I used to visit Crown Books (a discount bookstore) every week and buy all the latest books published in the genres that I like to read. I was so sad to see it close. Now, I just pre-order everything by the authors I like to read from the big A in digital form. Every once in a while I'll see a cookbook or coffee table book that I will buy as a hardcover, but I usually look for a used version on eBay.

I'm sure there are some independent book shops near me, but the only one I know of is tiny with almost no parking.

That looks like a very charming bookstore, Rosefolly! There are several bookstores in our city, but I prefer to purchase from our local independent shop, McNally Robinson. In fact, I am heading out there this afternoon to purchase Black Icewritten by Thomas King. This is part of a series of cozy mysteries that also have some humor.

I just read a fun book. It's called The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians. It has short chapters written by people from all over the country, who own or work in bookstores and libraries, and why they love what they do. You would certainly enjoy it. I am a mostly library user, but I do love visiting bookstores too.

My favorite bookstore of all time is Persephone Books. They used to be in London, and they publish their own stuff. They specialize in books by forgotten women authors (although there are a few by men--R.C.Sherriff, I'm looking at you--and have books that are available nowhere else. What is so charming is that the books are numbered in the order of their printing, and they are arranged in the store by that number. The two women owners know where everything is shelved. They moved to Bath a couple of years ago, but they have a wonderful catalogue that DD1 and I drool over. She's ordered from them, and even though the postage cost to the U.S. is a fortune, it's a niche business. Check them out online: https://persephonebooks.co.uk/

I got my daughter a Persephone book a month subscription one year. We have several independent bookshops in my town plus the usual chains.

Persephone Books sends me a daily 'themed' email with a photo/picture. Short articles on women (often under-rated in the past) in Science, artists and this week, designers. They also send out a biannual magazine including an arty book-mark.

I love that cosy looking reading nook! We have wonderful independent book stores in my area, though we lost a couple during covid. I, too, mostly use the library. I've also used Bookshop.org to order books for friends in other cities. I've never ordered a book from amazon and never will. We do have a Barnes and Noble and while I don't buy books from them, they have a wonderful greeting card section that I do visit occasionally.

Rosefolly - you are so lucky to have independent bookstores near you.

I love reading books about bookstores and libraries. They are both often windows into the community in which they are located and I am lucky to have three community libraries very close to me.

faftris - I have just put The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians on hold at my local library. And the author is James Patterson which is really interesting. Thank-you so much for noting the book.

I have never read a James Patterson book, but I made an exception for that one. The reason for my hate is that I volunteer at my local library, doing shelving, and getting the Patterson books back into the correct order causes me to use language that my mother would not deem appropriate.

I don't mind spending money when I feel I'm getting a fair price and appropriate value. When Amazon came on the scene and made local bookshops into ripoff businesses, they lost my loyalty.

We have a great one, I appreciate it so much! they serve excellent food , coffee of course, and even wine and beer . then you can settle in for hours if you like !

we often see people we know and catch up, it is a real community there. they offer live music on thursdays on a very small stage . im grateful for them. the book selection is limited but theyll order for you through independent booksellers.

we also have an excellent used book store thats been around forever, and we have our barnes and noble

One more recommendation, The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, by Evan Friss. There's a lot of info about used and rare book stores (some are long-gone), and quite a bit about B&N, which started out as someone's independent store. I particularly enjoyed his chapter on the used book stores on Fourth Ave. in NYC, where I used to go when I was in high school and college. Not a one left.

One book that I found really interesting and I couldn't put it down is The Library Book by Susan Orlean.It's about the fire at the Los Angeles central library at the end of April 1986 but it also delves into ancient libraries and the wilfull destruction of them and also how libraries have evolved into the center of a community as described by lat62.

I bought a copy of The Bookshop at a friend's recommendation but I was very busy at the time and it got lost in the shuffle. I should unearth it. It sounds fascinating.

Re: Amazon prices vs retail bookstore prices

The markup on books is one of the smallest in all of retail. Unless a bookstore is buying in huge volume, which an independent bookstore cannot possibly do, they pretty much have no choice but to charge list price, or something very close to it..

We have a couple of independent bookstores that DH and I frequent, Planet Books and Crow Books. They always have titles and authors you don't see in the bigger chains, and a decent SF/Fantasy selection. We have literally thousands of books in our house and keep getting more, although the Kindles also get a workout, especially when we are travelling as we tend to read quickly.

