Books, books and more books

[wellinghall]

[Poll #1592588]

Comments

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

Forbidden Planet in London.

Prior to that, back in the days of my youth, Dark They Were and Golden Eyed. They used to play Led Zeppelin a lot of the time at first - then later they moved to a new address, and still sold good science fiction, and finally got taken over by some people who started stocking some of the shelves with boring left wing political treatises. Then they closed down.

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

The Works! And occasionally WH Smiths

[clarienne.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah! And this.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, The Works :D I don't live near one though :( I prefer our local Waterstones to our local Smiths for a number of reasons, but WHSmith can be useful too. (In fact I'm not that keen on Amazon, they have annoyed me several times recently - but given I have a huge voucher for them at the moment, and sometimes just need the convenience of getting a parcel through, and quickly, I will still use them sometimes).

[rustica.livejournal.com]

That reminds me, I was going to put in an order today... :)

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I try to shop at The Woodstock Bookshop (http://www.woodstockbookshop.co.uk/) when I can, though for late-night shopping and heavy discounts I fall back on the online suppliers.

[clarienne.livejournal.com]

Amazon for the win. I love getting parcels. Otherwise our local charity shop which is Tenovus.

Otherwise library sales, and I generally avoid brick and mortar bookstores, but if I need something from one Waterstones is the nearest. I also sometimes pick up books from Tescos!

There are no good independent bookstores convenient for me - theres a great gaming store in bristol but its the other side of town, and all the specialist Christian shops have closed down. :-(

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Out of interest what is the gaming store in Bristol?

[clarienne.livejournal.com]

Area 51. This is their (eyewateringly bad) website. http://area51online.co.uk/index.html

[segh.livejournal.com]

I go to Tunbridge Wells because it has the best second-hand bookshop around here, though the one in Rochester isn't bad, either.
One every few years I go to Hay-on-Wye and spend more than I can afford.

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

Tsk tsk, you missed off dealer rooms at conventions!

[rustica.livejournal.com]

I've tried to support my local bookshops - if you can call big chains "local" - but they just don't stock the authors I want to buy. I've tried saying to the staff "hey, there's this great author that I want to buy more of, please can you stock them?" but they're just not interested. If I didn't have Amazon, I would have missed out on some of the greatest reading pleasures of my life.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

That is a shame. Can't independent bookshops order things in for collections in a few days? My Waterstones has to order in nearly everything I ask them for (and not just textbooks) but doesn't seem to have a problem with that.

[rustica.livejournal.com]

They could, but there's no value in that service for me since I can do it just as easily and get Amazon prices rather than shop prices, with the same or greater convenience and usually quicker. I appreciate that's not the same for everyone, but the huge advantage a "proper" shop has over the internet is that I can have my book right now.

(As an aside grumble, the last time I did try to order a book through Blackwells the shop weren't interested, and the person I left my number for didn't bother to call me back. So - bah. Waste of time and effort.)

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

Yes that makes sense. I'm not really a "right now" kind of person where books are concerned - or indeed most shopping, with the odd exception.

Maybe it's just my local Waterstones who are helpful and anxious to have my orders / ring me if there is a problem / ring me when it comes in / keep them for ages for me when they do come in because I am then not here. Often it's the individual managers who make or break a store.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

You didn't put 'a supermarket' on the list! (Terrible, I know, but I have bought a few novels etc. from such places). I don't need (or want) to buy many general books at the moment (think, and you'll see why) but I will be buying some textbooks from Amazon/Waterstones/whateverthelocalbookshopis.

[atreic.livejournal.com]

Yes, all my paperback pratchetts come from supermarkets for next to nothing now.

[gramarye1971]

Amazon.com and its .co.uk and .co.jp branches have taken a good chunk of cash from me over the years. I still have a Barnes and Noble membership, but mostly use it to get discounts on snacks and coffee when I'm there. ^^;; For Japanese books, I love Kinokuniya (the New York bricks-and-mortar store and their online shop) -- I just placed a rather large order from their Los Angeles branch, actually. DC has one or two decent used book stores that I'll occasionally browse in when I'm downtown.

When visiting the UK (specifically, London), I make a point of stopping at the London Review of Books bookshop, the Westminster Bookshop, Daunt Books, and Hatchards. ^_^

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I buy a fair number of books at charity shops and 'craft/boot/antique fairs'. And the odd one second-hand from the library.

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

Charity shops and jumble sales, almost exclusively.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Mostly charity shops- seldom Oxfam, as they don't have a branch in Blaydon or Consett.

[gurthaew.livejournal.com]

Any good bookstore, any good internet bookstore, car boot fairs, village fete etc. Anywhere in fact. That reminds me, I#ll be in Hay on Wye soon...

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

Blackwells online, and library cast-offs.

[juliebeth.livejournal.com]

I tend to shop amazon.com, not having a good English-language bookstore close by. Stateside I try to seek out independent bookstores if available.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

I buy nearly everything online, mostly Amazon and ebay though Alibris has turned up some rarities.

[sally_maria]

Often - from work, naturally. :-)

But I do also use Amazon, Waterstones and Forbidden Planet when I happen to be in the vicinity.

[miss-t-ide.livejournal.com]

Heffers usually, but sometimes Amazon and occasionally play.com.