UK Book Club discussion

Which book shops do you think are the best value for money? Or do you just shop in charity shops or swap books?
I find that Poundland often has some good books, which are obviously only £1.

I bought a few of my uni books from the marketplace because it made them £2 instead of £30! I always find that it's nice to start reading a book that's brand new.

I only purchase books through either amazon, play or bookdepositoyl they're always cheaper than the bookstore or should I be looking harder in the real world?

I think that them websites probably are cheaper than other bookstores! Other than Poundland, but that only ever has about 10 different books on offer at a time.

Ooh, how do we all stand on the Oxfam vs. Second-hand Book Store?

There's a second hand book store up the road from me which has books from 50p, I haven't been in there yet but I do keep intending to! (It looks a bit scary!!) I always find that Oxfam isn't actually that cheap for books, but I guess you should want to give more money for them as it's a charity, but personally, I think that if they're being given the books for free, they should sell them for a lower price. They would then sell more and get more money and we'd get a better deal.

Haha, in Dorking we have a separate Oxfam which is just for books, and a lot of the other charity shops have some books, but none of them are very cheap :( There is also a Book Ends and British Book Shops (used to be Sussex Stationers). In Portsmouth we've got everything :D
I keep forgetting that I have £30 of book vouchers that I haven't spent yet!!

Not the cheapest, but I believe book heaven is Waterstone's on Piccadily.

Yeah, Waterstone's isn't very cheap a lot of the time, they do give you points though :D

Biggest bookshop in Europe: eight floors!

Getting lost in there is no bad thing. :)

Yeah, I've not got many points on it though :(
May have to visit that book shop at some point!!

Yeah, I find that too.

I need this: http://www.archdaily.com/31172/livrar... near me, and in English plz.

Yeah! That's amazing!

Wow!

I buy from Waterstones when there are new books I want to read, with my points I then buy ebooks from the website for my Sony Reader. I also buy new and used books from Amazon. I also buy from the supermarkets as they are quite cheap too, but I can never pass any bookshop without going in and browsing!

When out shopping I browse through charity shops for books and never come home without one or three!

Yes about the size of a paper back but slim! I have over 150 books on it and on an sd card with nearly 600 songs as you can put earphones/tiny speakers and listen to music too. I love it!

Check it out on the waterstones website.

That does sound cool, I saw something similar on Amazon a while ago, don't remember what it's called now though!

The one on Amazon is the Kindle.

I just got an email from Waterstones offering me 10% off any order before noon on Friday if I spend £15 or more. It's tempting! I don't think I will though as I don't have any money :P If anyone wants to use the code and doesn't have it, then it's JY7592
Not sure how many people it would let use it!

Yes you download the ebooks to the Sony from waterstones and I download public domain books to my sony from manybooks.net too for free if you like classics and old books. In return I proofread pages of books they want to turn into ebooks.

I downloaded an ebook reader on my iphone which searched Google books for books that were available for reading, they didn't really have many books I was interested in though.

Thats the catch with free books most are out of copyright and public domain and some are very old and obscure! Mind you I have found quite a few that I thought were interesting and have enjoyed reading too.

I just got an email from WHSmiths which is offering the same as Waterstones (10% off orders over £15) which lasts until Monday, the code for that is 10PCBOOK if anyone's interested and prefers WHS to Waterstones :-)

Same here :(

I just came back from shopping and have come back with 8 more books from various charity shops! Wonder if we need to start a councelling type topic, BA Bookolics Anon! for those who have no will power over buying books!

Small Town Christmas - Debbie Macomber
Back to the Bedroom - Janet Evanovich
My Point...and do I have one - Ellen Degreneres
Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
The Fire Within - Chris d'Lacy
Eye of the World part 1 - Robert Jordan
Happy Birthday Shakespeare - Mark Wallingham
The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke

Haha, I had to work really hard at not spending so much money on books - now I try to just buy books which are £1 or less :) doesn't always work but I'm doing ok!

Haha, I had to work really hard at not spending so much money on books - now I try to just buy books which are £1 or less :) doesn't always work but I'm doing ok!

I tend to get my books from either secondhand book shops or Waterstones if its a new one out. I love secondhand stores, they have so much more character and charm than Waterstones (as much as I also love wandering around the one here in Cardiff). I'm not a fan of charity shops selling books for the simple fact that they can affect the trade at secondhand stores that need the trade to stay in business (call me heartless if you will).

