David Stockman reading.
I know I buy many times more books than I used to because of blogland. If I see a smashingly good review from a blog review site, I often order the book on amazon. It allows or promotes a lot of impulse buying. Before I'd have to go to a store and find it. Now with a click it is mine. Same with music.
Do you find yourself buying if not reading more books than five years ago? Ten?
27 comments:
Absolutely. I find the writers I like and whose opinions I trust and the "To Be Purchased" pile grows even faster the the "To Be Read" pile.
Yes, I'm buying more, but I'm buying fewer books by authors I've traditionally enjoyed and am buying more from newer authors or those who I interact with on the web. The majority of those books are also bought online.
I do buy more books, mostly 2nd hand, but still more. One of the perks of working in a library is that I am here 5 days a week and it's easy for me to check books (and DVDs as well) out and return them. I used to buy and read more in my younger days when I had more free time (interestingly I had less money, not that I make all that much now)-- over the years my reading has ebbed and flowed as music, film and comic's took over my entertainment time.
That said I just stopped by Aunt Agatha's to see if they had copies of the new Gil Brewer reprint and Peepshow by Leigh Redhead both of which I found because of various blogs that I follow.
Yay for Aunt Agathas. If only I lived nearby.
Yes, most of the books I am buying are from writers I'd never heard of three or four years ago.
Yes and double yes, but it's gotten much more so since I began reading FFB every Friday. Now I'm digging through used book sites searching out things I didn't even know I had to have, just a day or two before. Must...stop...buying...so...many...books...
But it's fun, and I'm getting to read some great books.
I don't buy more books than I ever did. Books were always a major expense in our budget. But I buy different books because of blogs--not so many highly promoted best sellers and more by lesser known authors. Blogs help me find more books I truly enjoy.
As a compulsive book buyer, blogs have made my habit an addiction, man I buy books all the time, on a whim many cases thanks to blogs!
Ali
As I said, the main problem is the ease with which I can buy a book. My finger is way ahead of my brain. And old books, I buy many more older books that I used to.
Oh definitely. I've always read a lot, but you Forgotten Friday Books have opened up a lot of new possibilities. I see books every week I want. Can't get them all though, unfortunately, but I get what I can and make note of others for later purchase.
The internet and the used book sites have enabled me to fill out a number of series, many from back as far as the sixties.
I wonder how much used bookstores have been kept alive by the Internet?
I buy more books--mostly by new authors. My reading has become more adventurous.
You're right about the Internet fueling "impulse buying," Patti. I've resorted to putting books, CDs, and DVDs in my AMAZON shopping cart and leaving them there for a few days. When I come back to AMAZON, I review what's in the cart. I've deleted about 30% of the items on average. This method avoids a lot of later "buyer's remorse."
Almost every book I've read this year is 100% connected to 'meeting' Keith Rawson on the internet last year.
Before then I'd never heard of Ray Banks, Al Guthrie, Dave Zeltserman, Tony Black, Charlie Wiiliams et al. All of the writers whose work I love.
He is also directly responsable for me finding Powder Burn Flash, A Twist Of Noir, and of course Patti Abbot, Al Tucher, cormac Brown, Sandra Seamans and evey other internet writer whose work I adore.
Before then it was a random selection of English language books that I found in Polish books shops.
My book buying has exploded, absolutely. For the last few years I was reading almost entirely nonfiction, but this year I've happily rediscovered my love for fiction.
FYI from R. T.
http://novelsandstories.blogspot.com/2009/12/consolidated-list-of-recommendations.html
I "read" more books now because I have been buying books on CD's where the author reads his or her work aloud. I listen to them in my car on the way to work and back. I know it's not a purist way to "read" books, but for me it works well and it's interesting hearing the author's interprutation of his or her own work.
I am buying more books, but not through the 'Net. My purchases are now about 85% through a local indie and another 5% through B&N. The remaining 10% is online purchasing. Overall I probably purchase 65-70% of my books, the rest comes from libraries or gifts, ARCs, etc.
Like Charles, though, I'm buying fewer titles by authors I've long enjoyed and am buying more titles by newer authors. I think crime fiction is enjoying a golden era and I want to take advantage of it.
I mirror, almost exactly, what Charles wrote: more books but not necessarily by established authors. Key point: in the past, I would have already purchased the new Stephen King book and blown through it. Now, I'm scouring used book stores for some forgotten tome recommended to me by a blogger/writer.
I've also discovered writers and books I never would have before. It's a great time to be a reader.
Well, if I'm not to late, check out the monthly reviews at the Internet Review of Books. Lots to add to your list.
http://internetreviewofbooks.com
Well, yes and no. It gives me a lot more books that I want, but since we joined PaperbackSwap.com I've been able to get a lot of my books there, so the actual buying hasn't really gone up.
Between that and the library I have enough to read for the next, oh, 37 years, so I can wait until most new books become available.
I do like George's method too, of putting a book in the cart and waiting a few days to be sure.
However, after an experience in England some years ago where I didn't buy a set of paperbacks I should have bought and have never seen since (because I'd read most of them already), I don't let something I really want to read go by.
Oh, if you're interested, it was the "official" biography of Winston Churchill, started by his son Randolph and continued by Martin Gilbert.
Jeff M.
My problem with leaving them in the cart is it sometimes disappears or I end up ordering it twice. Have a happy holiday, Jeff.
Blogs have affected the type of books, as opposed to the amount of books, that I read (I don't do much buying of new books--I use the library and UBS for most of my reading); blogs have opened my eyes to new (to me) authors and books.
I've kept book journals for years in which I jot down the names of books and authors I want to read. About once a month or so, I'll check my local library's database against the new entries I've made in the journal and write down the call numbers (if they have the book). Then I go to the library armed with my trusty journal and check out some of the books I've found. This also makes the Friends of the Library book sales a lot of fun too.
Our library has a continuing used book sale in the basement of one of the libraries. (It's a new building and the basement is very nice for storing books). They sell the books for $1 and sometimes they have books only a few months old. This is generally when they overbuy Patterson and Evanovich. I do resent they feel they have to order 20 copies of these authors and then sell them for $1.
I just read Larry McMurtry's new memoir (LITERARY LIFE), which is kind of thin and aimless, it seems to me. (He keeps stopping stories to say, wait for my third memoir, about the Hollywood years, for that story.)
Yet, I wrote down a bunch of books and authors to read that he mentioned.
It's hopeless.
Jeff M.
Me too. I find tempting reviews on my daily blogrounds and add them to my ever-growing list. Once a month I order a pile from Amazon or Abebooks, and a week later it is ´little Christmas´.
Without cheap online bookshops I couldn´t afford more than a fraction of the English books I devour every month. I would have to live on a diet of translated crime.
I'd say my move into more crime fiction has a direct correlation to blogland, and the availability of online purchases and subscriptions. I'm an Audible.com member, too. Same goes with the movies (Netflix, anyone?) That also makes things easier to obtain, and easier to try new authors and films by way of online friend recommendations/reviews. Thanks, Patti.
My buying has definitely increased and it's more buying of obscure books, and it's all due to blogs I read. yes, a lot of it is impulse buying, but I'm not complaining. If I had to wait until I got to a bricks and mortar store, I would not find it or I'd talk myself out of buying it.
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