Our Shared Shelf discussion

It's very important to support local commerce, especially when the bookstores try to adapt to be more reader-friendly.

Sarah wrote: "Hi everyone!
As this is a bookclub, I think I'm quite right in the assumption that here are a lot of booklovers, not only of feminist literature (even though it's the best ;) ) but of literature o..."

Did you know that Amazon is the owner of the Goodreads site?

I buy books from Amazon and ebooks too. Sometimes I find really good deals on Amazon.

I have been working in a local bookshop in my town for years and I have strong beliefs on buying in little shops. Even though, there are many books that are out of stock or that are outdated (for example the ones in this book group). So in that case, which is the solution? I have finally gave up after searching for the books for weeks and ordered them on Amazon. I think that all of us can do exceptions without betraying our convictions about books.

hear hear!! usually (not always which I should) I try to check used bookstores for the title I want before succumbing to the lure of Amazon.

I feel bad, I never find what I need in little shops when I'm looking for something specific, and usually can't wait to order. :-( I go to them to browse for random things sometimes though. I've found lots of amazing books that way, and often cheaper or signed! But when I need something specific, to Barnes and Noble I go. I do at least try not to buy from Amazon anymore...

On of my favorite things to do when I travel is to find a local, privately owned bookstore to wander around in. It's so peaceful and I always find amazing books. The down side is getting them back home again if I'm flying. :)

I always order my books if they are not available - and wait. I don't have a big problem with waiting for my books, and now, the workers in the bookshop even know me a smidge. Like yesterday:

Me: I've finally got it.
shop worker: Let's see what comes in April then.

That's so cute.

I really hate buying online, except from rebuy, a website which is selling and buying second-hand articles. So, one can sell his old stuff, like books and electronic devices and also buy that stuff. It's environmentally-friendly and one can save a lot of money. So for everyone in Germany and Austria, that's a solution to think about when it comes to buying and selling books.

There is something magical about wandering around in a book store (new and used) and I can do that since I live in a city. I also want to give a shout out to local libraries. They are treasure troves as well although I think for our purposes in this book club the wait lists would be too long.

I love finding bookstores with obscure copies of books, but bookstores are hard to find (for me, at least). I live in NYC, so there's a few really famous ones like The Strand, but if anybody knows of any others in Manhattan or Queens, let me know! I've been buying books from Amazon lately out of convenience, but I'm trying hard to break away from the monster to support small stores instead.

Used book stores are some of the most wonderful, fascinating places on Earth. I love book stores and would gladly buy all my books in them if I could. They're great to wander when you have no particular book in mind, when you're open to whatever jumps out at you.
However, I live in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, 45 minutes from the nearest tiny chain store and probably 2 hours from a used one. My best shot at used books is a library fundraiser sale--not exactly helpful in March. As such, I'm incredibly grateful for Amazon and my Kobo. Ordering online lacks magic, reading off a plastic box loses authenticity, but at least I still get to read.

I'm a writing major in NYC now, so I am super passionate about finding independent/used bookstores around the city and going frequently to support them. It's hard though when you are on a college student's budget! It's great to find cheap and rare books, but book lovers as we all are, the amount of books can really start to add up. That and a lot of the independent stores sell books for full price, and books are quite expensive. It's so easy to get sucked into the lure of Amazon where books are discounted or you can just as easily buy them used and dirt cheap, Prime or not. But I do my best to support them and buy them full price, even if it means I can't use my meal plan that night.

I've always ordered my books from Amazon, because it has plenty of books which the local bookstores don't sell. But if i move to another city i will support those local bookstores. BTW My dream is to be a bookstore owner!

I always either buy my books at my local bookstore, where I can usually haggle with the owner over the price of a book. Or I go to a V-Stock, where I can get great, used books on clearance for a dollar or two. I recently bought 'The Help' by Kathyrn Stockett for three dollars there!

For those who don't have local bookstores, or who can't find the book they need at theirs, then BetterWorld is a fair more ethical choice than a lot of other online retailers. Their used stock is recycled library books saved from landfill, and for each dollar you spend they donate books to literacy projects worldwide. I've been buying from them for over ten years and their stock is always good quality. They have free international shipping, too, which helps a lot.

Also, remember that a lot of local bookstores sell ebooks via Kobo. Just use the link from your favorite local store to buy the ebook. Kobo gives the store a cut. I have. Nook and LOVE to read on it so this is a good way to shop local with the benefit of ebooks!

Oh, being danish again...
I looooove bookstores and I buy more books there than online (I get a lot of bookpresents to, and I don't know where they are bought, though), but Denmark is such a small country (5 million people) so a lot of books never hits our stores. And taking home one copy of an unknown feminist book in english isn't that great a deal to most bookstore keepers.

Luckily we (still) have a great public library system, the size of our population considered, but still some books are unavailable... And then I turn to Amazon.