Last time you were in a bookstore? - Page 5

Ginwen · 03-19-2012, 11:28 PM

About a week ago. I like to go every couple of weeks to browse, and see if anything new is out that might interest me. I don' t actually buy anything, since I usually prefer ebooks, so it'll be partly my fault when they go away.

Prestidigitweeze · 03-20-2012, 12:36 AM

Last weekend, I visited Revolution Books in Manhattan, as well as the Strand and St. Marks Books. I'd love to pretend it was all due to my desire to purchase yet more tomes, but my apartment is currently so cluttered that I'll have to sell and gift many that I own already.

Also stepped into Three Lives briefly, but only because it's on my way home and I happened to see a book by a friend in the window.

And then there's the street. Ran into friend of a friend Viv -- whoops, "Anonymous" -- selling his first novel, Diary of an Oxygen Thief, and promised to buy the Kindle version to support him (which I now have). Have to ask him next time I see him whether it's truly a fictional memoir or not. In any case, it's rather amazing he managed to get blurbs from Junot Diaz and New York Magazine without doing any publicity at all. I'm expecting the book to be good.

beachwanderer · 03-20-2012, 03:17 AM

Yesterday. Got a birthday present (yes, a pbook) for someone.

If I had not been succesfull there in the shop of a regional booksellers chain (38 shops in northern Germany) I would have strolled round the corner to a local independent bookshop that has a good range on show, looked in the same street into the store of a nationwide booksellers chain that is a bit more downmarket or dropped into a sidestreet where some startup indy bookshop just opened up.

So in our small german seaside town of about 50 thousand people and a university of applied science there still is a remarkable choice. - Wonder what will happen in Germany once the Buchpreisbindung goes down the drain someday.

Indio777 · 03-20-2012, 10:54 AM

Week ago last Friday to B&N for magazines. Ended up buying four books--one mass market paperback that I happened to notice and three trade paperbacks (buy two get third free).

I go to various B&Ns in my area at least twice a month.

I also still go to used bookstores. Quite enjoyable. Who knows what might turn up?

I still buy printed books and have no plans to stop doing so.

no.guru · 03-20-2012, 11:31 AM

If there were any book stores near me, I would go more often.

Last time I went to a traditional (not a second-hand) book store was about two months ago, the nearest B&N. It was a bit depressing to see how much of the store's floor space is now devoted to toys and other non-book items.

MooG_1966 · 03-20-2012, 10:23 PM

Last Friday as it was Mother's day in the UK that weekend and I wanted to look through a few hobby books before buying to try and get one she'd like.

I was also going to get an ebook for her kindle but Amazon UKs suggestion for such gifts is to get a gift card and add a note suggesting what they might want to spend it on -- so I passed on that.

montalex · 03-22-2012, 02:09 PM

I was in the B&N flagship store in Manhattan after Christmas. I saw a book I wanted, checked the price on my Kindle, and had the ebook before I left the store. Felt a bit guilty.

I was the assistant manager of a large independent bookstore when I was younger, in the days before B&N and others destroyed the independents. B&N opened a store around the corner from our bookstore and slowly bled us to death with big discounts on best sellers. A couple of months after we closed, so did they.

I sometimes imagine that I miss browsing books in bookstores, but I can do a quick search of recent reviews of books, or search the longlists of major literary awards and get more information than I could get browsing the shelves of most bookstores. The thing I really miss is knowledgeable personnel in bookstores -- people you can ask for advice about recent books.

astrodad · 03-22-2012, 02:43 PM

My last visit was last month and that what was only because my wife, God bless her, said that the Kindle sample of Lisa Lutz's new book didn't have working footnotes. So I rushed into Barnes and Noble after picking up my son from school and put down $20 for the book. When I got home and looked at the sample, I pointed out to her that the footnotes were tappable and linked to the back of the book which had the footnotes, but since the sample only had the first ten or twenty pages, the link didn't work.

I told her that was the last time I would get her a pbook that was 2X the price of the ebook (Amazon had it for the Kindle for $9.99 at the time).

pdurrant · 03-22-2012, 03:08 PM

I can't remember the last time I was in a bookstore and bought a book.

