I'm as guilty of it as anyone. If there's the choice between spending £6.99 on a paperback copy of a book, or downloading a free classics version on Amazon for my Kindle, yeah, I'm likely to go for the free version. Especially if it's a book that I'm not likely to read again.
By the same token, sometime you just need to go into a bookshop and buy a real book. And I mean actually buy it while you're there, not look at the pictures and read the first page and then go buy it online.
Knowing that I do have a tendency to go for the easy option when it comes to buying books, when I made my Day Zero Project list I decided to make a real effort to buy more books from proper bookshops. I set myself a target of fifteen mainly because I just wanted a number to work towards. Fifteen was kind of an arbitrary figure and one which I've kind of surpassed. It was, after all, only five books a year. That's very easily done.
Most of my books have come from my local bookshop. The door of which you can see above. They're very good about ordering books for me and most of the time they're ready for collection the next day. Last year I also got a lovely bag from them as well; it says 'I found my family in a book' on it, which is perfect for me.
Over the last couple of years I've also got quite a few of my books for my course from independent bookshops which sell online. This isn't my favourite way to support independent booksellers because there's nothing quite like going into a shop and leafing through the books, but sometimes (particularly living on an island) this isn't possible.
While I will continue to buy books online when it is convenient, I will continue my habit of supporting independent and local bookshops. It's a little bit of a dream of mine to someday own a little book and wool shop somewhere, with storytelling sessions for children at weekends and knit and natter groups in the evening for craft classes.
If we don't support our bookshops, someday we might lose them. What was the last book you bought from an independent bookseller?
It's been a while. Most of the bookstores in this area have closed down.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that so many of them are closing down because they can't compete with online retailers and supermarkets.
DeleteI bought 'The woman who went to bed for a year' by Sue Townsend from Chorlton Bookshop for a friend's birthday last week.. I always go there for birthday cards and have made a conscious effort recently to go there when I buy gifts because that's the only time I really buy new books (I usually buy from charity shops)
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I nearly bought The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year a couple of weeks ago in a charity shop. Like you, I buy a lot of books in charity shops/used, but I do like to buy gift books from proper bookshops.
DeleteThat door is so invitingly tempting to enter. I've just had a read of your About Me which says you like Terry Pratchett which is interesting because these are the last couple of books I've bought, can you call a second hand bookstall an independent shop? I'm catching up on the Terry Pratchetts I didn't read first time round, not very many. Otherwise the last books are from Waterstones, rather a large enterprise than independent.
ReplyDeleteYou really can't help but go in, can you? This shop's old premises always reminds me of the shops in Harry Potter, complete with rickety staircaase up to a second level. This shop is just as magical inside though.
DeleteI am a massive Terry Pratchett fan, I was lucky enough to meet him about ten years ago. I've picked up copies of his books from all sorts of places. Hope you enjoy the ones you've not read. :-)