2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion
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How do you obtain your reading material?
I am a ply-buyer. My first go to is Amazon. I love my kindle. I do borrow from the library too. I also do Netgalley when I'm not super busy. I am a paperback swapper as well on paperback swap.
I am going to try and use this to motivate me to get my library card. Especially when I have to read Of Mice and Men. No way am I spending money on that crap!I filter between Amazon, Half Price Books and B&N :)
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The french policy about ebooks is sometimes crazy, like selling the ebook at 15€ when the paper book costs 8€, or forbidding to gift ebooks. So I don't read in french (US prices are obviously more interesting) and I use the previews to be sure I'll like the book. I buy few ebooks at the full price, I often use sales or read free stuff.
I like to collect paper children books and comics I loved, so I buy them at the book store or online :)
Honestly, I typically read exclusively on the Kindle app on my iPad. From what I've seen, the books are cheaper most of the time (if not free) and I can buy them without having to leave the apartment. The few books that I do own a physical copy of are books that I really enjoy or have found for a good price (i.e. The Way of Kings). However, I am a broke college student and will end up visiting the local library in search of most of the books I plan on reading for the challenge.
I don't have a whole lot of cash to spend on books, so I like to check out thrift stores and library sales. I also love my Kindle so Amazon's monthly deals ($3.99 or less) are great. I buy physical copies from Amazon a bit. The bulk of my books are library loans, both paper and Kindle. I also tend to borrow a lot from a friend who buys a load of books.
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Libraries! Although I mostly go for audiobooks these days- they are just so convenient and it really makes a story come to life when you get a good one. When I do get paperbacks usually Amazon, or whatever catches my eye at the thrift store. Sometimes judging a book by its cover is a good bet after all!
My husband also recently told me that the park next to us has one of those infamous "borrow a book" stations or whatever you want to call them. I may check it out and see what is there.
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I do most of my reading on my tablet with the Kindle app. I get daily emails of free or reduced ebooks and I also borrow from my library. I would love to expand my physical collection but I just don't have the space to right now.
My reading material comes from many different places. I'm more likely to buy second hand books so I get those at second hand bookstores, variety stores, or venders on the side of the road. I borrow books from family and friends instead of going to the library though I'm not sure why.
One of our political party representatives gives away used books every year. I usually take home boxes of books.
Many of my books are gifts from family members.
And then sometimes my reading material comes from someone sitting in front of me in the bus on my way to and from work.
Britteny> I feel the sane way about audiobooks. Its just not the same as reading the book for yourself.
I mostly borrow books from the library (either hard copy or ebook), but I LOVE visiting used book stores and just surrounding myself in the scent of old books! We live in a very tiny home that doesn't have much storage so it's much easier to borrow. My dream one day is to have a Belle-type experience where I have an entire HUGE library gifted to me!
Britteny wrote: "The one way I DO NOT enjoy books is audiobooks. I get sooo frustrated because I can't do anything and listen at the same time (I miss a lot) and I read much faster than they are speaking so a book ..."I only listen to audio books in the car! It's a much better use of my driving time. My 10 year old gets car sick, so she can't read in the car, but we have listened to so many great books - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Secret Garden, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Phantom Tollbooth, Where the Red Fern Grows, and currently Little Women. It's a great way for us to expose her to amazing works of literature that she would balk at right now!
Stephanie wrote: "Libraries! Although I mostly go for audiobooks these days- they are just so convenient and it really makes a story come to life when you get a good one. When I do get paperbacks usually Amazon, or ..."I have been getting into audiobooks, especially since my job lets me listen to my phone as I work and I'm so busy that at times it is the only time that I get to read.
Mostly second hand book stores or used from Barnes and Noble or Amazon online
Mod
I buy/borrow mostly e-books because, yes, they're cheaper and I'm on a budget. I do, however, love beautiful books on my shelf and if I find a book or series I really love I will buy it. Unless I can get something new at a steal of a price, I almost always buy from Half.com or Thrift Books. There is another one that someone recommended to me that I haven't yet bought from. I saved it to my favorites but I am at work, I'll have to link it when I get home.
