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

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

Pretty much the way I go about it nowadays is any new hardcovers I want I buy from Amazon, since they usually offer at least 34% off the cover price. Amazon doesn't offer deals on paperbacks, so I wait until I get a coupon from Borders, usually 25-30% off, and buy them new there. Any holes I need to fill in on old series I collect I usually wait and just keep my eyes open at used book sales at the local libraries. That's the one place where I actually have patience to wait. lol. I try to limit myself to only spending $50 a month on books only from those three providers and only books on my shopping list, otherwise I really wouldn't have any money for other essentials like food or clothing. ;-) At the moment, I do actually have about $30 left for this month, but I only have one book this month on my shopping list, so I am hemming and hawing whether or not to use the current Borders' coupon to fill in some used book holes with new paperbacks.

Lauren, it just seems that I have not seen SO many offers of such high percents off in such a short time period ever from Borders. I just think the only reason they would be offering such great deals is to try and get people into the store more often to of course buy more. My local Borders has recently let go quite a bit of their staff as well as cutting hours, they open an hour later than they use to. Unfortunately, at least at my store, this has really hurt them, since their service is not as good as it used to be with so few staff to serve customers. I'd like to keep them in business, but I must admit, Amazon has taken a large percent of my spending away from Borders since this happened.

I'm worried Borders might really be hurting for business. They've offered two 40% off coupons in the last two weeks and now I get another coupon in the email, this one buy any book get any book 50% off! It's only good today and tomorrow, but it is SO tempting! Help, I can feel it dragging me in! lol

Gabrielle, welcome to the club. I know what you mean about the cloud views, it is pretty neat to look at, it's practically art.

Deadly Décisions- ision

Third in Kathy Reich's mystery series starring Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, which is the book series the TV series "Bones" is based on.

Here's a new game to try. The way it works is each person will list one title and highlight one word or part of a word in that title. The next person then lists another title that includes the previous title's highlighted word or part of word and they will then highlight a different word or part of word, and so on.

For example:
Person 1: White Witch, Black Curse- black
Person 2: Black Beauty- beauty
Person 3: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty- sleep
Person 4: The Big Sleep- big
etc. etc.

Got the idea?
Ok, first title will be:
The Book of Three- Three

Next person has to find a title that has the word "Three" in it. Also, feel free to make any comments about the book you listed. I'm thinking maybe we can find some interesting suggested readings here.

"The Book of Three" is by Lloyd Alexander, the first in a five book children's fantasy series based on Welsh mythology. An old favorite of mine.

Now this isn't a competition guys, we aren't supposed to be bragging, but in any case, so far this month I've bought 16 books, 14 bought used from the library and 2 new from Borders. :-)

Ok, just got home from work and getting my haircut and I have SIX new books! From the weeding at my library I've bought four more books on law and forensics and another cookbook. My barber has a bookshelf where customers can donate books to be read there or can take home for free any books that interest them. Today I grabbed from the shelf Love at First Bite. All for a total of 2 dollars. Not bad, huh? :-)

Yeah, that's the way I look at it. There are some series that I can't wait to read. If the new book comes out in hardcover, I'll buy it from Amazon since they have the best deals, usually around 34% off. If the new one comes out in paperback, I'll get it from Borders since Amazon doesn't do deals on paperbacks and I can usually use a 25 or 30% off coupon from Borders. Any old books I'd like to add to my collection I try not to buy them new from the bookstores, I don't usually want them so bad that I can't wait and see if I can get lucky and buy them for less than a buck at some used book sale.

Linda wrote: "One more I forgot about cuz I gave it to my son:
Enemy at the Gate: The Battle for Stalingrad

We're just supposed to post our book purchases here, correct? not directly on the Shelf..."

Actually, I did mean for everyone to put their purchases on the group's shelf here: http://www.goodreads.com/group/booksh...

Lauren wrote: "Joseph I love it! you are so organized."

