Bookstores

[Luciana]

What is your favorite bookstore and why? What do you look for in a bookstore?

On principle, I don´t buy books in newsstands or supermarkets. I buy lots of stuff in those places, but not the bestsellers they sell, because Id rather buy those at bookstores that also carry a wider selection of books. It`s important to support those places because I enjoy skimming through obscure books, as opposed to only seeing its reviews at Amazon. There is also the thrill of discovering of a lesser-known book that I now cant live without.

Good service is absolutely the best thing in a good bookstore. First, because I may need help to find things, second because it´s great to get reccommendations or the promise of finding the book in 2 or 3 days.

At some point I was ordering all my books online, but I really missed the excuse of browsing bookstores and coming out, thriumphantly, with a shopping bag. One of these things that make me expontaneously happy.

I know some people despise their cappuccinos, but I can´t think of a better place to socialize or sip a good drink while reading first chapters. Also a great way to kill time if you have any to spare.

I like going to bookstores so much that often I order them online but choose not to pay for delivery costs, so that they can send the book to the shop closest to me. I go to the customer´s aisle and in 5 minutes have a book with my name on the package.

[CFLarsen]

Originally Posted by Luciana Nery

I know some people despise their cappuccinos, but I can´t think of a better place to socialize or sip a good drink while reading first chapters. Also a great way to kill time if you have any to spare.

Let's go to Barnes & Noble at TAM6.

You're gonna loooooove that place....

[Luciana]

oh, I do love Barnes & Noble, but unfortunately weight restrictions mean you cant really splurge. In Chile I bought only 16 books for this very reason, even though Id have bought much more, because it´s nearly impossible to find a good selection of books in Spanish in Brazil. The other option is to buy from Argentina, but it takes 3 weeks to arrive - the same time as Amazon, that happens to be much farther away. Go figure.

[brodski]

For new books my favourite bookstores are amazon.co.uk and Bookgiant.co.uk (formerly BOL.com)

Second hand book stores on the other hand are things of beauty and joys forever. I sometimes go into a second hand bookshop just for the wonderful smells of old books.

I don't often like "new" bo0okshops because there is a chance (often a good chance) that they won't be carrying what i want- when I go into a second hand book shop, I don't go in with preconceived ideas of what I want to buy, so I'm never disappointed.

The ideal second hand bookshop should have bizarre architecture, tiny little nooks and crannies and hidden little staircase leading to odd rooms, with books stacked on every conceivable space. No matter how tiny a second hand bookshop it should still be possible to get lost in the place.

There should be no cafe in the ideal second hand bookshop- that would take up valuable book stacking space, but a real ale pub across the road would be nice.

[CFLarsen]

Originally Posted by Luciana Nery

...but unfortunately weight restrictions mean you cant really splurge. In Chile I bought only 16 books for this very reason...

When you splurge, you really splurge.

[qayak]

The best bookstores are used bookstores. There is nothing like the smell of old books. It takes me back to my childhood when I would go into the basement on rainy days and dig through the boxes of old books my parents kept there. That is where I met Mr. Mark Twain who inspired me to be a life long reader at the age of 10. I can still remember opening up Tom Sawyer and being captivated by the kid who managed to con his friends into whitewashing the fence for him.

I do shop for books at supermarkets. I also buy many books from Chapters/Borders, blackbond, etc. But like I said, my favourite book is a pre-read book bought from a used bookstore,

I have never asked for help in a bookstore. If I know the book I am looking for, I can find it in minutes but mostly I like to browse through them, discovering treasures wherever my wandering leads. This maybe why I like used bookstores where I can spend untold hours.

I also dislike salespeople trying to direct me. When I walk into any store and a salesperson asks if they can help me, my automatic answer is "No." When and if I need them, I will ask them. I have walked out of stores where salespeople would not leave me alone.

I order online, mainly obsure foreign books not carried by Amazon, Chapters, B&N. I have ordered from Australia, Japan and England among others.

