Hey Peeps!

Where do you shop for your books? Do you simply download them onto your E-reader of choice or have them shipped to your house? It seems to me that Bookstores are a dying breed. How sad is that? What avid reader doesn’t enjoy walking into a bookstore with a coffee in hand to wander the aisles among the stories and hopes and dreams of every single writer who’s book graces the shelf? Its one of my favorite passtimes and I have to say that I am worried that it will someday be a mere luxury that I will only be able to do when I happen to stumble upon a living bookstore.

As some of the bookstores around close I am still lucky because my town still had a large Barnes and Noble. We used to have a Books A Million but it closed. I went to the final sale there and they told me that in its place a new store would be put in a store called 2nd and Charles. Its a used bookstore. They also sell used electronics and such…. I wasn’t terribly excited or impressed….

But then one day I wanted a book. A book that GASP I could not just download onto my reader. Why? Because this book was published in 2006 and it wasn’t put out in Ebook. On one hand I was shocked because it made me realize how fast and furious the Ebook market has grown. But I admit it also made me mad. I wanted that book and I wanted it NOW!

Ahhhh, what technology has made me. A spoiled brat reader. LOL.

The book I was searching for? Don’t laugh…..

Vampire Beach Volume 2.

Okay, you can laugh. I did. When Books A Million was closing its doors I picked up a paperback copy of Vampire Beach for like 3$. I’ll be frank. It sounded kind of trashy and soap opera-ish and I thought Ooooohhhh a nice light read. I bought it and shoved it in a drawer.

Fast forward several months and I was in a bad, bad mood….. I remembered said trashy, beach book and I pulled it out.

Did I like it? I’ll be posting a series review here this week so come back and see. 🙂

Anyway, I was intrigued enough to want the next volume. But I wasn’t about to pay the 10$ that every site was charging for the paperback! Insane! That’s when I remembered the used bookstore that was in town…… I figured why not?

So I went. I didn’t expect to be impressed.

First off when you walk in your eyes go straight back against the far wall to the giant mural/logo that they have put up. Check it out:

 

Isn’t it awesome? It’s made entirely of books. Can you imagine how long that took to make?

After staring at this wall for a few minutes I decided to see if this place had any reads to offer and to challenge them to having a copy of a book that I could only find online for 10$.

The challenge was issued.

This is the aisle I wandered for a while. It is completely dedicated to teen reads (they labeled it teen. I prefer the label of YA but I decided not to be picky…)

Ahhhh, the possibilites of the teen world…..

Anyway, I searched and searched and finally i said: “Ah – Ha! You don’t have my book.” About that time my husband wandered into the aisle and I proceeded t whine because all I wanted was the vampire book. So he started looking and since I knew it wasn’t there I began amusing myself by seeing what they did have.

Only my husband found it…..

yup. He did. You know what that means…..

Trashy beach vampires for all!!!!

LOL. okay, no. It meant I lost the challenge. Not only was theis bookstore cool but it had my book. Then I looked at the price tag. Under 3$. ….. Woo Hooo.

The reason Ididn’t find it (well there are two reasons) One: it was on the top shelf and I’m short. Two: it didn’t have the same cover that I saw online…. yeah, i was looking for a purple cover and this one was an orange cover and a smaller size…. note: i wasn’t enticed at all by this orange cover but I wanted the book at it was less than 3$. Beggars can’t be choosers. lol.

So I took my booty and went on home. What books did I get that day? Well, I must have still been feeling Vampy. Who knows why, because we all know that I am a loyal Werewolf Gal. So I cna’t really explain why every single book I bought was a vampire book. LOL.

Here is what I got.

That book on the right there is the Vampire Beach that I went in there for. Imagine my surprise when I saw the Hardback of Shadowland for 6$! I picked up Crave because it was cheap and someone told me once it was good. I figured I would shove it my drawer til I wanted a vampy fix. 🙂

Needless to say, I had a really fun time at 2nd and Charles and I will for sure be going back. They had some cool stuff there for some awesome prices! I still will be using my e-reader but I have to say that the mere existance of this new “used” bookstore makes me feel a little less sad about the demise of some our beloved book chains. Hopefully places like this will keep people like me, bookstore people, happy and inspired!

So where do you shop for books?

5 Comments

  1. first off, totally liked your post, way cute.
    second of all, how could you NOT TELL ME that you were getting this HOT new look for your site?!?!?!!?!?

    1. Author

      Thanks Jenn!! Its a brand new look! So new I hadn’t had time to tell people yet, glad you like it though! Regina is the best!

  2. I loved this,post. Let’s face it, who doesn’t like a Bargain Book. I am guilty of always going on line and buying books for under five books. I need a bookstore like this. Oh wait I have Powell’s. Figures you get it just when you are getting ready to move. Love the mural.

  3. Well first, look! I’m following you, too. I really like YOUR header.

    So where do I get my books? Well, I download quite a few to my Nook, but there are a few I still buy in paper version. We still have both B & N and Books-A-Million in my town plus an independent bookstore (go figure).

    I love your site! Sorry for sounding like a star-struck teen, but whoever designed your page did a fab job.

  4. Oooooh get you with the new header!! Very flash!

    I have gone over nearly entirely to ebooks these days because my house is so full that I can’t fit any more paperbacks in and I’m sooooo bad at giving books away….I got 3 paperback editions of a Tanith Lee I’ve wanted to read ever since I was about 15, and just haven’t got round to it yet as they won’t fit in my (so-called) schoolbag (having a handbag sounds too grown-up to be countenanced even in my mid-thirties!!)

    But there’s a fab bookshop in Northumberland in the UK, in Alnwick railway station. We used to go to Northumberland on holiday, with all the books we wanted rid of in carrier bag after carrier bag in the back of the car.
    The shop is called Barter Books and you take in your old books and they buy them off you or (and guess which I used to do) they work out what they’re worth and you just end up walking out with that value of “new” secondhand books….! LOVE Barter Books. They make the most fabulous oatmeal cookies and there’s a little train set that runs all round the top of the bookstacks.

    Don’t get up there these days but if I did, you know all the old books would be going with me. Doesn’t count as jettisoning them into the cruel world if you’re doing swapsies at Barter Books as they’ll look after them nicely and rehome them.
    JAC

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