Well, I don’t read very much fiction. It makes up a very small percentage of my total collection. Generally, I don’t find very many of “my kind” of books in used bookstores.
My predjudice may stem from a lack of selection in my genres, added to the fact that we only have one used bookstore in town, and it tends to deal mostly in romance novels and Zane Grey.
Occasionally while travelling, I’ll run across one of those shops that deal in half-priced new books, and then I’ll go nuts! To keep myself in check, I’ve made a rule that I can purchase no more books than I can carry out of the store, but I sometimes cheat by making multiple trips. Pleasantly enough, “brain food” books often end up on the bargain tables.
Do I buy used books? Yes, I do–I couldn’t afford my book habit, otherwise. Luckily for me, there’s a good used bookstore not too far away from where I live. I’ve walked out of it with 13-20 books for under $20, and that includes a few hardbacks.
I need more shelves, though. And more places to put shelves. And a new job, to get all the above. sigh The worst part about being unemployed is that I have to force myself to stay out of bookstores. It’s a harsh exile, I’m telling you.
I just love books… used, new, or whatever. I don’t really discriminate.
New books have that great smell, and a crisp feeling to their pages as you turn them. They’re clean and sharp and shiny and new. Knowing that my hands are the first to turn its pages, my eyes the first to rove over its words, can be a unique wonder.
Used books have character. They’ve been read and loved by others, sometimes they’ve been written in, sometimes they’ve been signed, sometimes notes between friends written in their pages can tell a story of their own. Some of them are older than I am, a few many times over. In their creased, yellowed pages history is preserved, and lives on.
Some of my favorite books… Clive Barker’s Abarat; when I bought it new it seemed heavy and solid, with thick, almost glossy pages. My 1907 hardbound reprint of Le Morte D’Arthur, with a simple green cover and thin, fragile pages. My first printing of Watership Down, found in a used bookstore for $7 with Richard Adams’ signature on the front leaf. My hardback copy of Gaiman’s American Gods purchased on a whim at one of his readings and also signed right there. The used hardback copy of Atwood’s Bluebeard’s Egg and Other Stories, in which a previous owner had painted a watercolor sunset on one of the first blank pages in the book. My old paperbacks of Lord of the Rings, published several years before I was born. The complete set of Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising that I bought new when I was in sixth grade, but have been well-used since then. The well-used copy of The House of Mirth and the new one of About a Boy that one of my dearest friends inscribed long notes to me in remain some of my most treasured books. And that’s just a few.
Used? New? Who really cares? All new books eventually become used books anyway. They’re all good.
Yes, I buy used books, mostly on-line. I love it. I go to a site like alibris or abebooks and type in an author. I usually find whatever book I was looking for, and others I didn’t know about. I don’t need a pristine book; I’d rather get a slightly battered book for a reasonable price. And I’d rather have a paperback that I can carry around easily. Hardcovers are too big and heavy, and don’t fit in a jacket pocket.
Used books are cheap, and there are a lot of used book stores in NYC. Looking at my shelves right now I would guess that about 1/2 of the paperbacks I own are used.
I won’t buy a used book that is falling apart, but I have bought some books that I have had to treat tenderly (especially the spine) in order to finish them in one piece.
I have had one book fall apart on me while reading it, but it wasn’t bought; it was a copy of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, a paperback copy (with the original hardcover art, I believe) read by my aunt in high school 30 years before I read it
Something else worth noting is that this same aunt, also when in high school, wrote her name in a first edition copy of To Kill a Mockingbird that she wanted to throw away years later when cleaning out my deceased grandfather’s home. Fortunately, I found it in time
It’s funny; many of the old novels I have found from my older relatives had their names written in them. I don’t think I have ever written my name in a novel, perhaps it’s because people these days don’t want novels enough to steal them
I do buy used books. I won’t pick ones up that are funky smelling, but my used book/comic shop has a pretty high turnaround on the books, and usually they’re in pretty good shape. The only thing I’ve found is that the spine is already creased, and I’m not gonna pay 5$ more just to crease the spine up myself.
The last coupla books I bought used were :
Greg Rucka - Smoker & Shooting at Midnight
Orson Scott Card - Pastwatch:The Redemption of Christopher Columbus
Aside from the smell of the stores–and sometimes from the books themselves–I do love used books. Nothing against the new ones, but if I get any of them it would be from Quality Paperback Book Club, so I wouldn’t have to pay full price.
Aside from the price (which, when you’re out of work is a big factor), to me, the best thing about second hand book shops is the potential to be surprised or amazed by something in there. This almost never happens to me when I go to a regular bookshop, and only sometimes when I go to a specialist shop.
But there is nothing predictable about what can be found at any second hand book shop - there might be those vintage MAD magazine books, or some obscure book by the same author as your favourite book from primary school, which you only bought because it was in a book club leaflet.
I also love the way that so many shops are set up in Melbourne, where they’re old terrace style houses, and exploring the house not only takes you into rooms which have their own memories, they’re literally filled to the ceilings with books, each one with their own history.
I agree that heaven is an endless second had book shop.
I love used books. I wouldn’t have my first edition of Kon-Tiki without used book stores (I didn’t even realize it was a first edition until I’d had it for a few years). And I would never, ever have been able to find J. P. Donleavy’s The Unexpurgated Code, since it’s been out of print since I was about 4 years old.
Books are not primarily physical objects; the words inside are the important. As long as they’re not badly printed or something that makes reading difficult, I’ll take the cheapest paperback copy of “Book X” I can find.
I buy books. Used or new, doesn’t matter to me, so long as they’re legible and they don’t actually fall to pieces while I’m reading them. So what if someone else has read it first? I see no reason to demand my books come to me as virgins; after all, I’ve had other books before them…
I prefer used books… nice soft paper and covers… and I like to read little notes that people have written on the sides… or what others have underlined.
But, I’m also a big fan of used clothes too…
I like the idea of things being shared, pased down, living on, traveling around
Used books are great! I never would have read Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle if it hadn’t been the only half decent book I found in a used bookstore one time. That is one of the best books I’ve ever read!
You find gems in a used bookstore you can’t find elsewhere.
Omigod, 95% of my library is used books! I have to be dragged out of used bookstores, and I have spent a fortune on www.bookfinder.com! The kind of books I like are, mostly, not new: 19th- and early 20th-century novels (Jerrold, Thayer, Tarkington, Glyn, Prouty); old biographies and histories . . .
someone who doesnt buy USED books? ha…insane.silly even. I steal new books. thats right, i liberate them from barnes and nobel. i just stole a copy of ethan hawke’s the hottest state…worth stealing, not buying…i also love used book stores, i simply cannot see why anyone would not want to buy cheap…but anyway, who cares, let them buy overpriced books so we can enjoy the fruits of others…i say continue to miss out on sweet deals like the ones used book stores offer…
I used to be a New Books Only person, but book prices have escalated to the point where I need to buy some used books. I also sell my books once I’ve read them. I take good care of my books, so people who buy them are getting the closest thing to new.
I also am a Books on Tape freak. Doesn’t matter to me whether the tapes are new or previously listened to. But I hate it when I buy used books on tape and the tapes have not been rewound properly!
Used books are especially good when you discover a new author and want to read earlier works that are now out of print.
** The Strand ** in NYC is my idea of heaven. It’s like a library, only you can actually buy the books and take them home.
There’s a thrift store located between the grocery store and my house. I often stop in there to use the bathroom and, feeling obligated to buy something, go through their $1 books. I have found many a treasure in there.
That reminds me. Two libraries near my house hold book sales in April. How else can you get books for very little while doing a good deed?
