purchase the book. I check the pages of the book, to make sure there is no damage or problems with the pages. One time I noticed a book with white pages, and any text of the pages was in pages in the 40's. If I ordered the book, I would have to send it back because the published was not aware of quality control.

I like reading nonfiction books, and I check the dusk cover dealing with the author. I check the font on the pages, I check how it reads to me. I check the subject of the book, and ask, will reading this book change my world view? Will it make me a more informed person, or will it increase my understanding of the topic and ideology? I do not read nonfiction books just to reconfirm my bias. I try to stay away from current affairs, as it is just red meat to the political class.

Since there are a vast amount of books published during my life, or before I was born. Since there is a vast amount of books published in a single year I could not read in a single lifetime. Since there will be thousands and more books published next year and beyond my lifetime. I only have a finite amount of books I can read during my lifetime. So I am very picky with picking and reading books.

[Prometheus_emissary]

I do not like ordering books online, as I like to study the book before I purchase the book.

Your post made me realize I also order books online through Amazon. I tend to have very unique tastes about some niche self-help book utilizing Carl Jung Psychology or something older but not in new book stores or old used ones. So, online has been a big source of books. Usually the quality is good if it says new. I do not think I have ever gotten a "bad" book.

In fact, it has been quite the opposite. When I self published my book on Amazon and ordered a copy for myself, I was amazed on how much better the cover looked in person than on a computer screen. There are pleasant surprises with online, not just unpleasant dissappointments. But I guess its about if you want to risk the gamble.

[NetMassimo]

My main problem is that only a part of what's published in English gets translated into Italian and published in my country. The consequence is that I'm forced to buy books in English online because buying them through a local bookstore is possible only occasionally ordering them and waiting a long time. On the bright side, online I can buy second-hand paper books and ebooks so it's not that bad.

[intelligentsiagirl]

Your post made me realize I also order books online through Amazon. I tend to have very unique tastes about some niche self-help book utilizing Carl Jung Psychology or something older but not in new book stores or old used ones. So, online has been a big source of books. Usually the quality is good if it says new. I do not think I have ever gotten a "bad" book.

In fact, it has been quite the opposite. When I self published my book on Amazon and ordered a copy for myself, I was amazed on how much better the cover looked in person than on a computer screen. There are pleasant surprises with online, not just unpleasant dissappointments. But I guess its about if you want to risk the gamble.

Since the age of the internet, dusk covers have become more interesting. Still, I am interested in the title of the book and the subtitle of the book. Still, I do not want to order a book based on the icon image of a dusk cover. If it is a interesting subject, I am more interested in a book with over 400 pages than a book with less than 300 pages. Some times I am interested in a book, and than I find it to be a small size book with a small amount of pages and a small amount of words per page. How can a subject be interesting if the book would have less than 150 pages in a average book.

[Cheryl Erickson]

I buy books from Amazon. i have a wonderful home library. It makes me happy. I tried a Kindle for awhile but I prefer to hold a book, unless I can download a free one online.

[latesummer93]

Honestly, my books come from all over the place. I own more Kindle books than anything else, but that's mostly because I just don't have the space for as many physical books as I'd like to have... yet. The physical books I buy, I get from a variety of places: bookstores, yard sales, thrift stores - I was once coined a "book rescuer" because I hate the idea of a book just sitting there, unloved. I recently discovered a used bookstore in our area though, and I've been buying quite a bit from there lately!

[human reader]

I like that term, "book rescuer". Sometimes I feel that way, like buying a book is giving them a home lol. That feeling doesn't happen with digital. With digital you are creating more books by buying them. With physical books though, it's like, "If I don't get this book, it'll stay here and keep getting passed over."

I mostly do digital (Amazon) or second-hand stores for physical. I've gotten a few from Barnes & Noble as well.

[Charlienmegan Wehner]

Amazon ebooks usually…

[FunkyFlowerLady]

I read ebooks on kindle and nook