I recently came upon a few gift-giving occasions where a good book was in order (one was for a baby shower & another for my hubbies Easter basket). I LOVE books! And I think they make a really great gift and I love recieving them too!
When you give a book as a gift you have to put thought into it, know the reader and alot of times the book you give has really meant alot to you too. Here is the thing....while I find great value IN a book I don't want to pay a great value FOR the book. I like cheap books....I like them alot....I like used books....I think the more they are used (i.e LOVED) they more meaningful they are. Here are the few places I get good - cheap- books!
THRIFT STORES/GOOD WILL - Hello to tons of books for under a dollar. Granted you do have to dig, but heck for a good deal I'll roll up my sleeves. Sometimes the thrill of the hunt OR the thrill of finding that $1 book is the color of the day and is now 50% off is true wind that blows up your skirt! This is the way I got my hands on "What To Expect the First Year" (80 cents my friends!).
SWAPTREE.COM - I love this site. I read about it in a magazine article that was discussing sites that you can trade things on. Swaptree caught my attention. You can trade Books, Movies, Games & Music for the mere cost of a trade fee (25-50 cents a trade) and the cost of postage. You make a list of stuff you have and a list of stuff that you want and Swaptree connects you to other traders that have the stuff you want. I have traded MANY a book/DVD for a mere $3 (trade fee + postage) I've said goodbye to The Little Black Book (stupidest movie ever) and hello to "Eat, Love, Pray" (again on my To Read list) or with a multiple copy of Pride & Prejudice (the book) I got to say good bye to Mr. Darcy and HELLO! to Johnny Depp in Chocolat.
I new love I just recently found is Thrift Books. This is what keeps me hooked on them : FREE SHIPPING to anywhere in the US and the more you buy the more you save. They have warehouses all over the US and if you buy more than one book from the same warehouse than you get additional savings. Granted this can be a very dangerous offer to someone like me, instead of purchasing the one book I went there to get - I bought another - just to see...I was very happy. If you friend them on Facebook you get a heads up on deals & they send out additional coupon codes!
Other sites that I check frequently are Amazon & eBay. I was able to get a book club read off of eBay once and the purchase of that book helped a public library in Pheonix, I felt warm & fuzzy inside.
Where do you get your books? Are there any good sites/stores that I missed (or gasp!) not aware of?
Shout it out and let me know!
3 comments:
The Library is a great place too...and free...our library has the Sage network at it's disposal too and it's easy to go online and request the book you want to read. They call or email when it's here and ready to be picked up...love that reminder and it's often a a surprise by the time the book comes...oh goodie, I forgot I requested that book. :) I'm the type that rarely re-reads a book so this helps me immensely. I also love to get a series of books and this is a big help too (if they have them all).
Also some book stores trade in books. Not sure if the one in town still does, but worth looking into in your area. I know Pendleton does...so I have my dealer (aka Mom) take a pile of books I'm done with and trade them in for more. They take books and give you 1/2 the buy price in credit towards books in their store...so we just trade back and forth. Unfortunately, there are 3 of us on the account--Mom, myself, and my sister--so the credit doesn't sit around long, but if we time it right whenever I go to visit I can get a pile. Plus, my mom loves to take my list of next reads and dig through the piles on the shelves there...well, maybe love is a strong word since she told me all about her knees being stiff and legs going numb after she sat on the floor for 1/2 hour last time trying to find all my list...but there is love there for me at least. :)
And of course you can trade with friends too.
Costco has some popular newer books often too be below cover price. Online book clubs also sometimes have good deals. Just ordered up some at 50% off suggested retail price and free shipping. I am members in a kids one and also a Home/Garden one and a Craft one too.
Book fairs at the kids school are great too for a few adult reads like cookbooks. And Book Orders are FABULOUS choices for kids books really cheap. You can always ask a teacher in your kids' school if your kid's teacher doesn't do the book orders. I love now that they will let you order online too. :)
Tori
PS Love this font ladies...it's so whimsical and fun.. :)
Paperbackswap.com
Its the same idea as Swaptree, but the only thing you pay is the shipping. Each book you swap is worth one "credit." When you mail out a book to a member you get a credit, and then you can use those credits to pick out other books and the members mail them to you. Its...FAB.
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