I also order E-books, mainly translations of older martial arts books.

In all, I have about 100 martial arts books, 150 books on science and 50-60 books on kayaking, Innuit history and culture. I do not keep fiction books, I read them quickly and pass them on to friends or people who express an interest.

I don't go to the library. I find it way too easy to take books out and way too hard to return them. Consequently, I am constantly getting reminders about a book I haven't returned along with bills for late fees. Instead, I put those late fees into buying the books for myself.

My parents did not go to university. They graduated high school, got married and started having kids. However, they ingrained in those children the love of books and the importance of taking good care of books. I don't lend my books out. I made an exception once with Carl Sagan's A Demon Haunted World. My friend said, "Wow! This book is brand new, have you even read it?"

My response surprised her, "It isn't new, Yvonne. It is seven years old and I have read it several times." She then proceeded to open it until the spine broke so it would lay flat on a table!

I could have killed her but she is a friend and wouldn't be able to give me references for jobs if I did. The next day I got a telephone call from her, "So, I was reading that book last night. . . "

"What did you think of it?"

"Well, it was good, , , until I dropped it into the bathtub."

"Arghhhhh!"

"Don't worry, I'll buy you a new one."

"Yes, you will."

Well, she didn't. I waited several months and bought another copy myself. I guess it was a rather inexpensive way to remind myself why I don't lend out books.

After all is said and done, I like used bookstores because they are the best, and often only, place to get information on local history. I was in my local store browsing one day and I found books, small, locally published books, on areas that I had lived in, including the Wawa/Michipicoten area of Ontario, and the Douglas Trail are of British Columbia, including the internment camp at Bridge River, where I lived for 9 years.

Going into a used bookstore is like starting out on a treasure hunt.

[fuelair]

Originally Posted by Luciana Nery

oh, I do love Barnes & Noble, but unfortunately weight restrictions mean you cant really splurge. In Chile I bought only 16 books for this very reason, even though Id have bought much more, because it´s nearly impossible to find a good selection of books in Spanish in Brazil. The other option is to buy from Argentina, but it takes 3 weeks to arrive - the same time as Amazon, that happens to be much farther away. Go figure.

On the other hand, when I was the media specialist in a middle school and we had 15-20% Brazillian students (parents here for long stay tourism/jobs)we couldn't find books in Portugese local or internet - and we worked at it (even asked the students for sources) - wound up getting a tiny number from on-line AUCTIONS but nothing like the number we wanted to have. Same for periodicals. Hopefully that has improved - but I'm at different school and doing science so....

[ReligionStudent]

Man, bookstores are ticking me off lately. I went to a Borders Express last week, they had one rack of science, mostly nature guides. Included was a book "Angel Horses" which was about how horses can talk to god and tell you the messages. Load of crap not science.

Additionally science had one section, WoW had a section the same size, religious Fiction had a section the same size, romance had three times the section. It was just really poor in selection and I know things are represented based on sales, but I just can't believe that WoW sells as much as science and romance sells three times more, and putting non-science in science is just bothersome.

[Mark the Hiker]

My home town favorite is Powell's ( flagship store of powells.com ). I can walk there from work, and that is quite dangerous for my bank account.

I have taken my daughter in there since before she could pronounce the word "bookstore", and it is a favorite place for her too. That is somthing amazon can never do.

[Babylon Sister]

Another vote for Powell's. One enitre block of books. So many books you need a map to get around.

Also, Smith Family Books in Eugene, OR, is a good place to find used books.

[Pope130]

One more vote for Powell's. Been going there for 45 years now. I miss the old look; dark and crowded maze, you just knew that there was treasure buried in those stacks! The new arrangement does make it a lot easier to find things. They have a very good book search computer available to customers.
There are also many great independent stores in Portland. My favorite is Wallace books on Milwaukie. Also, Longfellows Books. It meets Alexie Panshin's requirement "Shops that purport to sell the rare and antique ought themselves to be rare and antique".A

Robert Klaus

[TragicMonkey]

I like used book stores because you can unexpectedly encounter something that's supposed to be "out-of-print". The very best sales are when libraries, particularly old college libraries, sell off the books they feel they don't need any more. I have one book that's older than my country. It was two bucks!

