<p>I love to read - always have! My day job involves children’s literacy. (but I don’t work in a library) I’m a big supporter and user of libraries. We have a GREAT library system here - so fortunate! </p>
<p>Enjoy the book threads here on CC. Admit that my choices for books are often much more light and not-too-serious compared to what some other CC’ers are reading! I have noticed that much of what people list as reading are very new/current books. Which makes me think that you all must be doing much more purchasing of books than I do! (just because brand new books are harder to come by/receive through our library system). </p>
<p>So I’m just wondering - using %'s, what are your sources for books??? Things like new books stores, used book stores, ebooks, borrowing from a friend, libraries, etc.</p>
<p>For me I’d break it down this way:
75% libraries
15% ebooks (library based or purchased)
10% purchased from a brick and mortar store</p>
<p>For better or worse I wind up with 80+ % ebooks and 20% store bought books. I hardly ever get to the library. I do occasionally borrow books from friends, so maybe numbers I used are a little high. Worst thing in our house is husband and I occasionally buy the same ebook. </p>
<p>30% Amazon
30% local owned bookstores
20% gifts
15% library
3% airport bookstore
2% from friend or relative’s house while visiting</p>
<p>I have reached a stage of life with more disposable income than ever before. I am a big reader and don’t want to wait on the library list for the new books to be available. Many of my books come from Amazon, because it is so convenient. I try my best to purchase at least half from a couple of locally owned bookstores, but have to pay a bit more to do so. Every time I fly, I buy books off those shop tables where they give you one free with a purchase of two or three. I’ve been flying a lot lately. I leave those books wherever I’m traveling. Family and friends regularly give me books. I received a stack for Valentine’s Day. A few times a year, I donate those books to the library.</p>
<p>Half a dozen times, I’ve investigated book readers but never bought one. (Six months ago, a friend gave me a new GPS when mine died and it is still in the box because it looks too complicated. One thing I don’t like to read is instructions) I’ll try again to buy one before a big trip this summer, but still bring a travel book because it seems they make you turn off those devices during take off and I really need the distraction of the written page at that particular moment.</p>
<p>DH and I get 98% of our books from the library. We happen to live in a wonderful community with a wonderful library, so if a new book comes out that we want to read, we just put our name on the list. If it’s a best seller, the library has purchased many copies, so we rarely have to wait longer than a month or so. DH enjoys mystery series, and if the author has come out with a new book, he simply asks the library to order it, and they do. Then he’s first on the list when it arrives.</p>
<p>The only books I buy now are cookbooks and things like “Excel for Dummies.” No fiction at all. I don’t feel any need to own things I read.</p>
<p>But I’m heavily into the “Bag a Week” thread, so that’s partly why!!</p>
<p>* Admit that my choices for books are often much more light and not-too-serious compared to what some other CC’ers are reading!*</p>
<p>I just reread the entire works of Jennifer Weiner after the recent article in the New Yorker. Then I reread all of Candace Bushnell. And it was not depressing! I just wish it was a little better written. But - shush! - please don’t tell Jennifer. ;)</p>
<p>I am an avid reader, 100 books a year, and so I get almost all of my books from the library (which is part of a consortium which means I can get any title I want and order the books from my on-line account). I probably get a handful of books a year on loan from friends, another handful as advanced readers copies from a librarian friend, and I buy a few books a year (mostly for my family - usually more “coffee table” special interest type stuff) and those usually come from amazon.</p>
<p>Books look like clutter to me. We have a permanent collection in the office/library. Everything else gets donated after it is read. One book each is allowed in the parlor on a table. I keep the new, unread books and library books out of sight in a blind door secretary. We don’t read in bed so no books in the bedroom. Sometimes I go visit books I used to own at the library. That works for me.</p>
<p>I have a Kindle, and I borrow ebooks for that from the library as well. At some point I will have read all the library’s fee ebooks, and I guess if I have to I’ll start to pay for them – wait a minute; no I won’t. I’ll be able to borrow hardcopy books at no charge. Why pay when I can get it for free?</p>
<p>I listen to audiobooks, reading an average of 2 or more a week, and get all of them from the library. DH and I have cards from our great county library system and two adjoining jurisdictions so we have great choices. I do borrow (hard cover) books once in a while from friends or relatives, and buy books as gifts from Amazon. The only audiobooks I buy are Great Courses from The Teaching Company, but I’m very selective so that’s rare.</p>