Annari · 03-22-2012, 05:11 PM

I go about once a month.

tubemonkey · 03-23-2012, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montalex

I was the assistant manager of a large independent bookstore when I was younger, in the days before B&N and others destroyed the independents. B&N opened a store around the corner from our bookstore and slowly bled us to death with big discounts on best sellers. A couple of months after we closed, so did they.

Blame your customers for bleeding you to death; not B&N.

Prestidigitweeze · 03-25-2012, 03:06 PM

Montalex was on the front lines and is actually blaming the correct party. I've heard the same thing from independent bookstore managers everywhere, and even from people who used to work at the B&N Sales Annex in NYC.

There's even a famous and horribly sentimental film that alludes to the phenomenon -- something about email, Meg Ryan and a perfectly decent city which isn't predisposed to facile ventricle yanking.

Joykins · 03-26-2012, 10:32 AM

I go so very, very, very less often than I used to and it isn't mostly associated with getting my e-readers.

First, they closed the closest Borders to me, and then they closed the next-closest last winter. I went every week while they were closing down to get the deals.

They closed the Waldenbooks in the mall near me.

When I was working at the office, I used to go to B&N (a few blocks away) every few weeks, even if just to browse. Now I work from home, the closest B&N--which is now the closest bookstore--is 20 minutes away. We generally go when we go to that part of town, but that isn't super-often. Usually we get books for the kids. But now the kids have started reading on dh's nook color as well, and they read a lot of library books etc.

sakura-panda · 03-27-2012, 12:46 PM

I *think* the last time I was in the bookstore was a week after the previous time to pick up a book I had ordered for my son.

I can't remember when that was, though. Sometime between October and December of last year. (I guess I should go back to the poll thread now that I finally remembered my last visit.

)

03-20-2012, 12:36 AM	#62
Prestidigitweeze Fledgling Demagogue Posts: 2,384 Karma: 31132263 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: White Plains Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.	Last weekend, I visited Revolution Books in Manhattan, as well as the Strand and St. Marks Books. I'd love to pretend it was all due to my desire to purchase yet more tomes, but my apartment is currently so cluttered that I'll have to sell and gift many that I own already. Also stepped into Three Lives briefly, but only because it's on my way home and I happened to see a book by a friend in the window. And then there's the street. Ran into friend of a friend Viv -- whoops, "Anonymous" -- selling his first novel, Diary of an Oxygen Thief, and promised to buy the Kindle version to support him (which I now have). Have to ask him next time I see him whether it's truly a fictional memoir or not. In any case, it's rather amazing he managed to get blurbs from Junot Diaz and New York Magazine without doing any publicity at all. I'm expecting the book to be good. Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 03-22-2012 at 12:30 PM.

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03-19-2012, 11:28 PM	#61
Ginwen Addict Posts: 261 Karma: 777376 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Kent, WA Device: Kindle Touch/IPad	About a week ago. I like to go every couple of weeks to browse, and see if anything new is out that might interest me. I don' t actually buy anything, since I usually prefer ebooks, so it'll be partly my fault when they go away.

03-20-2012, 03:17 AM	#63
beachwanderer - Posts: 2,602 Karma: 16748808 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: At the Baltic Sea Device: Some	Yesterday. Got a birthday present (yes, a pbook) for someone. If I had not been succesfull there in the shop of a regional booksellers chain (38 shops in northern Germany) I would have strolled round the corner to a local independent bookshop that has a good range on show, looked in the same street into the store of a nationwide booksellers chain that is a bit more downmarket or dropped into a sidestreet where some startup indy bookshop just opened up. So in our small german seaside town of about 50 thousand people and a university of applied science there still is a remarkable choice. - Wonder what will happen in Germany once the Buchpreisbindung goes down the drain someday.

03-20-2012, 10:54 AM	#64
Indio777 Addict Posts: 210 Karma: 1503568 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Washington, DC Device: Mobile Phone, Kindle (rarely), but mostly still read paper	Week ago last Friday to B&N for magazines. Ended up buying four books--one mass market paperback that I happened to notice and three trade paperbacks (buy two get third free). I go to various B&Ns in my area at least twice a month. I also still go to used bookstores. Quite enjoyable. Who knows what might turn up? I still buy printed books and have no plans to stop doing so.