[brodski]

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

The very best sales are when libraries, particularly old college libraries, sell off the books they feel they don't need any more.

A couple of weeks ago I was visiting my parents, and the town that they live in has just "upgraded" its library, with anew multi-million pound building including extensive IT facilities, a huge DVD/ CD lending department, a new cafe and an art gallery.

Unfortunately this new "library" building had very little room for books, they had it reduce their stock by almost 40%, and were selling everything off for between 10 and 20 p per book (roughly 20-40 cents US) I was torn, as I was outraged about this travesty of a new library, but there were plenty of greet books to be had for next to nothing. Including some very good local history books written at the turn of the last century

[rebecca]

Here's a 4th vote for Powell's, but since I'm no longer in the Pacific Northwest, The Strand in NYC is just as enjoyable. Around Boston my favorite is Brookline Booksmith. The preferred traits of a top-notch bookstore are:

New books
Used books
Readings/Lectures
Employees who know how to read

[jimbob]

Hay on Wye.


Unfortunately http://www.abebooks.com has reduced the price variability, so you are less likely to find bargins now...

Second hand bookstores, especially with lots of pelican p[aperbacks.

[boooeee]

I'll echo the sentiment on used bookstores. There's a chain called "Half Price Books" that is fantastic. I've only seen them in Indianapolis, but I'm pretty sure they can be found in other locations.

I also love "Barnes and Noble" and "Borders". Some people seem to dislike them because they're monolithic corporate chains, but prior to their arriving in the early nineties in Indianapolis, the bookstore situation there sucked. Much in the same way that there were hardly any coffeehouses around prior to Starbucks.

[Beanbag]

Any forumites who show up in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex should go to the flagship Half Price Books at Northwest Highway. You're talking serious risk of pulled muscles from carrying too many books out in a bag. If you're planning to be in the area, let me know and I'll escort you there myself.

Beanbag

[Jeff Corey]

Encore Books in Huntington NY is great. New and used books, coffee lounge and frequent book signings.
I got to see John (Biggest Douche) Edward there a few years ago and see crappy cold reading live.

[TriangleMan]

A good bookstore is something that I really miss. While I can get books from websites like Amazon, it does not replace wandering amongst a really nice bookstore, just browsing titles and finding interesting books that you would never seek out on your own.

About a month ago a Virgin Megastore opened in Doha. It is easily the best bookstore in the city, which tells you something about what it was like before that. Doesn't compare to a good bookstore in North America though.

[ReligionStudent]

Originally Posted by Jeff Corey

Encore Books in Huntington NY is great. New and used books, coffee lounge and frequent book signings.
I got to see John (Biggest Douche) Edward there a few years ago and see crappy cold reading live.

Is this the one google shows in smithtown??? if not, is there a website or an address you can give.

[Jeff Corey]

Sorry about that. It's actually Book Revue, 313 NY Ave. Huntington. It used to be Encore Books, but someone upstate with that name wanted to expand into a chain and bought the name.

[parrotslave]

I went to an author signing at a local independent bookseller, DreamHaven Books, and fell in love with the place.

http://www.dreamhavenbooks.com/

I used to work part-time for one of the national bookstore chains and found it to be a truly dreadful company to work for despite my love of books.

[ReligionStudent]

Originally Posted by Jeff Corey

Sorry about that. It's actually Book Revue, 313 NY Ave. Huntington. It used to be Encore Books, but someone upstate with that name wanted to expand into a chain and bought the name.

That's cool, it sounds good.. Thanks for the info, and apparently there is an Encore books on 25 in Huntington as well.

[Luciana]

Used bookstores... I like their randomness also, and the thrill of the discovery is excellent.

