Musing Monday: Buying Books

Where do you buy/get most of your books?



Oh, lots of places!

I stock up at my library's book sale. I usually volunteer several days during it, so I have plenty of time to look around.

I get some from Paperback Swap. Right now, I'm on lots of wish lists. I don't think I'll be getting anything soon though.

I use audible and my library for audio books.

I have gotten lots of free books for my Kindle from Amazon and Project Gutenberg. I have also bought a few as well.

I buy from bookstores too, but usually those are books I found from browsing. I don't buy as many new as I used to.


Check out Should be Reading for more Musing Monday posts.

If you shop at B&N soon

The Denver alum association of my sorority hosts a Book and Author Dinner every year. This year there are three authors including Meg Cabot. I really really want to see her, but I teach on Thursday nights.

During that time period, there is a Barnes and Noble book fair (all stores and online.) Both the dinner and the book fair raise money for college scholarships. Part supports the Craig Hospital Scholarship Fund. Craig Hospital treats spinal injury and traumatic brain injury patients. A smaller portion benefits undergrad sorority members through scholarships.

So, head on over to Barnes and Noble, use code: 10205094, and help support a good cause. It doesn't cost you any extra. The book fair goes through the 19th in stores and the 24th online.

Like you needed another excuse to buy books.

Thanks!

Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, CO

We went to Denver on Sunday night. As with every trip to Denver, I got to stop by what is probably my favorite bookstore: Tattered Cover.



I, of course, left with several books.

July Library Book Sale

My library added a new book sale in July. (It used to be November and April only.) I, of course, volunteered and bought books. Since I'm really trying to get my books I own but haven't read (2010 challenge) pile under control, I did a really good job or not buying lots of books.

I grabbed a few books I'd already read that I wanted for my collection (The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Monster of Florence, and To Kill a Mockingbird), a few kids books (American Girls and Little House on the Prairie books), and a very few new books (The House at Riverton, which I was thrilled to get for $2 and Confessions of an Economic Hitman.) And, I donated more books than I bought!

In 4 days, we raised $6600. Everybody wins!

The Library Book Sale

My favorite volunteer activity is the library book sale. I have been working it for several years. We have our main sale in November with an Earth Day sale in April.

One of the reasons I like volunteering at the sale is that I can spend hours looking at the books and people don't think I'm crazy.

I also love helping people find books they are looking for (since the sale is such a treasure hunt) and suggesting new books to people. It's so interesting to see what books people pick up.

The one downside: I end up bringing lots of books home to add to my huge to be read pile. New books are usually a good thing, but I own more than 375 books I haven't read yet and I'm running out of room. Tonight, though, I did pretty good and only added a few to my TBR list.

Tonight's haul, all for $26.75:

For my friend Jessica and her classroom library-

Burned (Ellen Hopkins)
Election (Tom Perrotta)
Fever 1793 (Laurie Halse Anderson)
Flush (Carl Hiaasen)
Near Death in the Mountains (Cecil Kuhne)
The Perfect Storm (Sebastian Junger)
Black Hawk Down (Mark Bowden)
The Last River (Todd Balf)
How I Became Stupid (Martin Page)
The Monkey Wrench Gang (Edward Abbey)

Children's Books (no kids and no plans for them anytime soon, but I love kids' books)-

The Pushcart War (Jean Merrill)
Ramona and Beezus
Ramona and her Mother
Ramona the Brave (Beverly Cleary)
Olivia and the Missing Toy (Ian Falconer)
3 Magic School Bus books
Nappy Hair (Carolivia Herron)
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years (Rachel Field, beautiful illustrations)
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Judith Viorst)
The True Story of Smokey the Bear (Jane Werner Watson)
A Lion Named Shirley Williamson (Bernard Waber)
Is Your Mama a Llama? (Deborah Guarino)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (copyright '58, printed in '74, it's very retro cool)

Adult Books for me-

God is Not Great (Christopher Hitchins)
The Island of Lost Maps (Miles Harvey)
Falling Off the Map (Pico Iyer)