Within the past few months, I’ve been buying a lot less books. In fact, in the past four or five years, I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on books. Definitely nearly every penny of my money. (Which isn’t a lot – I mean, I can work with it since I’m only thirteen! … but it’s just a small weekly allowance and then the occasional babysitting money.) And… well, my priorities have changed! 😀 I’ve started using my money to buy things like cute clothes or save up for something bigger, and rely on my library to get the books I want.
Thus brings the question: When do I buy books? I still like to own books; I’ve always been a bit of a book hoarder (okay, okay, a LOT of a book hoarder!) I see value in owning physical books, especially my favorites. I can’t stand it when I borrow a book from the library and it ends up being one of my favorites, but I don’t own it. (Like The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen. Not gonna try to be subtle here, but, um… my birthday is in two weeks and I LOOOOVE these books – friends, family!!) 😉
Right now, my main priority that makes me want to own a book is if I love the book and want to own it in order to re-read it, lend it to my friends, save it for my kids… (True fact. I’ve already imagined a whole room in my future house for books. No, really. My kids are going to have books coming out of their ears!)
That said, I don’t like spending the full price on a book. I think back to when I was 9/10/11 years old, and I honestly probably spent seven to fifteen dollars every week on a book. I never bought hard backs because they were always too expensive for my budget (and still are!) but I still spent a good deal of my money on one or two books… when in second hand book stores, I could get four or five for the same price!
So that brings me to my discovery of used book stores! There’s this bookstore about twenty minutes away from me called 2nd & Charles; it’s a chain used book store so it’s possible it could be in your area. Totally advertising here, because it’s awesome! (They also sell used vinyl, CD’s, DVD’s, video games, etc.) I recently bought five books – one of them a hardback for five dollars. I love hardback books (that’s pretty much a given for any bookworm, I think!) and since my wallet can’t afford to spend TOO much, I’ve found my solution.
Then again, supporting authors is also something I aim to do, but only my favorite authors that I respect and I know their books will be good. Example: Rachel Coker. Her books are great Christian fiction books, they’re historical fiction, and a love story (MY FAVORITE!) and I think I may like her just as much as her books. Besides that, she’s not as much of a very well-known author compared to others, and I want to support her. Just a tip: at a book signing for Kiera Cass I went to in May, she said if you ever want to support an author, don’t buy their books from Walmart. None of the books sold there go towards the #1 New York Times bestseller list. (Weird, huh?)
So to conclude all that said: I use the library, unless I have a favorite book I see value in owning or want to support the author.
what about you?? when do YOU buy books?
Wellll, since the library is out of the question for me, I buy books ALL the time. I (or rather, my parents) TRY to buy some every week, and if not, it’s every month. which is why, there is a lack of reviews on my blog. Before I buy a book, I read TONS of reviews of them on goodreads, to see if its worth my time.
haha! I got your hint! *wiiiiinnnkkk* 😉 😉 😉 😉 (you must think im in insane after that last statement, but you’ll understand what I mean, soon.)
I actually just reviewed some christian fiction, that I think you’ll like, plus im doing a giveaway! 😀 I don’t regularly read christinan fiction, but i picked this one up on a whim.
That stinks. Why can’t you go to the library? I bet. If I bought that many books, I’d definitely look a lot into it!
Lol! Wiiiiiiiink back! Brooke said you wanted my address to send me something?? 😀 I can send you my dad’s P.O. Box address if you send me an email. I’ll have to get it from him. 😉
Yay! I saw your giveaway, and I need to enter soon!! I love Christian fiction… most of it. I don’t read titles like “My Amish Boyfriend” … that doesn’t really appeal to me, but most of it is good. 😛 Lol!
My family doesn’t have a car at the moment, so we haven’t been going any were thatbisnt within walking distance, which isn’t actually to bad, mostly because there’s lots to do around my area….except a book store or a library!! *facepalm*
Yep! I’d like to send you a little something, so whenever in could get your PO box, ill send it right away! Its nearly ready to be shipped!
Ugh yeah, that type of thing is so off putting…
Oh, that makes sense. Do you have a phone or e-reader? If you happen to be near the library sometime and get a card, you can check books out on your device! I use the app “Overdrive.” I love it.
That’s so, so sweet of you! Thanks! I’ll talk to my dad in just a sec and email you the address. Thank you again!! This is so exciting! Can’t WAIT to see it!
