The Shining question

If any of you are voracious readers and book lovers, as I presume most on this site are...for heaven's sake don't buy...go to your neighborhood public library...become a member and reserve what you wish...It might take a while for some of the more "popular" reads to "arrive"...but really...just what are you going to do with all those read books? Suggestion is to donate to a library!

First of all I am a real book lover and I am collecting books since I was a liitle boy. I buy them all the time and everywhere and dreaming of have my own big library with spiral steps and reallyyyyyyyy tall shelves, just like in the fantasy movies. I never read e books beacuse I hate it from the bottom of my heart and I ll never read any of those books. I like that physical feeling of having book in my hand, enjoying in taste of paper and knowing that my relation with book is strongly physical and not artificial as it would be with e books. I know that the whole world is going online and digital, but it makes me happy to know that if the lights are out and no electricity, I would still be able to read my books with candles and fire cracking in the fireplace. Tell me if it isn t real magic and pleasure in reading books???

You'd be surprised at the amount of great literature that can be found in Thrift stores. One of my favorite things to do.

I get books wherever they sell them: library sales, online, bookstores, resale shops, you name it. Why discriminate? I am also a library troll. If I love a book or feel that I should have it (for whatever reason), I'll buy it.

Why keep a book I've already read? So I can read it again, of course. Also, sometimes I don't want anyone else's mitts on my book, so I'll buy a nice fresh unread copy of my very own. I'm strange that way.

The older I get, the more I'm willing to indulge all the various weirdness of my bibliophilia. I make no apologies. :-D

I buy about 99% of my books from Barnes & Noble. I have a nook and buy all my ebooks from them and will occasionally check out an ebook from the library. I still go to the actual store to buy books for all my kids as well. every now and then I will pick up a new release at Costco.

Barnes and Noble. Even if I buy from the website, I go to the store, place the order and pay for it there so they get credit for the sale. I don't want to see my local B&N go the way of Borders.

Amazon, Half-price Books, Morris Bookshop (Lexington, KY) and Carmichael's (Louisville, KY)

I buy a lot of my books from book clubs I belong to (Doubleday, Science Fiction Book Club, QPBC, etc.) or Amazon. I rarely go to our community library as they are behind in getting new books. I've bought older, hard-to-find books from ebay.

i love to read, me dad bought me a Kindle that i didn't want but since the moment i got it a year or so back my reading pace has skyrocketted and i buy through amazon. read lots of the free classics (joseph london, dickens, voltaire) that i otherwise may not have gotten around to, and i love the fact that books are not far cheaper and i don't have to rely on second hand stores.

i'm a kindle convert. in australia books are prohibitively expensive. nothing would really lure me back to hardcopy books

I buy a lot of my books from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, though any store that sells books is fair game. I try to buy new if I can, to show author support, have run out of bookshelf space at home, so now take many of my books to work where I started a lending library. When I need to clear out the shelves, the books are donated to the Friends of the Library for their used book store so someone else can enjoy them.

I'm lucky that a nearby town has a wonderful little bookstore called Three Sisters. The sisters -- Carolyn, Mary Kay, and Barbara -- can get me any book I want. Several years ago they took over the diner next door, now called the Bookmark. All charm. How lucky I am to have Three Sisters and the Bookmark in my life. Amazon comes in second for me.

Goodwill

I buy mine at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, The Book Depository and a second hand book store chain called 'Book Off'. I find Barnes and Noble can be so expensive for certain books so I always try Amazon first for new books, particularly if they are hard back.

eBay and half.com Awesome prices!!!

Used on ebay .. =) or I take from the library a fantastic place to go every week =)

Since I went kindle almost exclusively at Amazon, except for poetry and graphic novels. I still prefer poetry in book form over digital, and graphic novels are just fun to read and turn the page. I buy them from a local store called Local Heroes. Greg, the owner, knows what I like and makes sure I know they're in.

I usually buy my books from amazon for the kindle find them cheaper than nook, get sent daily offers from both and Amazon always cheaper. I also borrow from local library.

Kobo, used book stores, walmart, coles/chapters and friends

Amazon. My husband and I live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There is one bookstore here, but they have very few books. We both download ebooks.

