Thursday, January 29, 2009

Weekend Assignment : Book Connections

I haven't done assignments from other blogs in a long time. Probably because of this. However, sometimes when you have too much going on, the thing to do is step back and do something you'd like to do. :)

So, I popped over to Outpost Mâvarin (via Mike's Blog, because I noticed he had done the assignment as well) and decided to do the Weekend Assignment.

The assignment is:

Weekend Assignment #252: Where do you get books from?

The answer for me is as wide and varied as my interests.

I do most of my buying at local thrift shops, and second hand book stores, depending on what I am looking for.

With thrift shops I peruse the aisles filling my basket with whatever looks good until there's no more room in the basket or no more money for more books. I love to read, so there is a great deal that will interest me.

At used book stores I tend to have in mind books I'd like to have. For instance, if I have an entire series I'd like to own that is already in print, I'd go to Page One, or Page One 2. I can usually find what I want, in good shape, at a lower price. Which means I can buy more books. Which is huge for me because I buy so many books.

Lucky me, I have family and friends who read almost as much as I do, so many of my books are hand-me-downs. Sometimes I pass these books on, but most the time if I love the book I keep it. I am a book collector, and I have read many of my books two or three times, sometimes as often as seven or eight.

Sometimes I go to the big book stores, like Borders. But those are usually when I need a technical or how to book I don't expect to find used. Perhaps a Photography book, or a Dreamweaver Manual. These are infrequent forays, I probably visit these places less than once a year.

My mother recently bought a Kindle book, ( an e-book reader, or an embedded system for reading electronic books) which I have some interest in. She gets her books online at Amazon, and is very happy with it because it can literally store thousands of books in a tiny space. But she is limited in which books are available right now, and it is expensive. So this will likely be something I wait many years to see if it is practical for me.

Extra Credit:
What was the last book you read, and why?

I am currently reading "Tigana" by Guy Gavriel Kay, because I enjoy a good fiction book to take me away from the realities of my life. And "Tigana" so far is a very, very good book. :)

3 comments:

Call me Paul said...

Ooh, Ooh! Tigana is my mostest favouritest book ever. I've read it, I dunno, at least five or six times. A little while ago I was sitting at the computer, waiting for it to finish something (a virus scan, or software installation - I don't remember) and I picked up Tigana and leafed through it at random. I couldn't find a page that didn't totally engross me immediately. I brought it upstairs and announced to my wife that Tigana was being inserted into my to-read pile as the very next book. I'm even putting off a new Cory Doctorow novel in favour of it.

Kay is one of the most remarkable writers out there. I highly recommend you explore the rest of his work.

Karen Funk Blocher said...

Oh, I love this answer! I seldom see any books I want in thrift shops any more, but to be fair I haven't looked in quite a while. Sounds like your interest in a wide range of books makes such outlets especially worthwhile.

Thanks for playing along, and I hope you'll join us again soon.

Mike said...

Your bookshelf looks like mine. Actually, mine are all over the place, buy I have many of the same books. I've never thought of thrift shops for books. I'm not sure where one is near me; I should look it up.