03-20-2012, 11:31 AM	#65
no.guru Crazy like a Posts: 229 Karma: 2368978 Join Date: May 2009 Device: Sony PRS-T1, Sony PRS-350	If there were any book stores near me, I would go more often. Last time I went to a traditional (not a second-hand) book store was about two months ago, the nearest B&N. It was a bit depressing to see how much of the store's floor space is now devoted to toys and other non-book items.

03-20-2012, 10:23 PM	#66
MooG_1966 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Stoke-on-Trent, England Device: none	Last Friday as it was Mother's day in the UK that weekend and I wanted to look through a few hobby books before buying to try and get one she'd like. I was also going to get an ebook for her kindle but Amazon UKs suggestion for such gifts is to get a gift card and add a note suggesting what they might want to spend it on -- so I passed on that.

03-22-2012, 02:09 PM	#67
montalex Fanatic Posts: 556 Karma: 1283268 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: KindleDX,Kindle 4, Kindle Keyboard 3G	I was in the B&N flagship store in Manhattan after Christmas. I saw a book I wanted, checked the price on my Kindle, and had the ebook before I left the store. Felt a bit guilty. I was the assistant manager of a large independent bookstore when I was younger, in the days before B&N and others destroyed the independents. B&N opened a store around the corner from our bookstore and slowly bled us to death with big discounts on best sellers. A couple of months after we closed, so did they. I sometimes imagine that I miss browsing books in bookstores, but I can do a quick search of recent reviews of books, or search the longlists of major literary awards and get more information than I could get browsing the shelves of most bookstores. The thing I really miss is knowledgeable personnel in bookstores -- people you can ask for advice about recent books.

03-22-2012, 02:43 PM	#68
astrodad Guru Posts: 962 Karma: 568242 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle Paperwhite 1, iPad, iPhone	My last visit was last month and that what was only because my wife, God bless her, said that the Kindle sample of Lisa Lutz's new book didn't have working footnotes. So I rushed into Barnes and Noble after picking up my son from school and put down $20 for the book. When I got home and looked at the sample, I pointed out to her that the footnotes were tappable and linked to the back of the book which had the footnotes, but since the sample only had the first ten or twenty pages, the link didn't work. I told her that was the last time I would get her a pbook that was 2X the price of the ebook (Amazon had it for the Kindle for $9.99 at the time).

03-22-2012, 03:08 PM	#69
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 73,672 Karma: 315126578 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	I can't remember the last time I was in a bookstore and bought a book.

03-22-2012, 05:11 PM	#70
Annari Banned Posts: 15 Karma: 12 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Missouri Device: T-1	I go about once a month.

03-25-2012, 03:06 PM	#72
Prestidigitweeze Fledgling Demagogue Posts: 2,384 Karma: 31132263 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: White Plains Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.	Montalex was on the front lines and is actually blaming the correct party. I've heard the same thing from independent bookstore managers everywhere, and even from people who used to work at the B&N Sales Annex in NYC. There's even a famous and horribly sentimental film that alludes to the phenomenon -- something about email, Meg Ryan and a perfectly decent city which isn't predisposed to facile ventricle yanking.

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03-26-2012, 10:32 AM	#73
Joykins Wizard Posts: 1,609 Karma: 9211856 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: kindle Oasis 2018, kindle 4 NT, kindle PW2, iPhone, iPad mini	I go so very, very, very less often than I used to and it isn't mostly associated with getting my e-readers. First, they closed the closest Borders to me, and then they closed the next-closest last winter. I went every week while they were closing down to get the deals. They closed the Waldenbooks in the mall near me. When I was working at the office, I used to go to B&N (a few blocks away) every few weeks, even if just to browse. Now I work from home, the closest B&N--which is now the closest bookstore--is 20 minutes away. We generally go when we go to that part of town, but that isn't super-often. Usually we get books for the kids. But now the kids have started reading on dh's nook color as well, and they read a lot of library books etc.

03-27-2012, 12:46 PM	#74
sakura-panda Guru Posts: 932 Karma: 9558874 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Southeast Michigan, USA Device: Kindle Oasis; 11" iPad Pro (Books, Kindle, Kobo, MapleRead SE)	I think the last time I was in the bookstore was a week after the previous time to pick up a book I had ordered for my son. I can't remember when that was, though. Sometime between October and December of last year. (I guess I should go back to the poll thread now that I finally remembered my last visit. )