I'm not sure about those Sony readers either, surely part of the charm of books is the smell and feel of the pages (yes old fashioned I know lol), which you're not going to get with a Sony but hey if it gets people reading more, brilliant :-)

I do prefer actual books to e-books, but e-books are a bit easier to carry around with you at all times in case you get stuck somewhere and want to read! And then you don't have to worry whether you've taken enough books on holiday with you either!

Second hand bookshops seem to smell more 'bookish' and are fun to spend hours in wandering around! I really should try to visit them a bit more often when I'm back down in Portsmouth!

I have just spent a happy hour with my sony reader in the cafe at waitrose! It fits in my smallest handbag and has 158 books on it as well as 569 songs on the SD card.

I also popped a book back to the library and they were selling off some of their books 'fill a bag' for £1! Well I found another 7 to help me through my nightshifts!

Keep an eye in your local library! I shall really have to visit it more often! Maybe I should go one day a week..................

Don't know what I'd do without the library! Only trouble is I have so many books waiting to be read and then I keep adding library books to the pile!

I signed up to my local library and then moved house before getting a chance to borrow anything! I might have to sign up to the one in Portsmouth. I think I might start a 'support your local library' type thing where you're challenged to borrow at least 1 book from the library each month.

Oops! I forgot to bring any books to Chipperfield with me before I go to Cornwall so decided it was a good excuse to buy another. Typically, I walked into Waterstones, spent an hour in there and came out with three books :-) Using the 3 for 2 offer as an excuse! Then realised that I was stupid and should have looked in the charity shops first, but nevermind!!

I guess that's true! :D

Peter wrote: "Not the cheapest, but I believe book heaven is Waterstone's on Piccadily. "

Waterstones Piccadilly - does it really have 8 floors, I only remember 5 (plus the obligatory cafe in the basement) But then it's so huge my memory's bound to be hazy!! You could spend a whole day in there. The only problem with something on that scale is there's just tooo much choice. (there's no pleasing some people...)

Lynne wrote: "The one on Amazon is the Kindle."

Has anyone got/tried a kindle? They're meant to be great. I'm quite tempted to put one on my Christmas list, but may have to wait until the price drops... Would be great to see how they measure up to the Sony Reader.

Sam wrote: "I tend to get my books from either secondhand book shops or Waterstones if its a new one out. I love secondhand stores, they have so much more character and charm than Waterstones (as much as I al..."

I think I must be a bit of a book-tart. I really don't mind where I buy or borrow them from - as long as it's a book I want to read. However I feel happier buying from an independent bookshop or a secondhand book shop as it's either helping a small business or recycling! If the money goes to charity that's a bonus!

But if you really want to save money the library is the only way to go. If they don't have the book you need, you can request it and often they will buy it in, just because you asked! I've read dozens of books since Christmas and only bought 1:


(Well worth reading)

One of my friends were reading White Tiger the other day, they said it was quite good but I haven't got round to looking into it yet!

Liz wrote: "Sam wrote: "I tend to get my books from either secondhand book shops or Waterstones if its a new one out. I love secondhand stores, they have so much more character and charm than Waterstones (as ..."

I've been using my local library a lot more in the last few months, especially since I found out that I can use any and all the libraries dotted around Cardiff. It certaintly has saved me a ton of money and I've read books I wouldn't have read otherwise, which is a definite bonus :-)

I'm like you Amy. I have a pile of books from our library, then, as I read a book in a series, I immediately put a hold on the next book. As I read each book, I return it to the library, then whilst I'm there, I pick up holds that have arrived and most of the time, pick up some more books. I have around 30 books out at any one time. The librarian reckons I should have a frequent readers card. LOL It's a good thing that I average a book every two days.

I use second hand shops and charity shops are great places for books. I have loads of books to read at least 600 are waiting on my bookcases! All listed on goodreads too!

I buy new ones from Waterstones or Amazon, I collect the points from Waterstones and then buy some e books with them.

Lynne wrote: "I use second hand shops and charity shops are great places for books. I have loads of books to read at least 600 are waiting on my bookcases! All listed on goodreads too!

I buy new ones from W..."

Wow, that's a lot of books Lynne, I thought my tbr pile of 50 was big :-)

Yes and it might be a bit longer by the time I get back from Hay on Wye!

Oh I pretty much guarantee it will lol when are you going?

End November cant wait!

Oh fantastic, I'm excited for you :-D