I get most of my books from www.abebooks.com

Since I have a Kindle I get most of my books through Amazon. If I buy the actual book it's either the grocery store or book store.

We try and support bookstores wherever possible, but mostly we buy from the Book Depository.

I get my books from the public library. FREE!!!!

If I really love a book, I look for it online. I use bookstores when I get a gift certificate.

Even though I quickly became spoiled with how fast is was to find and buy a book from Barnes & Noble.com with my Nook, I still love to visit my local B&N store for coffee and cheese cake while I browse the old fashioned way. The store is also a great place for my local writer's meetups. Yea, I'm one of those wanta be writers.

Borders use to be my second home. Unfortunately, my support didn't keep them alive. So, after they closed, I got a Kindle and now buy most books online.

I like to buy my books at the half price book store.

Amazon, Audible.com, the local Comic Book Shop and sometimes the library.

I LOVE THE LIBRARY, SO I OFTEN GET MY BOOKS FROM THERE. I GO TO THE LIBRARY AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK. I ALSO BUY BOOKS AT THE LIBRARY USED BOOK SALES, BECAUSE I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED A LIBRARY OF MY OWN AT HOME. I HAVE STARTED A VERY NICE COLLECTION. I OWN A KINDLE SO MANY BOOKS COME FROM AMAZON PLUS YOU CAN GET BOOKS FOR THE KINDLE FROM THE LIBRARY. FROM THE LIBRARY ON THE KINDLE YOU HAVE 14 DAYS TO READ THE BOOK AND YOU CAN NOT RENEW THEM. I HAVE ALSO GOTTEN BOOKS FROM BARNES AND NOBLE AND OTHER BOOK STORES. THERE ARE ALSO FREE SITES ON THE INTERNET FOR EBOOKS THAT I GO TO. SO MANY BOOKS AND NOT ENOUGH TIME TO READ THEM :)

If you like the classics, try www.gutenberg.org. Also, bookbub online has great offers. Dad just told me about bookfanatic, but I haven't checked it out yet.

Amazon (both for print and Kindle), eBay, and the library. Everyonce in a blue moon, Alibris or Half.com.

I use bookfinder.com to find the best deal on a book if I want to own it. For fiction, I generally will only buy it if I can't get it at the library, unless it's very good and I end up wanting to own it--then I'll buy it after I read it and add it to my collection.

1. Used book Megastore (McKay's). 2. BN.com and their used marketplace. 3. Thrift stores

I also go to the library a lot, especially for older books that are still in print format. I don't like audio books and don't have an e-reader, and most of the newer stuff in our libraries are audio.

I am a dying breed. I only read paper books. I just do not like e-readers. Having said that, I buy from Amazon or a reseller associated with Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I will also buy from Mom and Pop bookstores. I have bought on the street as well as friends loaning me books. I will pick up abandoned books and will swap from a community shelf.

Amazon because I read almost exclusively on my Kindle, but if I can't find a book in ebook format I also order the print version from Amazon. Before I got into ereading I used to buy all my books from an independent little book store in my town, it's so cute and well-run. If they didn't have a book you wanted they could get it in for you the next day! Memories...

Anywhere they are available. Amazon, mom & pop stores, big box bookstores, used bookstores, library used books tables... If there's a book for sale, I'm in.

I'm in Canada so I LOVE Indigo, Chapters and Coles and indigo.ca. I know they're Canada's leading book retailer but they're the store that got me addicted to books. The smell of books, the feel, the atmosphere, all Indigo. I'm quite loyal with Indigo but I did buy books elsewhere depending on the circumstance. On Stephen King:
-Was once given an Amazon card so I bought The Stand
-Was at Value Village (thrift store) to donate stuff and happened to also receive a coupon. I've bought three books prior to donating at Value Village and some visits, I always score some vintage old Stephen King mass market or recently, some hardcovers including Doctor Sleep!! They were $5 each and in great condition!!
-Was tempted to get Mr.Mercedes at Walmart but the same sale is at Indigo and I have a rewards program with them too. I do buy at Walmart...sometimes. Okay maybe once I remember, a non-King book though.
Overall Indigo, in-store or online and I need to control my Value Village temptations because there is ALWAYS something there in a decent condition for a better price!