I like service in a bookstore because often I look up a book in Amazon and go out to buy it, and then I want to find it now, even if I spend other 40 minutes just browsing.

Oh, and I destroy books. Breaking the spine is the very first thing Ill do! Of course. Why should I read a book uncomfortably??? Nothing irritates me than a book whose spine I cant break (that is, a library book or a friends). Seriously. Quite often at the library, if I book had more than one edition, Id pick the one with broken spine. Its so much easier to read once thats done.

[CFLarsen]

Originally Posted by Luciana Nery

Oh, and I destroy books. Breaking the spine is the very first thing Ill do! Of course. Why should I read a book uncomfortably??? Nothing irritates me than a book whose spine I cant break (that is, a library book or a friends). Seriously. Quite often at the library, if I book had more than one edition, Id pick the one with broken spine. Its so much easier to read once thats done.

Books friends.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Amazon.com

I rarely go to bookstores any more. If I know what book I want, why waste time going to the bookstore and trying to decide if it is filed under History or Biography or Politics or Social Science or....you get the picture. Much easier (and cheaper) to log on and order.

[Brown]

They're only available on a periodic basis, but Planned Parenthood book sales are hard to beat.

Basically, Planned Parenthood accepts book donations. Someone sorts the books by subject and puts a price on them. Then Planned Parenthood rents a HUGE venue and offers an enormous selection of used books. If you need an atlas, you can get it cheap. (Sure, it might have countries in it like U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia and East Germany, but it's a lot cheaper than a new atlas!) Or if you need to "fill in" some missing issues of National Geographic that you have stacked up in your garage, chances are you can find the issues at the sale.

If memory serves, there is a modest "admission fee" for the first couple of days, when the selection is best. But even after the sale has been running for a couple of days and there is no more admission fee, the selection is still pretty good.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally Posted by Brown

They're only available on a periodic basis, but Planned Parenthood book sales are hard to beat.

Basically, Planned Parenthood accepts book donations. Someone sorts the books by subject and puts a price on them. Then Planned Parenthood rents a HUGE venue and offers an enormous selection of used books. If you need an atlas, you can get it cheap. (Sure, it might have countries in it like U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia and East Germany, but it's a lot cheaper than a new atlas!) Or if you need to "fill in" some missing issues of National Geographic that you have stacked up in your garage, chances are you can find the issues at the sale.

If memory serves, there is a modest "admission fee" for the first couple of days, when the selection is best. But even after the sale has been running for a couple of days and there is no more admission fee, the selection is still pretty good.

Yeah, but don't they kill babies?

[Brown]

Originally Posted by The Central Scrutinizer

Yeah, but don't they kill babies?

It has not escaped attention that a book sale appeals to people who are intellectual or at least interested in exercising their brains. As a result, there have been assorted cheap shots to the effect that the narrow-minded primitives who oppose all forms of family planning would not be scared away from the book sale, as they probably don't read books anyway.

I've been to several Planned Parenthood book sales, and have yet to see a single abortion. Except for the Dean Koontz books, that is.

[Sugriva]

Originally Posted by Babylon Sister

Another vote for Powell's. One enitre block of books. So many books you need a map to get around.

Also, Smith Family Books in Eugene, OR, is a good place to find used books.

Oh yeah, Powell's is phenomenal. I used to spend many an hour browsing Smith Family as well.... That and Emerald City Comics next door-and the U of O bookstore. Haven't been to Eugene in years though....

In my neck of the woods I spend a lot of time and $ at the Illiad and Dark Delicacies. The Illiad is a decent used book store and Dark' specializes in horror lit'. Cool places to browse.

Oh yeah, and the Strand in NYC is great too!

[Loss Leader]

My favorite bookstore is the library.

I rediscovered it about two years ago and have read over ten books I otherwise wouldn't have paid for.

The only complaint is waiting for a new book can be bothersome.

