Friday, May 25, 2012

Book shopping or I'm fickle

This post was going to be a review about Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King. But there's a Chopped marathon on right now so I can't concentrate enough to write a review. Instead I want to talk about shopping.
Probably because I'm currently reading Jane Austen's Emma which as you (should) know is the inspiration for Clueless. Which means the whole time I'm reading this I'm going "OH so this is like after the "Rolling with my Homies" party scene. And Sir George Knightly is Josh, aka Paul Rudd. Got it." I also maaaay have bought a DVD combo pack of Clueless and Mean Girls, because my copy of Clueless was on VHS. How '90s.

Now since this is a book blog, the shopping will focus on book shopping. Where do you get your books?

I know a lot of my fellow bloggers have crazy TBR piles. There are several TBR challenges. I don't do this. I have a TBR list. It's my Goodreads list. But I usually buy a book, read it, repeat. It's probably why I re-read so much. At least one of the reasons. I'm not great at planning my reading. It's why challenges intimidate me so. I have to commit to reading stuff? What happens when the time comes and I don't feel like reading that? WHAT THEN? So normally when I buy a book, I read it right away. Which means I can go into a bookstore and find a bunch of books that are on my Goodreads TBR list, but unless I'm in the mood to read it right then, it will stay in the bookstore.

Unless of course, the book is on one of those remainder tables. If a book is on sale I feel less inclined to have to read it right then. Because what if later when I do really want to read the book, it's not on sale anymore?? I'm cheap, so I still don't go too crazy, but I can't leave a bookstore if I see something on one of these tables that I sorta maybe want to read. Remainder tables for the win!

Now I said I'm cheap, which is part of the reason I don't buy ALL the books when I'm at a bookstore. You'd think this would mean I used the library a lot cos hey, free is the best. I do not. I should. I know I should. And I'm pretty sure there's a library around the corner from me. And definitely one not too far from our local indie bookstore. But  I don't want to borrow the book. I want the book to be mine. I want to be able to reread it whenever I choose or be able to pick it up and look for a passage. I want to display it on a shelf and go "Oh yeah, I read that" even if I'm only saying it to myself. I'm vain that way.

I do buy books from Amazon, at least for my Kindle. I don't typically order physical books online but not because of "grr Amazon." I am very impatient. If I want to read a book, I want to read it right then. I don't want to wait for it to come in the mail. This is also why Netflix* never worked for me. We'd pick out movies to rent but the few days later, when they actually showed up, I didn't care about watching them anymore. Why yes, I am annoyingly fickle. This is also why I love downloading books because I can be anywhere and get a book. I've done this on my commute when I finished the book I brought with me, but I still had train time. Of course I can't display these on my shelf, so my vanity and my impatience have to battle it out

What do you do? Do you have crazy TBR piles? Do you pick your reads in the moment?

*For those that might go off topic and ask why I don't just do Netflix Streaming, we did. And you know what's on Netflix streaming? Not much. Every time I went to look for a movie, it said "Oh nope, not available. But don't you want to watch Ninja Bimbos Part III?" After watching all of the Archer and Party Down episodes available, we cancelled our account.

Comments (30)

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Yeah, Netflix DVDs don't work for me either. I never wanted to watch as soon as I got it, so instead it would sit around for weeks and cost me a fortune. Netflix streaming is great though, since I tend to prefer TV shows to movies. ANYWAY. As I think you already know, I am one of those crazy TBR pile people. I buy books in store, but only when I just can't wait. I get them on Amazon or BN when I'm still in the middle of something else but want it soon. I buy them on Abebooks when I probably want to read them in the nearish future but I can wait. I do use the library, but just for audiobooks, which I sometimes buy in print afterwards. I like the bookshelf display factor too. :]
1 reply · active 668 weeks ago
Oh, that movie. So quotable! So clever! But wait--did you just say that there's a Chopped marathon on now? I'm gonna have to make this a quick comment, then.

I bring home with me about 5 books every day. About one in 10 I actually buy for myself, but I'm not sure I've yet drawn a connection to which ones I read more quickly: the ones I get for free because of my job or the ones I outlay money for.
1 reply · active 668 weeks ago
I have a crazy TBR pile that is now virtual and on goodreads, because when I bought books to encourage myself, I'd just have a physical pile of sad books collecting sad dust on my sad end table that's creaking under all the weight. I ALSO blame the Food Network and BBC for not getting around to reading.
I find that libraries work best because it's the threat of forking over $1.50 (I am soooo cheap) in overdue fees works best in getting me to finish reading.
3 replies · active 667 weeks ago
Ugh, Netflix Streaming... that's the only service they have in the UK, and once I've watched all the good stuff, I'm totally cancelling my account... even though I can just watch Breaking Bad anytime on there really easily. Damn.

