Katherine
Armadillo Pup
From the moment you begin breathing you start dying too.
Posts: 44
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Post by Katherine on Jun 2, 2011 22:20:33 GMT -5
The only books I really buy from bookstores are ones I know I won't hate (sequels to books I liked), books I read and really liked, and cheap paperback classics. All my other books are either from the library or I buy them at garage sales/when I go thrifting.
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Post by kitteah on Jun 3, 2011 11:46:03 GMT -5
Since the bookstore in town closed, the library is my best friend. I'm lucky because even for a smaller town the library has a fantastic selection. If they don't have something I'd like I can order it from surrounding libraries and it's usually in town within a week. Plus, it's free. Which I like.
If I do buy books, I'll go to Borders. It's the closest bookstore and I can buy things off of the clearance rack. I usually stock up in January, after raking in around eighty dollars in Border's gift cards for Christmas. I also just discovered a used bookstore in the same town as Borders, so I will be visiting that more often.
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Post by Josefine on Jun 4, 2011 17:22:37 GMT -5
I actually don't think I have a preference... Since I'm from Germany and like to at least read the English books in their original language, I mostly go to the bigger stores because they usually have a better foreign language department, but then there's a little shop near my university that has all these classics & there's also one that sells used books...
Basically just leave me at any sort of book store and I'll be happy lol Especially in England, oh my God I could have spent days in those book stores! All in English <3 (but really, I don't even have to understand the language the books are written in to spend hours at a book store. I remember a certain one in Venice that I did not want to leave heh)
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 4, 2011 18:52:18 GMT -5
What kinds of editions do y'all like? For me, I really love Penguin for classics (and anything), but I prefer the Arden Shakespeare for, well...Shakespeare.
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Post by embonpoint on Jun 4, 2011 18:57:48 GMT -5
^I got the Arden Shakespeare sonnets for a fiver second-hand in my favourite shop in all the world.
/pointless information, but it was SUCH an exciting moment for me!
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Post by serpentheart on Jun 5, 2011 23:26:50 GMT -5
Since all but one bookstore chain closed in my city I mainly buy online and new. Amazon (both uk and us) and Book Depository (because it has free shipping!). Sometimes my Uni bookstore too.
I like Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions with their hand-torn type paper and interesting illustrations for the covers. <3
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jun 6, 2011 2:36:17 GMT -5
^I got the Arden Shakespeare sonnets for a fiver second-hand in my favourite shop in all the world. /pointless information, but it was SUCH an exciting moment for me! I bet! I start going to the bookstore and lusting after the Ardens. They just make me happy, though I don't know why...the covers aren't always appealing to me, but I still sit there and lust...or stand, rather. Maybe it's the paper. Since all but one bookstore chain closed in my city I mainly buy online and new. Amazon (both uk and us) and Book Depository (because it has free shipping!). Sometimes my Uni bookstore too. I like Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions with their hand-torn type paper and interesting illustrations for the covers. <3 Penguins are so lovely. I like the simple black covers with the inset of artwork. Simple, clean, lovely. Plus, they have all that t'riffic criticism. Norton Criticals are the best for that sort of thing, though...clearly. It's in the name. |
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Post by cyanea on Jun 8, 2011 12:01:26 GMT -5
I generally can't stand the Ardens. Unless you're writing a paper on a particular play, the footnotes just give TOO much information, and it triggers my need to complete everything by making me read it all. I don't care that Richard's second cousin in the play was actually his third cousin by his mother's family in real life and that the quarto version omits the word "the"...but I'll read it anyway because I'm weird like that.
For classes, I generally prefer the Penguins or the Folgers. They're light, small, and generally have the right amount of translation and background information without getting over the top. When I'm writing a paper, I'll pick up an Arden if necessary, but for anything else...a Folger will do.
(Though I had a copy of The Tempest from Barnes and Noble's new line of printings...and I kinda like them. One/two word translations are next to the line, with background information on the facing page.)
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Post by Olive on Jun 8, 2011 12:41:57 GMT -5
My Shakespeare prof last semester recommended the Pelican Shakespeare complete works, and another prof that I'm going to Stratford (Ontario) with in the fall required the Pelican editions for the four plays that we're seeing... I'd never heard of it before, but the cover art on the paperbacks is interesting, and the complete is bound in red cloth with an interesting "portrait" of Shakespeare on it, and the footnotes were usually the right amount of info...
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Post by formerlyanon on Jun 12, 2011 9:19:50 GMT -5
I have an innate ability to find any used book store in an area, so I guess I get books mainly from them and from Amazon, with the free shipping deals it offers.
I was walking Georgetown (known for being trendy and hipster, if any of you guys have seen that show about its cupcake shops) in Washington, DC, went off the main roads to look at some railcar tracks, and ended up right in front of a tiny used store with amazing selection. They even have a bunch of sheet music, art books, and foreign books, and all the proceeds help a scholarship fund for a local college. Another time a friend and I were on a trip with her family at a notable historical site. We wandered up and down the street to look at the replicas, went down some steps, and ended up in another musty bookstore filled with ancient, cheap books. We looked at each other and started squealing right away. There were fiction novels all over the place, philosophy, romance, teen, etc. It was pretty magical.
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Post by andreaisabbbw on Jun 12, 2011 22:53:42 GMT -5
I like to buy my books new if I can. The BN classics are my favorite because they look pretty on the shelf and they're relatively inexpensive. I only buy hardbacks if I really like the book.
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Post by mallory on Jan 1, 2012 19:30:16 GMT -5
I'm honestly not picky about where I get my books. Lately I've been getting them from Barnes and Noble because I have the money and it's the most convenient, but I'll also order from Amazon and buy from used book stores. The place I get a lot of my books thought is from this event in my city called Relay for Life. It's a giant, 24-hour cancer walk, where you basically camp out in the city park. Tons of people do fundraising booths for the American Cancer Society, and every year we have two or three teams of people who will put together Used Book Sales as their fundraiser. But the morning after they usually have a lot of books for sale, so they start giving them away for free or selling them for a penny book. I got close to 50 books last year alone.
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on Jan 4, 2012 18:22:59 GMT -5
I prefer buying my books new rather than used. OCD makes me squeamish about used books, but when it comes to textbooks, there's often no choice. I'll normally sit in the bookstore for a half an hour looking at the stack for one required text to determine which one is the least damaged and in the best condition/cleanest. If I have to buy used, I'm going to get my damned money's worth.
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Kori
Young Armadillo
Posts: 51
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Post by Kori on Jan 11, 2012 23:46:46 GMT -5
As I have limited funds and shelf space, I generally used the library as a sort of screening system. If I love a series, I will purchase it, usually from a second hand bookstore, if only because its generally cheaper that way. I will buy them online if it's the latest in a series that I've been waiting for, but not until it's in Mass Market Paperback.
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Kori
Young Armadillo
Posts: 51
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Post by Kori on Jan 12, 2012 0:01:08 GMT -5
What kinds of editions do y'all like? For me, I really love Penguin for classics (and anything), but I prefer the Arden Shakespeare for, well...Shakespeare. Penguins are fantastic. I always find the introductory essays informative and interesting, and the fact that they "place the book" in the real world, so to speak, is really helpful. That and all the footnotes in the back. I don't think I would have realized just how religious Jane Eyre if I hadn't been reading a Penguin edition. For Shakespeare, I have to say that I'm partial to the Folger editions. They're novel sized, so you can just pick up a play and go, and the "translations" on every other page are helpful when trying to unpack some of the more difficult passages. |
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