[Walk The Line]

Originally Posted by Loss Leader

My favorite bookstore is the library.

I rediscovered it about two years ago and have read over ten books I otherwise wouldn't have paid for.

I'll second this option. When I was younger I spent a bunch of cash buying books. Now that I'm older and live in an area with excellent libraries, I can find just about any book I'm looking for without spending a fortune.

Libraries rock!!!

[jimbob]

I'd second the library, coupled with the internet and intercounty loans. 50p/£1 for *seriously* out of print books (I was reading the Uncle series to my kids and most had been out of print for longer than I have been alive. (I liked them when I brorred them as a kid).

Amazon $600, Library £1...

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally Posted by Brown

It has not escaped attention that a book sale appeals to people who are intellectual or at least interested in exercising their brains. As a result, there have been assorted cheap shots to the effect that the narrow-minded primitives who oppose all forms of family planning would not be scared away from the book sale, as they probably don't read books anyway.

Except for their bible.

Originally Posted by Brown

I've been to several Planned Parenthood book sales, and have yet to see a single abortion. Except for the Dean Koontz books, that is.

[NobbyNobbs]

I agree with most of the sentiments here about used bookstores. When I moved here, I discovered there was one right across the street. After browsing through it and seeing everything there was to see (or so I thought), I discovered it had a basement, with even more books than on the main floor. And the owner had 3 cats that had the run of the store. You'd often be sitting in an aisle reading the back cover of a book and get the creepy impression you were being watched. Slowly, you look up to find a feline vulture hovering at the top of the bookcase.

[qayak]

Originally Posted by Luciana Nery

Breaking the spine is the very first thing Ill do! Of course. Why should I read a book uncomfortably??? Nothing irritates me than a book whose spine I cant break (that is, a library book or a friends).

You are a sick, sick woman!

[CFLarsen]

Originally Posted by Brown

It has not escaped attention that a book sale appeals to people who are intellectual or at least interested in exercising their brains. As a result, there have been assorted cheap shots to the effect that the narrow-minded primitives who oppose all forms of family planning would not be scared away from the book sale, as they probably don't read books anyway.

Book sales are also a great way to get people not normally interested in reading to actually pick up a book. The books are not expensive, so they might buy an old book they can throw away later, where they might be more careful shelling out money for a new book, bought in a bookstore.

When kids plow their way through the Harry Potter books, they discover that they can get a lot out of reading, instead of just watching their TV.

Reading is a habit. Suspend classes when the next Harry Potter book comes out and let the kids read it instead!

[Luciana]

Originally Posted by NobbyNobbs

And the owner had 3 cats that had the run of the store. You'd often be sitting in an aisle reading the back cover of a book and get the creepy impression you were being watched. Slowly, you look up to find a feline vulture hovering at the top of the bookcase.

What's it with second-hand bookstores and cats? Now that you mentioned it, I can't think of a single one without at least one kitty.

The world is truly unsafe.

[hgc]

I'll add my voice to those of Rebecca and Sugriva about The Strand. It's a one-of-a-kind. And you can get a lot of good coffee table books at big discount too.

I should also take a moment to lament the long-ago passing of an upper-west side institution: Shakespeare & Co. Sure there are smaller versions of the store in the Village and down by Wall St, but they don't make up for the loss. Also, we recently lost a terrific, though small, bookstore in the neighborhood, Ivy's/Murder, Ink.

[dglas]

I was recently into the largest bookstore, McNally-Robinson, in this diddly-piss little pimple on the tundra (Saskatoon). I was planning to purchase a Dawkins book, but I just couldn't bring myself to put money in their till.

You see McNally-Robinson usually carried a magazine called "The Western Stardard," a right-wing thing that I would normally never have noticed. During the Muhammed pictures nonsense, the WS decided to publish the images in their magazine. McNally-Robinson decided to not carry that particular issue.

I think of the people and groups that had the courage to look the fanatic in the eye and refused to be cowed...

I cannot put money in their till.