Old vs. New Books
I left a comment to Danielle's post on buying old books vs. new books. She talks about how she might scour a used bookstore to browse and perhaps buy a book, but if she wanted something new it just went without saying that she would buy it new and quite often at full price. I would do the same except now almost all the books I read or put on my reading pile are in print--and that means the cost of buying these books new can be staggering. So I rely on the used bookstore, and thank God the city offers some of the best used bookshops with wide selections and book-savvy staff.
I read and re-read works of my favorite authors: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Banville, Saramago, Ishiguro, Hollinghurst, Franzen; for pleasure, and also analytically, conscious of the style, the diction, the way these authors employ close third-person narration to describe their characters, who are often given to sober fits and semi-delirium for significant portions of the narrative, etc. So it just goes without thinking I would buy books new, whether they are hardback or paperbacks.
Sometimes I want to experiment (experience) with new authors, authors whose works I have yet to read, or other forms and genres of literature. I encounter inevitably the uncertainty of whether a book is up to my liking (I'm sure every devoted reader and bibliophile can relate)--I usually read the first few pages and try to be conscious of the style, the diction, the tone and the writing. This is how I discovered Heinrich von Kleist as i have mentioned in my blog, and also Desperate Characters by Paula Fox, a thin novel with dazzling prose that slowly unveils the faultlines of a marriage through the incident in which the woman, heedless of her husband's warning, got bit by a stray cat while feeding her.
I have also used Alibris, and Powells Books, both of which are great resources for used and rare books. Recently I was looking for Rebecca West's 1966 novel The Birds Fall Down after coming across a literary tribute to her on the paper. I had no luck anywhere scouring all the local bookstores, not even the used store. It turned out that the novel has been out of print for 20 years! So I looked it up at abebooks.com and ordered a copy from a bookseller in California for more expedite shipping. These sites are treasure boxes for book lovers!
I read and re-read works of my favorite authors: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Banville, Saramago, Ishiguro, Hollinghurst, Franzen; for pleasure, and also analytically, conscious of the style, the diction, the way these authors employ close third-person narration to describe their characters, who are often given to sober fits and semi-delirium for significant portions of the narrative, etc. So it just goes without thinking I would buy books new, whether they are hardback or paperbacks.
Sometimes I want to experiment (experience) with new authors, authors whose works I have yet to read, or other forms and genres of literature. I encounter inevitably the uncertainty of whether a book is up to my liking (I'm sure every devoted reader and bibliophile can relate)--I usually read the first few pages and try to be conscious of the style, the diction, the tone and the writing. This is how I discovered Heinrich von Kleist as i have mentioned in my blog, and also Desperate Characters by Paula Fox, a thin novel with dazzling prose that slowly unveils the faultlines of a marriage through the incident in which the woman, heedless of her husband's warning, got bit by a stray cat while feeding her.
I have also used Alibris, and Powells Books, both of which are great resources for used and rare books. Recently I was looking for Rebecca West's 1966 novel The Birds Fall Down after coming across a literary tribute to her on the paper. I had no luck anywhere scouring all the local bookstores, not even the used store. It turned out that the novel has been out of print for 20 years! So I looked it up at abebooks.com and ordered a copy from a bookseller in California for more expedite shipping. These sites are treasure boxes for book lovers!
2 Comments:
I loved used bookstores and the "Friends of the Library". My collectoin wouldn't be as large as it is if it weren't for those places.
I'm really fussy about the condition of my books - so much so, that one of my friends once told me she had a nghtmare where she drew on one of my books and folded the corners of the pages and I freaked out (scares me, too, I should loosen up). But when I was a broke student, I relied on the Oxfam shop down the road for decent quality second hand books. As long as they're in good condition, I'm not bothered.
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