Book Buying Addicts Anonymous discussion
Booksfree.com
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How do you like it so far?
I am terrible... I read about 7 books at a time, start, stop, loose, restart... I'm like ADD for books... but I love reading!
Lindsay
That's a nice way of putting it ("I'm like ADD for books"). I just joined Booksfree.com and am waiting for 2 books to arrive. I figure I'll try it out and then cancel if I don't like it. Between Booksfree.com, Paperbackswap.com and my own purchases, I should be able to sustain my book addiction without breaking the bank.



Never having lived in New York, but guessing that at least 80% of all the books I've ever read seem to be handled by publishing houses based there, I would assume NYC would be one of the easiest place to find new and popular books. But I recognize that my assumptions may not fit reality about a place like New York -- living in LA turned out to be far different than I expected when I settled here for good last year.
Also, for the general group -- is there a time limit on how long you can keep a book through booksfree.com? One of the few irritations I have with libraries is that due dates are always sneaking up on you. This is especially hard when you've got book-ADD and are reading (or planning to read) so many books at any given time, as Lindsay mentions above.
You can keep booksfree.com books for an unlimited amount of time. In other words, you can keep it 'til you're finished with it. Of course, to get your money's worth ($9.99/mo), it probably makes sense to try to read the books and return them as quickly as possible. I've only been a member for a couple weeks or so. The books that I requested arrived pretty quickly, but because I have Book ADD, I haven't even had an opportunity to read them yet. It may not be worth my money to continue my membership. You can cancel at anytime so I figured it was worth a try.
On the library note - personally, my area library sucks! They hardly ever have the books that I want to read and when they do have a new book or bestseller, it's checked out and there are a "gazillion" number of holds on the book so that when it does come in, I can't get it. This is very annoying to me so I don't even use the library. The quick deadlines for turning the book in is also an annoyance since I have book ADD.
On the library note - personally, my area library sucks! They hardly ever have the books that I want to read and when they do have a new book or bestseller, it's checked out and there are a "gazillion" number of holds on the book so that when it does come in, I can't get it. This is very annoying to me so I don't even use the library. The quick deadlines for turning the book in is also an annoyance since I have book ADD.

I find our local libraries perfect for borrowing books-on-tape and books-on-CD, though. I drive a lot during the day -- most people in LA do, I think -- and so I listen to a lot of those. Since I travel around a lot in this area, I feel free to make use all of the libraries in LA, Orange County, and the counties to the east referred to as the Inland Empire. Overall that's probably at least 60 libraries to choose from, and I can usually find some interesting used books for sale when I stop in to check out a Friends of the Library bookstore. I usually find the best new stuff at the main branch of the Long Beach Public Library.
Not sure where you're from, but I grew up in a small city back East with an OK library system, so I can understand your frustration with the poor selection of new books at libraries and the holds placed on popular new books.
Does booksfree.com have the most recently published books available? I see you're currently reading Emperor Of Ocean Park, which came out a few years ago, right? Did you get that through booksfree.com?
It's my understanding that Booksfree.com only rents paperback books and audiobooks so no . . . they don't have recently published hardcover books available. They did have Emperor of Ocean Park, but I ended up buying it because I needed instant gratification and could not wait for Media Mail.

For ebooks I use: Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page and have just heard of another free ebook site from the University of Virginia that I have yet to check out http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/.

It's a trading site and I've given and received MANY books on this site for only the cost of the postage to SEND them.
You pay nothing for the books you receive. It works on points (you get points for listing books, giving books and giving feedback on books you've 'mooched').




Please share other websites that have helped you save $$$$ on books.
Yours truly,
Ms. Bookaholic