21st Century Literature discussion
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How do we acquire the books we read?
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The Kobo is a Canadian e-reader through Canadian bookstores (I should know, being a longtime user of them). I know that Barnes and Noble in the US have the Nook or something, maybe the UK big booksellers have their own brand of e-reader?
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Hugh wrote: "....Nook is equally hard to find (and probably inferior)."Possibly mainly in terms of the inability of B&N to create a sustaining market around it....?
Despite Bezos acquisition of the Washington Post and hence another powerful purveyor of information, I'm not convinced but what Amazon's strategic competitor isn't Walmart. It's extensive network of reselling for used book marketers raises interesting questions re: both its relationships with publishers and with booksellers. Books are a marketplace with lots of pushes and pulls besides readers and the books themselves -- authors and publishers to name just two other important players.
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Hugh wrote: "Neither B&N nor Walmart has much of a presence in the UK market (except that Walmart owns Asda, who are primarily a grocery supermarket chain, but the books they sell are very much lowest common de..."Who are the forces for books and for general merchandising in the UK market?
Walmart also provides only the lowest common denominator in books in the U.S. in its stores. But balance between inventory management and delivery costs seem to be increasingly vital strategic business concerns.
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Hugh wrote: "For books, Waterstones is the biggest chain, and they are effectively owned by a Russian billionaire. Amazon probably sell more overall now. There is also W H Smiths, who are more downmarket and mi..."And, of those, the only one you can by decent books from is Waterstones, unless you go to Amazon. That said, my wife sometimes comes home from her weekly shop at Sainsbury's with a good bargain from the book department.
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I like shopping in Waterstones because, at least in the ones I've visited, the staff are very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about books. I've had lots of discussions at the check out about the books I am buying and which ones I might like to try next if I enjoy them. You don't get that when you buy on your Kindle!
Here's a quiz I failed that is part of the application process for another book store: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/20...
Neil wrote: "Here's a quiz I failed that is part of the application process for another book store: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/20..."42 out of 50. I am so embarrassed. I shall crawl under a rock for the remainder of today and mourn.
I'd have been happy to get close to 42! I will need a bigger rock.
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Hugh wrote: "I got 40, and looking back at the ones I got wrong, none of them should have been obvious, and the gaps in my knowledge were mostly Americans."I like that rationale. To be clear, it's not that I think 42 or 40 or any other score is objectively problematic. It's that I suffer from English-major/diverse-reader/spends-too-much-time-on-GR pride, which is a glass house just waiting to be shattered. My bad, entirely.
I swear I do worse each time I take it (and, honest, I didn't cheat the first time). For some other Goodreads colleagues, try this thread, where it was discussed a few weeks ago. Fun to have brought it to another discussion, Neil.https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... Begin with message 1926. Some of the spoiler comments are amusing, but I'd suggest taking the quiz first.
Neil wrote: "Here's a quiz I failed that is part of the application process for another book store: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/20..."For any of you unfamiliar with The Strand, here is a bit of history from its web site:
"The Strand was born in 1927 over on Fourth Avenue on what was then called 'Book Row.' Book Row covered six city blocks and housed forty-eight bookstores. Ben Bass, the father, was all of twenty-five years old when he began his modest used bookstore. An entrepreneur at heart and a reader by nature, this erudite man began with $300 dollars of his own and $300 dollars that he borrowed from a friend. Ben sought to create a place where books would be loved, and book lovers could congregate. He named his bookstore after the London street where avant-garde writers like Thackeray, Dickens and Mill once gathered and interesting book publishers thrived. The Strand quickly became a Greenwich Village institution where writers went to converse, sell their books and find a hidden treasure to buy. Today, the Strand is the sole survivor of Book Row’s colorful past. "
https://www.strandbooks.com/strand-hi... Bold added.
I didn't recall the bit about its name. I occasionally used an adjacent book seller (whose name I don't recall) back in the days when I worked in Manhattan. But I don't think I learned about the "The Strand" until I read a book about famous booksellers after I was firmly ensconced, work as well as home, in the suburbs.
