Joseph ’s Comments (group member since Jul 28, 2009)

Joseph ’s comments from the Book Buying Addicts Anonymous group.

Adele wrote: "i only bought about 10 books this month. but i have to stay out of stores, i have a tendancy to buy books, when i really need groceries..."

Adele, don't feel bad about that, remember even the wise Desiderus Erasmus said, " When I get a little money, I buy books. And if any is left, I buy food and clothes." Words to live by, IMO. lol

My first purchase of September bought on the first of September: National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition

Well Susan, I've only got two planned to buy this month, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. :-)

Yep, Steph, you can never have too many, no matter how many times friends may say your collection may soon be falling through the floor into your downstairs neighbors apartment. :-) I just wanted to let you see that no matter how bad you might think you have the addiction, there's always someone who has it worse. Which might be a good or a bad thing, depending how you look at it. lol

That works fine Susan. I was wondering if anyone would ever try this. Let's see if we can keep it going.

A Storm of Swords- word

The first of the month and already the Borders' coupons have sucked me back in. I got sent a $5 Borders bucks coupon plus a %30 off coupon and ended up basically getting National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fifth Edition for half price. One book down, who knows how many to go? lol

Hi Steph, welcome to the group. I know where you are coming from because I'm saving up to buy in October two more six-shelved Billy bookcases to go with the ten I currently have, plus the four other three-shelved Billys I have. What bookcase are you planning on getting from IKEA?

August is now over so it is time again to stand up and proudly announce how many books we ended up buying that month. Nothing to be ashamed of, right? :-)

My name is Joseph and I bought 35 books this last month. 25 of them from the used book shelves at my library, 9 from Borders, and one from Book Depository. I didn't pay full price for a single one, but I probably would not have bought many of them if they had been full price. Used prices and Borders' coupons are my Achille's heals. How about you?

(Please vote at this poll also: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/21... )

Ok, that does it! I am not succumbing to the siren call of coupons from Borders any more, (at least this month)! ;-) I just got home from Borders with two more new books which brings my total for books purchased this month to 35. How'd you guys make out this month? Better or worse, depending how you look at it? lol

No more from Book Depository for the moment, but I did succumb to my Achille's heal again and picked up two more from the used book shelf at my library:
The Vampire Journals
Wake of the Werewolf

Boy, Susan, what a troublemaker you are. ;-) I did order the book from Bookdepository. It should probably be here with in a week I think, and then I will return the other one to Borders. Even with it being 25% off from there, 50% is better.

Susan wrote: "you two and LooLoo are evil!! :P:P Thanks for putting this thread together Joseph, this is great! But you are not helping my book buying addiction.. :P:P"

Glad to be of service. ;-)

Ilean wrote: "Well, so far I am at 8. I don't intend to do any more this month!!?? Is there a group to help me quit?"

Ilean, I thought that was what this group was supposed to be for ;-), but instead we do seem to help each other spend more rather than less, don't we? lol :-)

Looloo, I hate to say it, but if you really want those books and can afford to do so, I'd suggest you buy them now. The 50% deal may not be theire in Sept. My mom taught me when you see a great deal and really want the product, grab it when you see it or you risk losing both.

By the way, have you used Book Depository before? I mean, how reliable is it? It just kind of seems too good to be true.

Recently Looloo introduced Susan who introduced me to a new site for book shopping: http://www.bookdepository.com
I thought it might be nice to start a single thread where we can share more of our favorite places to shop, both online and in-store, as well as other resources for fellow book buyers.

I'm sure everyone knows about these big three, but I thought I would list them anyway:
Amazon http://www.amazon.com
Borders http://www.borders.com
Barnes & Noble http://www.bn.com

I also like to shop at library used book sales.
A good resource for finding these sales is http://www.booksalefinder.com/index.html

One small bookstore I've found is very nice for book signings is Anderson's Bookshop http://www.andersonsbookshop.com/ in Naperville, IL. I recently got Wicked Plants The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities signed by both the author and the illustrator there.

Also, if you are possibly going to be in the Chicago area next June, keep an eye out for the Chicago Tribune's annual Printer's Row Lit Fest http://www.chicagotribune.com/about/e... This outdoor festival offers the opportunity to hear authors speak and debate their works. It also features unique booksellers, poetry readings, exhibitors, kids activities, cooking demos, wine tastings, and much more.

One other resource I'd like to share is http://www.stopyourekillingme.com
Stop, You’re Killing Me! is a resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. They list over 2,900 authors, with chronological lists of their books (over 32,000 titles), both series (3,300+) and non-series.

So, any other favorite shopping sites or stores you'd care to share? :-)

Susan wrote: "Well thanks to LooLoo who introduced me to another great online book resource, I ordered/bought 6 books yesterday!

So for those who are intersted, the website is: www.bookdepository.com! But m..."

Susan, holy cow! I was just looking at Book Depository and saw I could have got that paperback I bought yesterday for FIFTY percent off?!? And free shipping?!? How can they do that?!? I think I might just return it to Borders and buy it through this website.

Bought my last and actually only planned book of the month. Used a 25% off coupon to get Living with the Dead from Borders. So that makes 29 new books for me this month, so far. Oy vay. :-)

Yeah, I know this is going to make me sound like a hypocrite :-) , but I just discovered a free website that provides links to all sorts of coupons from all sorts of places, such as books stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble. Check out the retail section at www.wow-coupons.com . This way you don't have to wait for the companies to send them to you, when you want to buy you can go see if there are any available. I've been waiting all month for a book to come out, and of course when it does it seems that Borders isn't sending any coupons to me, so I went and got a 20% off one myself. I just hope that book is there before it expires now.

I wish Goodreads had been around about 5 years ago, that's when I started keeping track of my collection. When I was going for my Masters in Library Science, I created my own database to catalog my books. And having to enter myself all the data like author, title, publisher, etc. for 2272 books did take quite a while, but it was certainly good practice. :-) Even with Goodreads I do still like to catalog myself, since now I only have to do a couple at a time. It's interesting to see that now having 3683 books means my collection has grown by 1411 books in five years, which means I seem to buy an average of 283 books a year, or about 24 books a month. Yikes! :-O

Well, Borders just got some help from me. I succumbed to the dark side of the Force. I made use of that darn Buy One Get One 50% off coupon, twice. I came home with:
A Grave Talent
To Play the Fool
Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul, 101 Stories to Sow Seeds of Love, Hope and Laughter
Chicken Soup For The Horse Lover's Soul Inspirational Stories About Horses and the People Who Love Them

Dang it, why can't I practice what I preach? Oh well.