Read any good books lately?

[Mara]

i was checking out sites last nite because i thought, hmm there has to be a way to get books at a discount price so i don't pay $10 for a 3 day read (or sometimes it's a 1 day read if i really like it)...

i found alibris.com which is like an amazon for books and cd's etc...they have all these independent sellers who have the books, many of them new as remainders returned to the publisher, for cheap, like $3.00. the only catch is you pay a little extra in shipping if they come from various sellers. but i put 7 books in my cart which totalled $25 for the books and shipping is $15.00 so that is not so bad...$40 for 7 books? a little over $5 each and the list pricing is more like $10 each. much better than buying them anywhere else it would seem.

greg said why don't i just go to the library and get them. MEN!

though that probably does make sense, i just am horrible about returning stuff and tend to hold onto already-read books for months. i wonder if our local place lets you do it all online.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Mara, Seven books for $40K? Wow--that''s a bargain! What did you buy, by the way?

 

[Mara]

heeh i haven't bought them just yet DJ as i was still mulling over the purchase vs library thing...but this is what is in my cart...oh i did find out shipping was more than i thought, so the total is more like $52 for 7 books with tax and shipping and all that. so still not bad but i will look to see if i can find for less.

this is what i wanted:

something borrowed by emily giffin
bergdorf blondes by plum sykes (i must be one of the only gals to have not read this one yet!)
the last chance saloon by marian keyes
lucy sullivan is getting married by marian keyes
almost perfect by julie ortolon (i saw this in their suggestions and it looked interesting)
can you keep a secret by sophie kinsella
bookends by jane green

i wanted undomestic goddess but the new one was like $8.00 and i was trying to keep them all under $4.00. most of these were $2.50 each and shipping is $3.49 each but if you can lump more than one book from a seller then it's $1.99 each addtl book. the problem is finding them with the same seller!!

 

[Sunnygal]

Costco ( one of those wharehouse type stores) usually sells bestsellers etc at great prices. I think they carry alot of books by Marian Keyes. I also hate borrowing books from the library and usually read so quickly that I don''t like to pay full price for a book that I will finish in a day. I like to buy my books from my local used book store, or at Costco or online. Alibris is great and amazon.com has a used book option.

 

[AmberWaves]

Mara, that''s a great idea, and I''ve read all of those books (I even have most of them- wish I could send them to you!), they''re all fun reads! I also get books at Costco, usually it has the hardcovers first, so you may have to wait for the softcover. Also, Portoar, Forever Odd is great! There is a new Odd coming out next November, too. If you''re looking for more chick lit books, just ask, I have 33 of them all in the cubby under my desk, I''m trying to stop lugging them around. I finished "Mine Are Spectacular!" by Janice Kaplan (author of Botox Diaires) yesterday, and I read "How I stole her husband" by Liz Ireland the day before that. Right now I have "Wolves in Chic Clothing" by Carrie Karasyov (also wrote "The Right Address"), and I have "The Ivy Chronicles" by Karen Quinn, "The Twins of TriBeCa" by Rachel Pine, and "The Pregancy Test" by Erin McCarthy. A good semi-series is "Tales of a Mad Bride_to-Be" and "Tales of a Mad Mom-to-Be" by someone with the last name Wolf, I think Lauren.

 

[Blue824]

Date: 6/1/2006 10:33:47 AM
Author: Dee*Jay

By the way, for any of you in the Chicago area the annual Brandeis Used Book Sale is coming up June 10-18 in the parking lot of Old Orchard Mall (Skokie, IL). Over 500,000 used books! My husband and I and stock up every year.

Saturday, June 10: 6pm-10pm
Sunday, June 11: 10am-9pm
Monday, June 12: 11am-8pm
Tuesday, June 13: 11am-8pm
Wednesday, June 14: 11am-8pm
Thursday, June 15: 11am-8pm
Friday, June 16: 11am-5pm
Saturday, June 17:6pm-10pm *BARGAIN WEEKEND (ALL BOOKS FOR 50c*)
Sunday, June 18 11am-5pm

I think there is a $5 charge to get in the first day, but it's worth it (IMHO) because things are all organized and on the right tables, but after that it's free. And there WILL be a line the first day, so you'll have to take a lawn chair and a cold drink and wait it out.

I was going to ask you if it was the Brandeis sale. Thats always so much fun to look through! Seriously, you could spend hours there and not look through every section. Hope you score some great deals this year!

 

[blueroses]

Mara--thanks for the tip, that''s a great resource!!

(And I wish I could send you undomesticated goddess.....just finished it!)

 

[Mara]

I know it''s too bad we can''t do some sort of PS book swap or something!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Blue - We usually spend $100-$200 and take home 4 or more shopping bags of books. Last year the happy hubby was stocking up on his cookbooks and found some great ones. The beauty of the sale, IMHO, is that you end up with a much broader batch of stuff that you would otherwise because it''s easy to "take a chance" on something for $1 that you wouldn''t plunk down $14.99 for at a regular book store. You should see some of the crazy (great!) stuff I''ve ended up reading because it was cheap!

By the way, what do you all do with your books once you''ve read them? We have a used book store there that will buy them, but they give twice as much credit as they do cash, so of course we take the credit. We have to get rid of things periodically (that whole "small space in the downtown" problem; not enough room to keep all our books forever

) and that seems like our best alternative, but the problem is that it feeds on itself... more books, more credit, more books, more credit... LOL! We can also donate to the Chicago Public Library but they make it hard. No place to park while you''re unloading. Limited hours to receive books. Slow processing. Ug.