Pre Kindle days we went to Europe for six weeks and ended up mailing two boxes containing about 24 books back to our home so we didn't have to keep carting them around with us, having read them. (Funny story, DH was hiding our extra cash in a book and that was accidentally one we mailed home. Luckily after a slight delay it arrived safely and we had a $600 surprise in one :-) )

Rosefolly, I choose retailers selling identical items by comparing prices and convenience. Without regard to their accounting systems or profit/loss statements.

Sentimentality for days past is no excuse for my choices to accept being overcharged.

You can certainly approach it that way, or you can think of it as contributing to a community resource, which is what many independent bookshops are. They hold author readings, sell signed copies, and provide a place for people to gather. It all depends on what you value.

The Library Book was a wonderful reading experience, and very uplifting to see the effort to restore. I value libraries the same way I value local bookstores. Both serve us in uncounted and sometimes unappreciated ways.

Bookwoman (your name is a giveaway)

In my area, in-person months-long author tours are mostly memories, community meetings at book stores - ditto.

I don't live where here's a major downtown people go to.. More Iike a large and extended suburbia. Most indie bookstores are gone and probably because of people with views like mine. Libraries are busier than ever and many are recently rebuilt and or modernized and expanded.

I don't have a small bookstore near me but for 53 years I have gone to the local library every Wednesday rarely missing a week. I will next week because they will be closed Xmas eve so this Wednesday I will get enough to last me two weeks. I also hang out every Friday night at B&N.

Lily316, you are a person after my own heart. When we have an impending snowstorm, others go to the grocery store to pick up milk and toilet paper. Guess where I go?

I did go to the library yesterday - a 10 minute walk for me - to get enough reading to get me through the Christmas season.

True, trapped in the house with nothing to eat and nothing to read, what a nightmare! Of course we have five well stocked bookcases in the house, so having nothing to read would be most unlikely.

I haven't had much luck at the local library here. It has friendly, helpful staff, and I'm sure it has a good collection, but they don't seem to have very many of the books I personally want to read.

I also like to sew and once upon a time bought myself a vintage hand crank sewing machine in case of winter storms causing prolonged power outages and me wanting something to do when I got tired of reading. Such power outages used to happen in my childhood. Though it works, I never use it because electric ones are easier and can do more. Still, it is awfully pretty so I kept it even when we moved into a smaller house. Now and then I bring it out and show it to sewing visitors so they can admire it.

I think libraries have partially filled the community role formerly held by bookstores long ago. Even without considering the explosion of e-media content most offer and patrons make great use of, it seems clear that library use is WAAY up.

There's no reason to sit home with nothing to read. Many libraries have more content available online than is offered in person.

I love little book stores, even those that sell used books. There's a couple in nearby cities that sell used books. I even love browsing overpriced books at places like Joseph Beths. I usually don't buy them there, though, especially if I google them on Amazon and they are so much cheaper. These days, though, I mostly buy my books at Half Price Books. I stock up on books, mostly from them, read them and take a box or two in and then use that money to buy more. i think a lot of their stuff is even overpriced. When all my current books are read and gone, I'll start using the library again.

"Except for when you lose power and your device's battery runs out."

You know what works for you and I'm not challenging that. Other people appreciate that the very long battery use provided by Kindles before a recharge is needed, sometimes up to 30 hours or more of actual use that can stretch over several weeks, is more than enough for use during power failures, camping, etc.

I am an equal distance between two outstanding libraries. We are lucky. I go to the one I started in the 70s which was in a tiny old one-room school house. Years ago they located in a three-story huge stone barn which was a hospital for injured soldiers during the Civil War. It's 200 years old with massive beams and was transformed into a library by an esteemed architect. Truly a one of a kind with very modern features among the preserving of its history. I read mostly fiction and it always has the very latest releases.

Lily, that sounds like a beautiful library! I love the grand old libraries of the past. I am alwys excited when I see a new library that is actually beautiful, not merely a steel or concrete box with books in it.

I love our local independent bookstore. They are no more expensive than B&N, and just as responsive and sometimes more so to their community’s needs. A nearby B&N used to be warm and cozy despite its size, but it closed; and when the mall closed, its B&N moved to a shopping center and it’s rather cold-feeling.

A new indie recently opened one town over, they have a mix of new and used, and some funky other items, and decor relatd to the age of the building (late ’50s early ’60s). I think it used to be a Christian Science Reading Room, there were several that popped up around here in that era. I love used bookstores! It was great to visit DS at college, there were several used bookstores that you could easily get absorbed in, many of course with a bookstore cat and an employee with longish grey hair. Classic.