It really varies for me. I rarely ever go to a fancy bookstore and buy myself a book, because they are not for my budget usually. But sometimes I do buy books from them. Most of the times I buy books from second hand bookshops and charity shops. Sometimes I win them from different outlets, sometimes I get a pdf / ebook version for free. Once I even got to beta read a book :).
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[update: the other 3 books on the order (including this month's moderator pick In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and a couple more I have never seen in a shop) have arrived too. I will definitely use this service again]
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I am a Kindle user almost exclusively. I travel frequently, so it weighs a lot less than carrying physical books. Also, I really like having all my books in one place, easily accessible whenever I desire to look at one I've previously read. As a side benefit, electronic books don't take up space in my small house.
Most of the time I order exclusively from book depository as postage is free (our public library is poorly stocked but that's another story). Currently in Malta there are three bookstores. One is a W.H. Smith and it is horrible. The other one is a local chain so the people there aren't bookish despite that they do go out of their way to help you. The selection doesn't vary from store to store, although I admit that once a month I will find something I want (I got Maggie O'Farrell's this Must be the Place last week) but the books are expensive when compared to online sites.The third one is great. Bookish staff who are willing to help and give personal recommendations. A varied selection which is updated frequently and fair prices.
I'm rambling a bit but in the 90's we had a ton of book stores with excellent selections but these all closed down in the mid 00's or sold their stock to the chain.
Obviously physical books take up space so every year I purge my shelves and donate/sell them.
Neil wrote: "Here's a quiz I failed that is part of the application process for another book store: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/20..."I got 50 out of 50! (But it helped that when I was stumped, I just did the ones I knew, and then went back & filled in the ones I didn't know with the authors 'left over' in the list :-)
Interesting conversation! Libraries are my first choice. Some day I hope to have more money and vow to spend it at independent book shops, but until that day I cruise library book sales and am amazed at the number of newer books and classics I find there.I read paper books whenever possible--just personal taste and because no matter how easy on the eyes they are, I like a break from screens.
(Thrilled to get 46 out of 50 on the NYT quiz. Can I work at The Strand now?)
Anyway I can!Library, free/cheap books for Kindle or Audible, Downpour.com, Overdrive site for Kindle/MP3, other people's bookshelves, begging...
I work in a library with an excellent English collection (and I'm pals with the librarian who buys the books, which helps). We get a lot of new fiction in, and I can usually make a case for why the books I want to read would circulate. So I think 98% of what I read comes from the library. I do own a lot of books, however, although mostly classics or childhood favourites. I got 40 out of 50 on the quiz, but I'm a) not American, so a couple of those stumped me and b) Infinite Jest is David Foster Wallace, and Wallace was an answer...but apparently not the right one. Tricky tricky.
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I think most of us would bankrupt ourselves if we bought full-price new books for everything we read. I like the Kirsten model of acquiring books: "Anyway I can!"
I'm super lucky! I work reference, but he comes to me more and more for my opinion on books he isn't sure about, because I interact with the patrons more, and if he's iffy on a book he'll ask if I'll read it because, "You're so personable that you're very good for my circulation stats!" If I like a book, I tell EVERYBODY. I don't buy new titles, but if I really loved one, I mark it as "to buy" on Goodreads and then go through that list every once in a while and cull the ones that no longer strike me as necessary. The Essex Serpent is DEFINITELY to buy, though (as it's an upcoming read here, I thought I'd mention that).
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Doesn't surprise me at all that members like you, Robert and others above are scoring so high on that quiz.
Whitney wrote: "What book did you beta read? Was it by a friend?"Sorry, I just saw your message... after 1 year... yeah, on time :).
It was c3 by Sherrie Cronin. I won an earlier book of hers in a Goodreads giveaway and she liked my review so much she offered me to beta read that book.
I also work at a bookstore and am fortunate enough that they have an employee lending program for any book in the store. This definitely helps me get access to new releases right away. If I really enjoy a book I will buy it for my collection.