I was speaking to a friend this morning, about charity shop book buying... he lives in a trendy arty area of London, and regularly picks up stonking bargains such as "By Grand Central Station I sat Down and Wept" by Elizabeth Smart last week for 50p (grr)
I moaned that living in a retirement town means that the charity shops here are stuffed with Mills and Boons... but at lunchtime I went hunting for some quality, and managed to find some bargains - a minerva book of shorts with a story by Hanif Kureishi that Ive not read yet, a poetry book by an author blurbed as "a wayward poet of all things impolite" (cant wait) a Deborah Moggach (for bathtime)and Helen Smiths Alison Wonderland which i always meant to buy but never did...
anyone else here trawl the 2nd hand shops for books? what've you found?
andrea (not verified) | September 12, 2002 - 18:51
Trawl 'em all the time, L,
Here are my latest bargains:
'Grandes Lignes (mavo havo vwo)'
'Memo (geschiedenis voor de basisvoriming)'
'Wiskunde voor iedereen (havo vwo)'
'Engels voor Idioten'
A mere €2.50 (per piece)
Cheap at the price.
Can't wait to get stuck in...
markbrown (not verified) | September 12, 2002 - 20:16
popped into my local charity shop today and got
'Kaddish' by Allen Ginsberg (55p)
'Penguin Modern Poets 5: Simon Armitage, Sean O'Brien, Tony Harrison' (45p)
&
'The Bloodaxe Book of Contempory Women Poets' edited by Jeni Couzyn (65p)
Deptford isn't that trendy, it's gritty!
Liana (not verified) | September 12, 2002 - 20:21
grrrrrrr
im moving
fish (not verified) | September 13, 2002 - 09:25
i'd say the majority of books i buy are second hand ... i go to charity shops mainly but also jumble sales, car boots, secondhand shops, junk shops ... also library sales ...
i find i am prepared to take risks with reading if the book costs 50p much more so than if the thing is 6.99 ... i love buying brand new books but will be more careful that it is a book i will def. like if i am coughing up for it ...
over the years i have also bought hundreds and hundreds of books for the kids secondhand ... mine are voracious readers and at certain times have been so skint i couldn't possibly have bought them new books ...
i can't remember what my last really good buy was ... i get so many ...
Jazz (not verified) | September 13, 2002 - 19:35
I fully agree with the point about taking risks..last book i bought was secon hand...What Am I doing here by Bruce Chatwin and it is a gem
martin_t (not verified) | September 17, 2002 - 00:33
i love 2nd hand book shops...I've been to the mecca of hay on wye about 4 times and always found loads....it's also the only way I seem to be able to find sven hassel novels which for a reason I cannot fathom, I have started to collect....