when you're out buying new books, (either new, or new to you) what are some of the places you go?

i know i'd be interested in hearing where the good spots are, if i'm ever in the area, i'd love to check some of them out.

a couple i'd recommend:

Auntie's Bookstore , Spokane, WA -- simply magnificent. one of the best things this town has going for it. a must see.

Half Price Books , locations all over -- check website for exact locations. good prices, selection...

so, how about you?

i love library book sales. good books at very inexpensive prices.

peace,
zayne

Anywhere & everywhere. But I have to admit, if I'm looking for something specific, I always check Amazon.com first & see if anyone is selling a used copy.

For many years, Dayton (actually Kettering) had a great independent bookstore called Books & Co. that got very popular. Then several years ago, it was bought by BooksAMillion. It's still a very nice store, but the big corporation has instituted a number of changes, and there was quite a staff shake-up when the sale happened, despite promises to the contrary. They did keep their promise not to change the name of the store, though. I still buy a lot of books there, though, because they give local libraries 20% discounts on all purchases, even staff orders.

I always make sure i look though the THRIFT STORE books. most are trashy but i have found some gems. I also peruse any and all used book stores if i have an extra few minutes while i am out and about.

if i am searching for a specific title i will go to amazon or barnes and noble. mostly mazon though since it means i don't have to leave my basement.

art books:
DM books, theatre books, Pages, The Beguiling, Silver Snail, Arcadia

the rest of the books:
Pages, She Said Boom, and a host of used bookstores on Harbord or College

I love buying my books from the library. Usually they are in good condition and then at the same time I get to support my library and other readers. All around a good deal! Otherwise I like to go to Borders or Barnes & Noble, get a coffee grab some books sit down and figure out which ones I am going to buy. That way it turns the book buying experiance into one I can enjoy the whole afternoon. I love books.

half.com! yeah!

otherwise- ebay, amazon.com, and once in a while, half price books or b&n/borders. I also bought about 30 books at a tiny little bookstore in Des Moines, right outside of Seattle, and checked them onto the plane in a cardboard box. So that accounts for quite a few.

Of course I am going to say Powell's (though I am beginning to think that they are getting a little too big). But also, I go to this shop called "Camerons" downtown. They usaully don't have what I am looking for, but they almost always have some type of treasure to walk out of with.

I do not buy most of the books I read; I check them out from the library. There is a public library about half a mile from home, and my mom works in the library of the College I went to, on the other side of town, so sometimes she brings things from there for me. Most of the books I own were actually given to me by her; I would say I actually bought about a quarter of the books I own, and that includes old textbooks.

But if I am going to buy a book, I will get it at Barnes and Noble, I guess. I would go to an independent bookstore, but the only one I know of is about ten times as far away as B&N. Most of the new books I have purchased are about bicycle racing, and not available in most bookstores, so I had to order them from catalogs of bicycling gifts, like velo.com, or worldcycling.com.

You know, I think I probably would use the library a lot more, if I didn't owe them so many late fines. Teehee.

i like borders.
they seem to have good specials, and the more popular books are often 20-30% off.

same with the music section.

For me here in the metro Detroit area, Borders, and Barnes & Nobles, dominate the scene and get most of my money. Borders keeps sending me 25%-off coupons that sucker me into mega-purchases every time. Birmingham's 2-story Borders with 2nd floor balconies (smoking on the side, non-smoking in the front) wins my vote for best Borders ever.

We also lay claim to the largest used bookstore in the nation(?) - John King books, in downtown. A 4-story warehouse + basement with nothing but used books. it's huge, but it lacks atmosphere (unless you like that warehouse atmosphere), and shopping trips there can be surprisingly unfruitful too often. I actually like their second location in Ferndale a bit better (much smaller though. still pretty damn big).

along Woodward there are a few worthy used bookstores (the names of which escape me right now. Classic Books is one of them).

Ann Arbor is the place to be, though, for bookshopping glee. West Side Books, Dawn Treader, David's Books, Books in General (which might not be in business anymore - they were closed and a mess last time I was up there), Shaman Drum (new books, but somehow of higher quality than most new bookstores. don't ask me to explain. they just all look better there), Kalaidescope (an absolute crowded mess in there, but fun to dig through sometimes), and of course the original Borders store.


perhaps in part 2 I will divulge my favourite used bookstores around the country (those parts I've actually been to, that is, which isn't much). New York, Nashville, Cincinatti... I've had some wonderful used bookstore moments in all of these places.