Anyway! How I buy books is, if I want a special one I'll probably get it from Amazon/The Book Depository (by special, I mean just been released, basically, or like Penguin Clothbounds) because there literally aren't any indie bookstores near me and I fucking hate Waterstones because they refused to employ me because they're STUPID. (ahem) And these are literally the only choices in the UK.

BUT. I also go to many charity shops and buy secondhand books and this is where the majority of my books come from because SO CHEAP! And this is why I have too many books. So I'm not so much of a 'I want to read this RIGHT NOW' person, as a 'I will want to read this in the future so I'd better buy it, especially because it's only 50p' This is how I get into trouble with my mum, and why our floorboards are going to collapse one day (if I say it, it wont happen, right? RIGHT?!)

Also- I love that Clueless and Mean Girls comes in a combo pack. BEST combo ever!
3 replies · active 667 weeks ago
Party Down isn't even on the UK Netflix which should tell you how crappy it is, and I'm really sad about it now because I read a synopsis and JANE LYNCH! The world is unfair.

Secondhand bookshops=the best. How you don't go to The Strand like every day is beyond me because OMG BOOKS! Aaaand now I'm sad because I can't go there like right now (damn, I'm going to be suicidal by the end of this comment..) But yeah, this is where my book thing comes in because, before I went to college I didn't really have many books, but the college was on a road with like 6 charity shops and, well... books were bought. It was awesome (and still is, actually!)

Are there no thrift shops near you? Cause, like, on Hoarders people always seem to go to them, and they look to me like supermarket sized charity shops which is, like amazing. Not that I'm encouraging you to buy ridiculous numbers of books or anything...

And it is the best ever! I insist you watch both of them in one sitting because, come on, how can you not? Plus, it'll still take less time than watching Gone With the Wind, so there's always that justification!
1 reply · active 667 weeks ago
Totally agree about the library problem. We are shallow, vain and proud of it!
1 reply · active 667 weeks ago
When I used to live in the States (and more recently on my occasional trips back), I would buy obscene amounts of books. Even in China where English books are hard(er) to come by, I'm still a bit of a hoarder with four or five full boxes of books I've dragged around with me as I've moved within this country. It's subsided a bit with my use of an e-reader, but I still just have a thing about collecting books. I suppose that there are much worse addictions to have!
1 reply · active 667 weeks ago
I buy books all the time...like you I take advantage of what's on the remainder aisles as much as possible but there are some authors/series that I know I will want to read on release day and I have those auto-shipped through Amazon (I've got the new JK Rowling already pre-ordered). I buy tons from Amazon. I don't Christmas shop in real life bc I will hurt someone (just kidding, kinda); I order all my gifts on Amazon and have them shipped to me :) My Amazon wishlist is 30 pages long :( so that's where the bulk of my TBR is. I try to pick up as many as I can through the auctions they offer as well.
We just cancelled our Netflix as well...my kids overtook it anyway and my dvds on the que kept getting pushed further and further down the list.
1 reply · active 667 weeks ago
I loved Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King on audio, so I'll be curious to read what you thought of the stories. My husband even got hooked listening.
1 reply · active 667 weeks ago
I too had the urge to re-watch Clueless while reading Emma. I made myself wait until after I had finished the book, so that I could make all the proper comparisons in my head without missing any, lol.

I'm a crazy book-buyer. I buy a book as soon as possible after discovering that I want to read it. And then I buy it along with several others b/c I have no restraint, and most of them sit around for months/years because I can only read 1 book at a time and much like you I don't feel like reading it anymore by the time I'm ready to. I had the same problem with the Netflix DVD's too. It's nice that we're similar in this way - the irrationality of it all drives my bf nuts, and now I can point out that I'm not the only one. Yay!

Also, just that picture of happy-shopping-Cher makes me want to go out and blow a bunch of money on books and clothes. Thanks for that... :)
1 reply · active 667 weeks ago
I live in a non-English speaking country (in a town without an English bookstore). 90% of the books I read are borrowed/found/stolen/gift. My TBR pile is startlingly small. My Kindle helps somewhat, but not as much as you'd think.
1 reply · active 667 weeks ago
I used to be like you, I would buy a book, read it and then buy another but, ever since I've discovered the £2 bookstore and some wonderfully stocked charity shops, I've been buying more. I try to keep it under control though, maybe instead of one book I buy three. However, this has made me rather reluctant to "shell out" for regular-priced books so I don't remember the last time I bought a book from a big chain bookstore or amazon.
1 reply · active 667 weeks ago
I used to buy tons of books, but I've stopped doing that and now use the library almost exclusively, as I'm going to be doing a cross-country move in a few months. Nothing like thinking about hefting super heavy boxes of books to make you cut back!

I do have a library problem though. I don't think I can go to the library without borrowing at least 7 books. Seriously. It's like shopping, but never having to pay! AMAZING! This habit means that I'm constantly forgetting which books are due back when and where (I go to two libraries - the public one and the one at my university). It all gets very, very confusing.
1 reply · active 664 weeks ago

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