I buy books…too much. Haha. My shelf is full and I’m sure there are more coming in the future 🙂
But I buy books if, like you, I loved it and will want to randomly pull it off the shelf and read my favorite scenes (does anyone else do this??) or read it to my sisters or something. I also buy books if I want to read something that isn’t in the library.
Just started reading your blog and looking forward to reading it more in the future! (Not that I NEED more books to read, but whatever)
Same! Lol, you’re not the only one! I’ll literally flip to a random page and start reading, or I’ll read my favorite scene every now and then – especially if it’s a sad or romantic book! *all the emotions* (!!!!) 🙂
That’s great! I hope you like my posts. 🙂 Haha, I follow like fifty blogs and I could never, EVER keep up with all the books I need to read! No shame in that!
I don’t really buy too many books. How much allowance do you get?
I don’t, either. 🙂 I get $7 a week.
I get 8.
Oh okay. Lucky ducky – one dollar more! 😉
I agree with this post! I buy books when I’m confident I will enjoy them( I’m not always right but I’m like at least 90% correct). Or multiple people have reccommended them to me ( or close friends tell me I need it now. Such as yourself! *Cough* TheFalsePrince*Cough*) . Or I have read it before and loved it. Or the book just sounds like me. I don’t buy a lot of books on a whim. Usually I take a photo of the book and look it up later on Amazon, goodreads, and Barnes and noble.
When I check books out from the library I’m usually a little looser and will pick up books on a whim( after I’ve read every book I absolutely NEED to read there).
Same, same. Lol! The False Prince. OMG, you need to tell me where you’re at in the books. Though I’ve been lazy about texting and emailing and comments this week. Everything’s been a tad crazy! Probably not as crazy as yours, what with moving and all, but I’ll text you soon!
OMG, I do that too. Take pictures, I mean. I take them on my phone and lately since I’ve gotten Goodreads I’ll scan them and add them to my TBR.
Haha, yep. At first I read that and thought it said “little loser” and I was like “What?!” There’s no shame in that! =)
I just finished The Shadow Throne. You need to text me ASAP! So many feelings. Dhjahdhf. Yeah. I get it.
Yeah. I always take pictures of books I need to look into. Because I can’t always remember Titles and authors.
Lol. I laughed So hard at that. Then read it and inserted loser in it and laughed again. Whew… good times. Lol. Well please excuse me while I go on Food Read. ;p ;).
I grinned when I read You and Daisy’s ccomments above. MWAHAHA!
OMG. Yes, yes. I know exactly what you’re feeling!!!
Wow, I do the same thing! Then the next time I’m in a bookstore I get out my phone to see my pictures so I can find what books I saw last time. Especially because used bookstores and such don’t always have the new releases.
Haha!! OMG. Foodreads. Have fun! 😉
Lol. I can’t waaaaiiittt.
I only own about 15 books. Pretty small collection, I know. I usually depend on the library to get books, and if they don’t have it, I’ll recommend it. Or I use overdrive on my kindle which is also my library. Half of my books are my brothers too. We both have the same taste in books. I only bought the last two books in the Heroes of Olympus series, the whole Heist Society series, the first Gallagher girls series, and the first embassy row book, all fall down. Now that I think about it, half of the books are by Ally Carter. I only get one book a year since I was like six and some of them my friends gave me. Plus the library is like five minutes away from my home.
That’s alright. The library is life. I don’t use Overdrive a whole lot since I really prefer hardbound books, but it’s great if my library doesn’t have it and I’m not 100% sure about buying it.
Ally Carter must be an awesome author! I reallyreallyreally need to read her books!
Wow. I’ve always gotten SO many books. Half of my room is just books strewn everywhere, haha. 😉
When it comes to fiction, I definitely prefer borrowing from the library or requesting my library to get the book I want to read just because I want to save up my money for something I know I’ll enjoy for sure. However, I love buying classic books at those used book sales where the books are maybe 25-50 cents. Those are AMAZING and I love classics, so it’s great. A lot of times I’ll also buy nonfiction books like coding books or writing books new because I know I’ll use them over and over again. As for supporting authors, requesting your library to buy books also helps support them because it puts that book in front of more people. Buying books is good, too, but when I can’t do that, I just ask my library to buy the book.
Same. I rarely like spending money on books if I’m not so sure about the content, or if I’ll like it.
Exactly! I LOVE those sales. I stock up! I definitely don’t like paying full price on books, if I can help it. Plus owning classics is a priority for me.
I agree. I’ve requested a few books for my library to get, but it’s agony waiting for them to get it! 😀