I was in Athens, Georgia (my future home) on Saturday and came across this wonderful used bookstore. It was closed, but I peered in the windows and drooled for several minutes before my roommate dragged me away. I'll be returning there. I also like to buy books at this wonderful little shop not too far from me called Coffee Buy the Book. It's a wonderful place to grab a drink (I always have tea, but they do, of course, have coffee), sit and talk with friends, and look at all their wonderful books. They have a little loft area upstairs filled with used books. I could spend all afternoon there.

A used book shop called Attic Owls. They're going out of buisness, though, which is sad. But everything is 90% off!
For christian books, it's Blessings and a local place, La Bonne Nouvelle. But usually Blessings (chains can afford to sell their books cheaper... loyalty means nothing with cheapness).
Oh, and Chapters, of course. Usually once a week we visit; order a Chai Tea from Starbucks, then browse when we're finished. MmmMmmm.

The library closest to me lets me put off when I will pay the fees, unless I owe more than a dollar, or something like that.

Barnes and Noble, or, lately it's been this Book Cellar in downtown Plymouth

[in no particular order]
1. The Book Cellar and Cafe in Downtown Plymouth
2. Borders/Waldenbooks
3. Barnes and Noble
4. I tend to steal borrow indefinatly books from my friend Fiona's house. They have pretty much a library in their house. It's awesome.

GOODWILL.

I have found numerous brand new/perfect condition/current books on their shelves.

Just some examples of what I've seen during the last month or so, although not always necessarily bought . .

(and again, perfect condition on most of these):

5-6 Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul books

A Million Little Pieces (although, this could probably be given away now)

Always multiple John Grishams, Christian authors, and my favorites, New York Times bestsellers (I bought Girl in Hycanith Blue and Light on Snow last week~great reads )

Also, they are the best spot to get children's books~they always have a huge variety.

I am SUCH a cheapskate. I don't buy books.... I see what good ones are out at the bookstore, while I sip coffee, and then get them at the library.

LOL!

i've actually read a few books while at the bookstore - i'd pick up a coffee, find the book and read it on a couch at the bookstore. if i didn't finish the book that day, well, i'd remember what page i left off on and come back later.

Our local Barnes & Noble if they have what I'm looking for, Amazon or eBay if they don't. I enjoy browsing Strand Books and the mega-B&Ns when I'm in NYC and usually walk out with something.

Used book stores mostly. This is the downside to doing academics for a living. I tend to read a lot less "for fun". So I almost exclusively buy bargains. But then I have little interest in keeping up with new stuff, so that is not so much of a problem really. My University has this place where they sell books that are not needed by the libraries, and they are practicly free.

Patrik

You guys and I do our shopping at a lot of the same places...

I shop a lot from Amazon, Overstock, and Half.com...

Library sales always uncover great gems...

Local retailers, like Wordsworth, and re-sellers, like Lorenzen & Co., always get my support...

And occasionally I'll spend some scratch at Barnes & Noble while socializing with book-slaves and scenesters.

BSC

There's a local bookstore called Babar which recently (as in Monday) opened a location in the city proper. It's accessible! I'm so happy! I've been a huge fan of all-kids bookstores for several years now. I'm overjoyed to have one of my very own to drain my pocketbook. From now on, no more Chapters or Amazon unless Babar doesn't carry it. Their prices tend to fall within a couple dollars of the big stores, but it's Babar. The only bookstore I've ever liked more is Curious George on Harvard Square, and that's peskily in Boston. Babar is good good good.

I buy a lot of my grown-uppy books through the co-op bookstore on campus. They're lovely about ordering things for me, and as a co-op member of this tiny little shop in the basement, I can often save a little on what I'd have to pay at one of the chain stores. If they can't get something for me, often Amazon can.

I used to love this place called Double Hooked Books, but they shut down recently. (Their building was taken over by Babar.) They carried all Canadian authors. If you needed some obscure volume put out by some miniscule publishing house in Alberta, they could find it for you. It was wonderful. They will be sorely missed.

I also hit up numerous used bookstores, check abebooks.com when I'm really stuck for something, haunt library book sales, and drool over Scholastic order forms. Goddammit, those things are like bookcrack. It's almost enough to make me choose to have kids, just so I'd have See-Saw and Arrow and all the rest in my home again. Almost. Almost.

There are also remaindered booksellers galore (if you can bear the pain of taking home these vandalized volumes), and sometimes, occasionally, when I just can't help myself, I will go to Chapters or Indigo or Coles -- the big shiny bookstores, ALL of which are owned by the same parent company.