Picking books, buying books...Part 2

I found these questions on bookgirl's nightstand and decided to post my own answers:

How do you find books to read? Reviews? Recommendations? Favorite Authors? Other?
I love the new recommendations feature on Goodreads.  It's the best one I've encountered so far.  Once I discover a favourite author, I will read all their books.  Maybe not right away but they will all end up on my to-read list and I will slowly whittle away at them.  Also, I do most of the ordering for the library I work at and we order from catalogues.  If I'm going to stare at them for hours, I'll make sure to find a title or two (or more) for myself.

Where do you get your books? Independent bookstores? Chain stores? Online? Library?
Since I work at a public library (two of them, to be exact), a large percentage of the books I read are from the library.  I sometimes shop at the nearest Coles and/or Chapters.  I absolutely adored my (sadly, infrequent) visits to the local Half Price Books.  My most recent visit last week revealed that it had gone out of business.  I do not lie when I say I am deeply saddened by this news.  But my recent discovery of Better World Books bolsters my spirit for cheap books from my to-read list.

When? Or more accurately, how often? How many books on average do you get or buy each month?
I don't honestly keep track on a monthly basis simply because it fluctuates based on what else is going on in my life and the particular reading material of the moment.  Last year I broke my own reading record with 100+ titles.  Thankfully my Goodreads and Shelfari accounts keep track of all that for me.  I love stats.  I especially love not having to compile them myself.  I bought a third bookcase last weekend because I want to expand my personal library.  I want to do this without conscious attention on the cost.

What about you?  What are your answers?

Read on,

Paula

Picking books, buying books

Tonight I finished reading "The Little Giant of Aberdeen County" by Tiffany Baker.  I was on the verge of a good end-of-emotional-book cry when a friend called.  She asked me what I was doing, I said I'd just finished my book.  She asked if it was any good.  And this question has two answers for me.  The first is "of course".  My to-read list is 550+ titles long; I don't have the time or patience to read books I'm not interested in.  So if I finish it, it's at least good, if not better than good.  The other answer to this question is "I think so".  What I mean by that is that reading preferences are highly personal.  Book clubs will demonstrate that in one meeting.  But for me personally, just seeing what my friends read is my own demonstration.  I read a lot of non-fiction mixed in with my fiction.  My fiction tastes are different from the general populace and I'm okay with that.  A person's reading tastes are as unique and nuanced as their personality...no two people are completely alike.  So, yes, I enjoyed this book very much but that doesn't mean you or anyone else will like it for the same reasons or at all.  And that's why the freedom to read whatever your heart desires is an important right in our lives.  I mimic Voltaire when I say, "I may not agree with what you read but I will defend to the death your right to read it."

On the topic of buying books, my first shipment from Better World Books is waiting for me at the post office!!  *happy dance*

Read on,
Paula

Book-related products

Some book-related products I'd like to find:
*Literati lip balm (I'm thinking either ShakeSpearmint or Bronte Berry)
*Novel bedsheets
*Printed tights
*"Go away. I'm reading." dust jackets...you can download a pdf version.  I did!
*I'm sure you're aware of the "Keep calm and carry on" viral motto and the spawn of parodies.  Well, someone finally created a 'keep calm and read on' wallpaper that you can download.  I also got the 'keep calm and dream big'.

You know you have too many ebooks on your phone when it takes longer to open your library than it does to make it through the long Tim Horton's line during Roll Up The Rim time on a busy Sunday morning.

Oh yeah, and I found another cheap book website (BookCloseOuts) and their Canadian!!

Read on,
Paula

I want to do this

From bookgirl's nightstand:

*****But you know what I’m doing tonight? Not crossing-off any items on my to-do list that’s for sure. No, I’ve told my husband that I’m in desperate need of bookstore therapy. That means we’ll have to go to Borders and spend all evening there tonight.

We’ll find our spot, drop off our bookbags and go roaming. He’ll check out the latest books on graphic design and art. I’ll be by the table with the latest fiction releases. We usually meet up in the magazine section where I’ll grab tons of fashion, travel and health magazines and he’ll grab some on digital photography or whatever he’s looking into at the moment.

We’ll make it back to our little table, hot cups of chocolate on hand, and enjoy being out together at our second home.*****


I want to do this.  Aside from the annual Word on the Street festival in Toronto in September and the visit to the used bookstore in Powell River at christmas, I don't get to spend hours in a bookstore.  I would so love to do that.  To take my time to browse what's available and to see what they carry from my to-read list.  Hours surrounded by books wanting me to take them home.  *sigh*


Read on,
Paula

Expanding

Yesterday I bought a 5-shelf bookcase and four books.  I am of the opinion that you should always buy at least one new book when you buy a bookcase (similar to the penny for a new wallet?).  But as I said to my friend yesterday, just because I have one new book does not mean I have enough.  If I had had more money, I would have bought a few more.  Damn those monthly expenses for getting in the way of my book buying!  In case you're interested, these are the books I bought:
*All in One: Fabulously Simple and Convenient One-Pot Recipes (no author)
*100 Cupboards - N.D. Wilson (100 Cupboards #1)
*Phoenix Rising - Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris (Books & Braun #1)
*Hold On To Your Kids - Gabor Mate; my new-dad brother recommended this and I borrowed it from my library...unfortunately I keep getting distracted by gripping fiction books and decided just to buy my own copy after illegally renewing it three times (oh the staff perks!).