Yeah, I'm organized, but only when it comes to books. My file cabinets are a mess! lol

Schnaucl wrote: "Joseph wrote: "So, what do you think? :-)

I think I'm really impressed! I also think it's interesting that you separate fantasy and scifi since bookstores and the libraries I've visited have lumped them together.

With the rise of urban fantasy I think the line between fantasy and horror is just as blurry as the line between fantasy and scifi."

Schnauchl, interesting you say that. My bookshelves flow just like that. To get more specific, Bookcase 1 with shelves 3, 4, 5, and 6 are Urban Fantasy while Bookcase 2 next to it has shelves 2, 3, and 4 being Fantasy. Horror is on Bookcase 1 shelf 2. Bookcase 2 shelf 2 and Bookcase 3 shelves 1, 2, and 3 are Sci-Fi.

I try to keep similar genres together.

Angela wrote: "i organize mine in alphabetical order, by book title. i just got started really buying books, but when it hit, it hit hard. in the last 3 months, i've probably bought 200 books. most of them on eba..."

Angela, you're not nuts at all, in fact, it sounds like you'll fit in just fine around here.

Nice Linda. I shop SO much, maybe too much, at the libraries' used book shelves. :-)

Schnaucl, are you sure you want me to answer that question? You are asking a librarian, you know. lol

Ok, here I go.
In my appartment I currently have 10 bookshelves in my living room, for a total of 48 shelves, many of them double stacked. I also have 4 bookshelves in my bedroom for a total of 24 shelves. Among those shelves, my books are generally organized like this:

Living room (Fiction):
4 shelves- Urban fantasy
3 shelves- Fantasy
3 shelves- Adventures/Sea Stories
1 shelf- Horror
5 shelves- Sci-fi
5 shelves- Witchcraft fiction
1 shelf- Westerns
2 shelves- Romance
1 shelf- Theatre
11 shelves- Mysteries
2 shelves- Historical fiction
4 shelves- Juvenile mysteries
3 shelves- Classics
2 shelves- Childrens fiction
1 shelf- Humor, Games, Art, Cooking

Bedroom (Nonfiction)
9 shelves- Religion
4 shelves- History
2 shelves- General reference
7 shelves- Science
1 shelf- Medical

And I plan on getting two more bookshelves for 12 more shelves in my living room in the near future.
So, what do you think? :-)

Linda wrote: "Most of the books I've bought over the summer have been at the little used book store in my library - typically .50-$1.00 a piece.

I'm looking on my shelves to figure out how many/which books I b..."

Linda, there should be a way you can start keeping track of when a book was entered. Being a librarian, I've written my own catalog database for my personal library and entering the date of the book being entered is one of the fields I have.

My friends, please remember that just because you have a coupon does not mean you have to use it. If you buy with a coupon a book you hadn't planned on buying does not mean you are saving money, you are actually spending money. So don't feel you have to use that tempting coupon. Delete it, tear it up, burn it if you have to, but don't succumb to the temptation! Come here if you need the support to get rid of it, we'll help you out. :-)

I don't know if you're gonna be proud or upset with me, but I went into Borders after work today with that 40% off paperbacks coupon, pulled off the shelves a couple of books I would like to own, and decided that just because I had the money and just because I had that coupon did not mean I should buy a book I hadn't planned on, so I walked out empty handed. Please tell me I did the right thing. :-(

Lauren wrote: "Joseph I saw that coupon too. I litterly said a really bad word when I saw that. But Im trying to be strong.
I said my next book to but would be Covet and that comes out at the end..."

I feel the same way. I want to get
Living with the Dead in paperback, but that does not come out until later this month.
But then again, 40% off a paperback is hard to pass up. I'm sure if I just go browsing, I'll find something, which may or may not be such a good thing. lol

My Achille's heal got me again. I withdrew a bunch more books at the library and ended up taking home two of them. And then this morning I see Borders is offering another 40% off coupon for any paperback! It's got me wondering if Borders is really hurting, they seem to offering so many deals lately. I hope they are ok, but if they aren't, they are certainly getting plenty of help from me. lol