<p>Libraries are wonderful. For the majority of my life, I was on a budget that made the library a necessity and I was grateful it was there for me. I also thought writers must be rich because we all enjoy their work so much. Then I realized most pretty much need a day job to support themselves, which leaves less time to write and fewer books produced for me to read. I don’t think writers can live off sales to libraries. Maybe I’m wrong. I have no idea - perhaps that is the majority of book sales. Any writer I know who writes full time either has an independent income of some sort, a financially supporting spouse, or has sold movie rights. </p>
<p>I get ebooks through the library. ebooks are easier for me to read. Every once in a while, I’ll buy an ebook but rarely will I buy paper books. </p>
<p>100% Ebooks (with some of those coming through the library). </p>
<p>Kindle is what made me really get into reading, start reading a lot of books, and read on a daily basis, so it’s really my go-to option for reading.</p>
<p>I download the majority of my books as ebooks for my kindle from resources other than Amazon. I am not sure where my fiance finds them, but he gets much better prices. The only books I buy anymore are for trips (I like paperbacks for the beach) or if it’s a series I very much love, which these days I would probably read first on kindle and purchase hard copy for re-reads. I can’t remember the last time I bought a real book from anywhere but Amazon. I don’t think we actually have a bookstore nearby. Even before the decline of the brick and mortar bookstore we had to drive 20 minutes or so to get to one, which is a long drive for these parts-- everything else is a minute away.</p>
<p>I would like to get into using the library but I still haven’t gotten around to getting a card in our new town. I’ve never been a library person, I’ve always liked to own my own books. The idea of even one more errand to run makes me want to die, too, I would never go. I think when we have kids I will bring them to the library and then I will use it more since I’ll be there anyway.</p>
<p>I’m probably 80% e-books and 20% purchased. I purchase about half from Amazon and the other half from B&N…but the library has become a distant memory for me because it is “easier” to download or order a book than to drive to a library and sign out a hard cover and it the interface for downloading from our library is far more cumbersome than existing on-line resources unfortunately. I read between 1 and 3 books each week. </p>
<p>Where does everybody get their ebooks for free? My library has a large selection but it seems that three quarters of them are for young readers (like, very young). I’ve made a list of the ebooks they have that I want to read, but it’s only 50 or so titles, and I’ll be done with that in a year. I don’t want to pay money. Are there other sources of free ebooks?? (Yes, I know that as an Amazon Prime member I can get one whole free ebook off Amazon every month, but that’s like stopping to pick up a penny in the street – hardly worth the energy required.)</p>
<p>I don’t use an electronic reader. I prefer real books. Most of the time I don’t read brand-new books, but rather older titles that I have searched out, one way or another. I prefer classics and literary fiction. </p>
<p>I obtain these either from the library or used, online. Sometimes I will request a book as a gift when my birthday or Christmas is coming up. Occasionally, I’ll buy a new book from a bookstore, but it’s a rare splurge. Happens maybe three times as year!</p>
<p>I love books. Always have as a young kid. I’m not a fan of eBooks. I don’t have a tablet (yet ) so any books that I purchase electronically are read on my phone. I prefer hands-on books. I generally peruse around B&N and buy a couple books when I finish one. Do the math. It adds up fairly quickly. I get at least one book a week. </p>
<p>90% Barnes and Noble or Target
10% iBook</p>
<p>I don’t like getting books from libraries. Yuck. I don’t like the idea of a large number of people reading a book before me. I want the book to be mine. </p>
<p>I keep getting coupon codes for Audiobooks so I might start getting a couple books there. </p>
<p>I have about five books that I haven’t picked up in my dorm alone. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to start them given that I’m reading six books (not textbooks…legit books) for classes…I’m a little tied up at the moment. </p>
<p>My book collection is ever growing and I don’t think it will slow anytime soon. I LOVE the look of a bookshelf full of books and knock knacks. I’ve already filled the bookshelf in my dorm and have had to resort to throwing them in a box!</p>
</p>
) so any books that I purchase electronically are read on my phone. I prefer hands-on books. I generally peruse around B&N and buy a couple books when I finish one. Do the math. It adds up fairly quickly. I get at least one book a week. </p>