I learned yesterday that size matters when it comes to bookstores.  I bought three of the books at the little Coles store in the mall.  Despite having my 548-title to-read list handy, I found it difficult to locate them because (a) the store didn't carry them, (b) some titles were shelved in the teen area instead of the genre area, and (c) some aren't new enough to be carried in the bookstore.  Although I did eventually browse each area, I found myself feeling frustrated and irritable because I was constantly going back and forth between various areas to check for titles.  Why they can't have the catalogue computers like Chapters does, I don't know.  At least one would be incredibly helpful.  Even if I found that they carried none of the titles on my list (doubtful!), that would not deter me from browsing anyway.  I'm always open to finding new titles I wasn't aware of.  And if you are not open to expanding your to-read list, don't follow me into the bookstore.  You have been warned.

So I built my new bookcase last night, disregarding the instructions by using a power screwdriver.  I'm very happy with it.  I've moved all of my fiction onto it, leaving my other two bookcases for my non-fiction and scrapbook albums.  There is plenty of room for expansion now, which will hopefully last a little while.  But my love of Better World Books will probably ruin that.  The shipping may be slow (2-4 weeks for me) but I'm okay with that.  The price of shipping (free!) is great and every time a box arrives, it will have been so long I won't remember what I ordered and it'll be like getting a gift in the mail.  How wonderful is that?!  Besides, I'm already finding that BWB has titles in stock for shipping that I can't find via traditional (aka mainstream) venues.  Sold!

I'm also expanding my book-related resources and reading material.  The lovely thing about blogs is the blogroll, leading you to more blogs.  Yesterday I found bookgirl's nightstand.  I like her writing style and even if I am not always interested in the same books she is, I still find her descriptions worth reading.  From reading her blog and others that I like, I've realized that, although my blog is book-related, I don't always divulge the titles I have read, bought, or added to my to-read list.  The Goodreads widget is not enough.  I currently own 175 books.  Aside from the four I mentioned above, how many do you know about?  Not that I'm about to give you a list or anything but perhaps you might like to know more about my interests.  Books about books are at the top of the list, just so you know.  Those are the ones at the top of my Better World Books shopping list.  Perhaps I'll expand on that in a future post.

Read on,
Paula  

Buying more books

I googled "cheap books online" and one of the results was for Better World Books.  I don't know if I will ever buy from anywhere else again.  The site promotes literacy, offers free shipping worldwide, and most of the books that I searched for from my to-read list were under $20, 95% of them were under $10.  The books that hovered around the $15-$30 range were ones published in the last two years.  And of the titles I searched for, there was only one I couldn't find.  That's a lot of books they have.  I'm thrilled!  Cheap books, free shipping, AND for every book you buy they donate one to charity.  Seriously!  I'm over the moon about this site.  I'm telling all my book-loving friends.

I bought myself a new hard drive this week and am staying up until the wee hours getting caught up on blogs, videos, music, and all sorts of things I couldn't do with my cantankerously-slow outdated hard drive.  Thankfully, I'm now snowed in for the long weekend.

There is so much I want to get done online.  But I just got "Rapscallion" by James McGee from the library yesterday and it is calling my name.

Read on,
Paula

Book horror

I love books and I love amateur astronomy.  I am picky when it comes to books about astronomy because I don't quite have the brain for following all the science.  While browsing blogrolls of book-related blogs, I came across an post about a set of twelve books called "Astronomical" by Mishka Henner.  In the blog post, a video is included.  It is almost 10 minutes long but I only got to the two-minute mark before I had to stop.  I love books but I am also an environmentalist.  These books, although only printed on demand, are a fucking waste of paper and ink.  There is no reason at all why this should have been done.  I don't care if it is labelled artistic.  I am horrified and obviously angry that someone could even think that this was a good idea.  Pages and pages mostly of nothing but black.  And that's just in the first volume.  There would still be 11 more books of it.  See for yourself.  But you have been warned of the cringe-worthiness of it all.  I'm so mad about this that I don't even know if I will finish watching the video.  If I do, it will only be out of morbid curiosity.



ASTRONOMICAL - The Movie from Mishka Henner on Vimeo.

Read on,
Paula

Currently reading

There's a reason why I don't usually add titles to my "currently reading" list.  Because I usually have many on the go at the same time.  I read based on what I feel like reading at the moment.  If a non-fiction book I'm reading doesn't feel appropriate for me to read at work, I'll read something else.  If a book I'm reading is slow-going, I'll pick up something else temporarily.  I started reading "Infernal Devices" by K.W. Jeter because I'm exploring the steampunk genre for the first time.  I had read the first four books in Gail Carriger's 'Parasol Protectorate' series and loved them.  They've been tagged by others as steampunk.  The Jeter book is claimed to be the first book to give the steampunk genre its name.  But I had picked it up simply because "Resurrectionist" by James McGee had not arrived for me at the library.  It arrived yesterday.  So it has taken preference over the Jeter book.  I also have three non-fiction books on the go.  One has stalled due to too many more interesting books and one is on my BlackBerry for whenever I have to wait for something (in line, for taxis, etc.).  So I currently have about six titles on the go.  And I have about 495 other titles on my to-read list.  And my work schedule has changed so that I now work only one Saturday per month instead of two.  This extra day will undoubtedly be used for non-stop reading.  I love those days when I can do nothing but read.  They are rare and that's why I love them all the more.

Read on,
Paula