I use the Overdrive app and borrow ebooks & audiobooks that way from my local library. I LOVE listening to audiobooks while I run, really makes those miles go by, especially when you have a good narrator.
I get books in so many different ways! I love browsing at second-hand shops so I get a lot from there, but I also buy books new sometimes. I also get them from the library and borrow them from my friends!
Library; shops; borrow; beg; free ebooks (particularly from Open Culture, which is just such a great site); paid ebooks; and in my younger days I BitTorrented a few, which in hindsight I regret.
However I can!iBooks
Kindle
ebooks apps (through library)
Bookstores for physical books
Library sales (or just borrowing)
Thrift stores (new hardcover for $1? Yes please!)
I <3 books and I'm excited to see my collection grow.
I rarely go to the library - I prefer to read books in the original language (if this is English or Swedish) and the selection of that is veeeery limited in the public library where I live.I sometimes ask a friend who has tons of ebook but I'm not a big fan of those, real books are just so much better. ;)
Luckily English/US paperbacks are pretty cheap at amazon.de so I buy most of those books there, plus the occasional hardcover (if it just takes too long for the paperback version to be published) or german paperback.
Swedish books are not available here (and postage to Germany at Swedish online shops is ridiculously high) so I have to make do with what my friend there sends me for Christams and birthday, and with what I can squeeze into my suitcase when I'm there - almost once a year, often but not exclusively second hand books. Last summer I came home with a huge cardboard box full of books in my suitcase (and I was lucky that the plane back was half empty so I didn't have to pay for the excess luggage!)
Libraries (both uni and municipal), book shops online and offline, second hand (sometimes AbeBooks), borrowing from friends, Bookcrossing... I'm not much for electronic formats; there's nothing wrong with them per se, but I prefer dead tree editionsWhich probably makes me a very poor environmentalist indeed.
I have a horrible Amazon habit. I've got Amazon Prime and its just far too easy to one-click order and have it here the next day. I buy both new and used books, all my series books that I will re-read and keep on my main bookshelf I do buy new, just because I want to be the only one to read and re-read them. Other books that I buy on a whim I'll either buy used or Kindle version, or new if its cheaper.I do also love NetGalley for discovering new authors that I haven't heard of before. And I can't pass a Waterstones without going in and having a look.
I also love going to my school librarian for YA recommendations. We have a lot of author visits and sometimes I'm lucky enough to be able to take my classes down there (I teach Maths so its only occasionally) but I've discovered quite a few books through our author visits.
Oh, Waterstones! I was in Edinburgh a few years back and there was a 3 for 2 offer on right then...we left with our suitcases a -few- books heavier :D
I read almost exclusively on my Sony reader. I get most of my books from the e-library. If I want a specific book and they don't have it, I might purchase it from Kobo.
I have a pretty massive collection of books that I'm constantly adding to, usually from charity shops but special books are bought from my local bookshop.I'm constantly downloading free books from Amazon and occasionally I'll buy one on there as well.
We also have a quiet room at work which is stocked with books that I check out sometimes and my mum in law supplies me with reading material too.
I get books through many different venues. The library is literally across the street and you can reserve a book online so that way I can just pop in and check it out. We also have a book fair in my city twice a year where people have donated their books and then others pay for them. When I go on the last day, I usually pay quarters for books! Plus there is a Half Price Books and B&N. I also subscribe to this website that will send me an email when a publisher is giving away or reducing the price of their book through Amazon or Apple. I don't know if you can endorse anything on here so shoot me an email if you want to know that website.
When I'm looking for a particular book (if the author isn't portuguese) I usually buy from Book Depository. Their prices are nice and they have free shipping. Other than that, I occasionally get books from book shops. I don't own any type of e-reader but I downloaded a couple things from Project Gutenberg (specially short stories) to read on my laptop. This year though I'm living in front of a library! :D I'll probably get a lot of books from there in future.
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Thanks to this thread I remembered a 1/2 priced bookstore near me I hadn't visited in years. Went there today and got 2 books on my challenge list!