Wherever I can get them!

The problem with e-books is the technology. I have books going back thirty years that I still refer to. Will new technologies change so much that current formats for e-books will not be supported in the future. Think music technology.

I buy books anywhere I happen to be and the mood strikes me. I only buy hardcover or ebooks. My main bookstores are

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Science Fiction Book Club, EBay, Half.com, Mom & Pop shops and yard sales.

Like I said above though, if I see a book I like, I don't care who's selling it. I'm buying unless I suspect its stolen or an illegal copy.

My adult son and I share books and we collect them and keep them for re-reading. We trade out buying our print books which mostly come from B&N store and online. I will sometimes buy from Amazon if they have a sale.

We both have Nook HD+ tablets which works with all the digital reader apps so we purchase our digital books from whomever has the better price. I purchase mostly from B&N but if I want a book in audio I buy from Amazon Audible and sometimes get both ebook and audio.

That is my bad habit of reading books. I HAVE to buy at least a few books! I do though read most of my books from the public library! They are free as long as you get a library card! If that certain library does not have the book you want, you can order from another branch. If none of them have what you need, yes, you might have to wait until it comes to the library. The books I do buy and have read, I do donate to the local library!

I buy most books from BN.com... since most of the time they don't carry the books I'm looking for in the store. I also occasionally order books from Amazon, but in both cases I order physical copies of the books not e-books. I do, however, have a Nook color... and I will occasionally buy and read books on that... but I really do prefer having a physical book in my hand... much better then an electronic device that always has the potential to malefaction and constantly needs to be charged... plus I just like the feel of an actual physical book. I will also occasionally buy books at used book stores or the smaller "mom and pop" bookstores on the occasion that I find something in those places that I have interest in.

I have a Kindle, but usually use it to download samples of books, then off I go to the

1.Library
2.Charity shops and Car Boot sales (Yard sales)
3.Ebay
4.Amazon
5.Netgalley
6.Used book sales
7.Friends and family

Not necessarily in that order.

I'm an amateur book reviewer so get a lot of freebies.

I've moved house quite a lot in the last few years, and THE most important consideration of a new place is whether it has a library. I love 'em. I don't know how many people on this thread are from the UK but with the local government cuts we've lost quite a few libraries, which is a disgrace. In some places enterprising villagers have converted old red phone boxes into little book swaps - brilliant idea!

scrAmazon is pretty much The Deal for *new* books that you can't *get* used anywhere.

Otherwise... it's the book sales. This site usually lists enough to wreck your budget:

http://www.booksalefinder.com

And I keep up with "benefit" book sales that the inevitable local "Friends Of The Library" organization has one or two times a year, and the YMCA, and the inHumane Society, and etc. - there are tons of organizations that have them.

One of the best ones used to be put on by the AAUW...
www.aauw.org
rooms and rooms and rooms full of books, sold by the pound, but I haven't seen one in a few years (YMMV though).

And then there's garage sales...

AND - oh yeah - Books are in almost as much trouble as newspapers nowadays; what with e-media and rampant illiteracy and video games there are used book stores going out of business all the time, upon which I can pounce like a contemptible vulture from the Nether Regions, to pick the bones of a once proud

oh, never mind I better quit here

I like to go downtown to the used book store. I can trade books there as well.

Barnes and Noble along with Ebay. My mother works at the library so any extra copies of anything usually wind up in my hands. I prefer owning it is cheaper to just go to the library but I hate having to rush through a 600 page book especially if its a popular one everyone's reserved.

I'll buy books from any place that sells them - Barnes and Noble, Half Price Books, Dollar Tree,the grocery store, garage sales, flea markets

I would agree with Sandyboy's post above. I find I read significantly more since owning my Kindle and do most of my purchasing from Amazon. I love books and always have, but after donating tons to local shops I figure ebooks are the way to go for me.

The Thrift Store is an great place to find books, as is 2nd and Charles (a high end used book store). The local library is the best way to read the classic (and some contemporary) novels. Barnes and Noble is my favorite place to buy new books.

Books from the library! Some I check out, some I buy from there used. Real books don't need batteries!