Books, Books, and More Books

Anybody that knows me knows at least one thing about me...I read. A lot. I keep telling myself that I need to "improve" the quality of books that I read. I keep telling myself to grab a copy of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy or Paradise Lost by John Milton. Then I go and look at the lists of "Classic must reads" and realize that I read most of the classics on there as a teenager. Mark Twain, Jonathon Swift, Nathanial Hawthorne and Charles Dickens were some of my favorite people growing up. I could disappear for hours in one of the many wonderful worlds they had created. J.R.R Tolkein enthralled me long before Peter Jackson brought those epic movies to the screen. And no matter how good the movies are no true justice can be done to the C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series. The limits of film just can not do true justice to a child's imagination. The White Witch in my imagination looked nothing like Tilda Swinton.

Now one would hope that a young tweens seeing these movies would have rushed out to get the books and read them before the remaining movies made it to the theater. However, I know in my daughters case that didn't happen at least not with Lord of the Rings. I bought her the books and made them available to her but she had no desire to read them. One of these days I might just ask her why. I had been reading the Chronicles to her since she was a toddler. I guess I just figured that Tolkein was somebody that you had to read yourself to truly appreciate.

The Harry Potter series probably brought more readers out into the open than any other book series lately. I found the series shortly before the third book came out. (Thank you to the unknown clerk at B&N for recommending it). At the time my daughter was six and we read the stories together. For her seventh birthday I gave her a hard copy of the third book. By the time that the fifth book came out I had to buy two copies. We each finished them quickly (me within 24 hours) her a couple of days but neither of us wanted to wait for the other to finish before we started.

What this blog post was initially going to be about was the high price of books. When I started reading my mom allowed me to purchase one book a month. My choice was the Narnia series. Cost $1.95 each. That was kind of a stretch on my parents budget because they also had to buy my little sister and brother a book as well. My dad let each of us kids buy 1 comic book a month usually in the 50-75 cent range. The rules were that it had to be a #1 or part of a limited series.

Now you can rarely find a paperback for less than $7.95 and hardcovers are usually around mid $20s. So I scrounge the bargain bins looking for books. Here I can find hardcovers for around $7 and trade paperbacks for around $5. Even that can get spendy. Used bookstores are great but you have to know what you are looking for or be willing to spend hours looking (They charge 1/2 pub price and usually credit you 1/4 pub price for trade in).
Favorite used/new bookstore would be Rediscovered Bookshop @ 7079 W Overland Rd, Boise, ID 83709. My other favorite is unfortunately no longer there. The owner decided to retire and enjoy life more. I miss the German Shepard that kept her company in the shop every day.

Thrift stores used to be good. You could pick up 3-4 paperbacks for a buck. Then they started charging based on the publishers price. Now you were back up to $4 for a recently published book. While Silhouette and Harlequin made great filler books in the 5/$1 price range I have no desire to pay $1 each for them.

Yes I have heard of that wonderful thing called the Library!.(Boise's library is officially titled as Library!) However I really suck at remembering due dates for both books and movies. Late fees will kill the convenience factor for me.

Ebay is great for buying a "lot" of books. 10-30 books in a box but sometimes I only want about 5 of those books (the price still makes it worthwhile though). Recently I found a better option. For me anyway. This way I can build my wish list of books and if someone has the book I really want I get an email asking if I still want it. Yes sometimes the wait is long but I love receiving a book in the mail and unwrapping it knowing that I have my entertainment set for the evening.

Here you post books that you are willing to mail to someone.(Mailing costs you postage - about $3 per book) and you "order" books that you would like to receive (this doesn't cost you postage) When I posted my first 10 books to my virtual bookshelf they gave me credits to use. Each time I mail a book I receive an additional credit. So instead of the normal 2 or 3 books for 1 book that used bookstores offer it is a straight 1 book for 1 book trade. (Exception for audio books which cost 2 credits each (of course you get 2 credits if you send it back out)



So go forth and read. Expand your horizons. The words on paper only encourages your imagination. Watching that same story at the movies or on tv limits you to another persons imagination.