I used to always read on my kindle. Now I've switched over to kobo. I like kobo because I can buy my ebook pretty much anywhere and load them on the kobo.
I'm a mixture of using the library, purchasing books for my Kindle app and buying books at rummage sales. Most of the books I read though tend to come for the library.
If you do buy physical books online here is a good source that's also a good cause. www.betterworldbooks.com. Here is a summary about them from their website.
Better World Books uses the power of business to change the world. We collect and sell books online to donate books and fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than 8 million new and used titles in stock, we’re a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all our stakeholders.
I think I tend to let Kindle books pile up more, because I don't physically see them on the shelf or on my night stand calling out to me!! :)
When my daughter took literature in high school we discovered that often there are not enough books to go around. So we made a deal that any book she wanted to read, we would buy in paperback. Soon we got the grandmother involved and books from garage sales showed up. It came in handy when the second daughter took the same class 2 years later. Now I have a great library that I've only half read. And yet, I still add to it. But mostly....they are Kindle books. The library has a great resource where I can check them out from my desk at work (shhh, don't tell my boss) and never step into the actual library. I use the HECK out of that! And yeah, I buy a lot off of Amazon.
Caleb wrote: "If you do buy physical books online here is a good source that's also a good cause. www.betterworldbooks.com. Here is a summary about them from their website.
Better World Books uses the power o..."
That's amazing!! I'm going to go check them out right now!!
Hope you like them Biana. Just know that they are not Amazon. They're a small company so they're shipping speeds aren't very quick.
I used to always buy book (mostly new but sometimes second hand) just because I love the idea of when I have my own house being able to have a huge bookshelf with all my books on it. But being a uni student I had to be a bit more economical and recently joined my local library. It's literally right across the road from my house so it's so easy to pop into and get more books!
I have a kindle so I do buy some books on it but I just love having an actual book to snuggle up and enjoy. I buy a lot of books at used books stores. When I buy new books its usually from booksamillion or Amazon. I also buy used books on thrift books.
I get most of my books at the public library; I was able to locate most of my "to-reads" for the challenge in the library system, even though I'll have to figure out how to request some things in time to read the correct week's book! I also have a handful of books that I've purchased and never read (or never finished) that fit the different weeks' topics, my mom gave me some books that someone was giving away at her condo complex, and I actually purchased a couple of books at the bookstore and may peruse a nearby used bookstore for some of the classics.
By any means possible. I'm mostly an ebook reader because it's easier to have my entire library either on my phone or tablet than it is to carry a book around, but there are times I prefer the feel of an actual book.
Second hand shops definitely ! I love old editions of books and discovering books from famous authors i never thought about reading before.I go to the library a lot since last year and enjoy it immensely especially since it's a big one that has a lot of interesting genres of books. I discovered many documentaries thanks to that.
And I acquire ebooks from the Gutenberg project for the classic ones and by other means necessary for the others :p When I've read an ebook and loved it I'll buy the paper version for sure.
To buy english books I stopped ordering online and instead buy or order at the little english bookstore we have in town, I mean to keep their business going as much as I can.
I don't think I've bought a paper book in at least a year. I love them, but the convenience of my iPad is too great. When I go shopping for a new purse, I always bring the tablet with me in order to make sure I can carry my books everywhere!
In Iowa we have Wilbor, which is a digital library. All the books are free and can be checked out for 2 weeks at a time. I have to be on a waiting list for the more popular books but there are always plenty of options. I read ebooks at home and listen to audio books while I drive. So I'm usually "reading" 2 books at a time. I love it!
Me too! I love reading so I usually have a nook book that I am reading and I drive a lot for my business, so I listen to audiobooks that I check out from my library all the time! It is awesome!
I work in a library and I tend to bring home news books (pretty much daily) because of customer recommendations. I just need a few more hours in the day to read all of these books!
I used only to borrow them from the library, but, the last year I've found a site with cheap books on-sale. So...I've bought around 100 books in a year...
Mod
Aaaaand...I might have purchased about 14 more books...including a couple Roald Dahl books still in great condition to add to my collection!
Can we find you among the stacks at the local library?
Any Paperback Swappers?
E-readers?