There is a beautiful old Carnegie Library building here but it's been abandoned as a library (and home to a string of failed businesses) in favor of larger, more soulless contemporary buildings. It makes me sad, but I'm sure it was outgrown and there was no off street parking. I wish it could be restored into a book store, which it was in one of its lives a few decades ago. Then and now

Oh, that is indeed lovely! If they can't make a buiness successfult here, how about a museum? Or even nice condos? I could see myself living there.

A lack of available parking can be a major and perhaps insurmountable negative for any use of any building.

During Super Storm Sandy, I was without power for three weeks. I walked 3 miles in each direction to charge the one cell phone I was allowed to power. Granted, I had no lights to read by either.

faftris, I've solved the no lights to read by (or do anything by) problem by stocking a bunch of headlamps and extra batteries. The batteries last a really long time and many have different brightness choices. They focus the light right where you want it, for reading or cooking (for me on a wood stove or outdoor grill). I have them by my bed, in a drawer in the living room and the laundry room. When the rooms are plunged into darkness, it's good to be able to locate one so you don't stumble around in the darkness, I much prefer them to lanterns or other portable lights.

We used to have a lot of power outages in the rural area where I grew up. My mother had a couple of lights that she kept plugged into an outlet to keep charged, that she could use when the power failed. I don't know if they still make them, or if they gave enough light for reading. She was quite a reader though, so maybe they could do the job.

Olychick, I have learned my lesson the hard way. We have flashlights in every room now. Plus, the second thing I bought was a transistor radio!

Another plug for headlamps over flashlights! You'll never go back to flashlights once you've had the handsfree reading experience. Most are LED now and really last a LONG time between battery changes. You can carry stuff around without having to hold a flashlight, too.

I live in a smal little town in southern Massachusetts and we have claim to a great little book store. the owner bought a broken down general store in the town centr and remodeled and rebuilt it with reclaimed lumber and opened an independent bookstore called An Unlikely Story. the owner is the author of an extremely successful series of childrens books otherwise known as Diary of a Wimpy Kid . we are so fortunate to have rhis man snd his family as our neighbors.

Nice!

I'm another who stocks up on books before a storm.

DH and I use our city's library extensively. Whatever it doesn't have it can provide within a few days from the other libraries in its system.

Some years ago our library started issuing book receipts that state the retail value of the books a patron has checked out, by year and from first use of the member's card. We don't pay for our books in full, but do make a good dent with our annual donation to this community resource.

This helps provide not only books, but the many community enrichments our library offers. Outreach, especially to the young, has grown tremendously under the last two librarians. There are attractive (well attended) events for toddlers and middle schoolers, up through monitored study resources for older students. An annual used book sale is a popular community event, raising funds and engaging adult volunteers.

Chisue, I am amazed at my friends who do not use the library or even have a card. Ours is not on the scale of offerings and space that other nearby libraries have, but it has plenty, and interlibrary loan! When people complain they haven't read a book or seen a movie, they can't find it, or marvel at something I have watched, I remind them of the library.

The library has a new app where you can scan the ISBN bar code on a book or other media you come across at a bookstore, secondhand, or even on your friend's living room bookshelf. and it will tell you if the library has it! I keep forgetting about that feature.

And of course our local bookstore is a treasure. and chisue, check out newish Secret Garden in HP. Eclectic.

All my life I have been a heavy user of public libraries. However I am not finding much of anything I want to read in the library of our new town. I'm not sure why. I do see books I own or have read on the shelves, but nothing in their new books or in the non-fiction areas I read has appealed to me. This is a disappointment. I am still reading regularly. In fact I am eagerly awaiting a couple of books by favorite authors of mine that will be released later this year.

Rosefolly, do you just browse in person or do you research for books you might like and then search online to see if they have them? If I just browsed the shelves, I'd probably never find the books I want to read because they are all checked out! We have a section called "Lucky Day" where they do have multiple copies of the currently most popular books. Those can't be reserved, you can see online if they are in stock, but you have to show up to check them out. And they are not renewable, so they turn over quickly.

Actually I do both. As I said, I have always used libraries a lot. In fact, I am a librarian by training, now retired. I have worked in libraries, though most of my career worked for a company that produced online databases used by university and museum libraries.

Well you obviously know the ins and outs!

Rosefolly -- Isn't your local library part of a group that does interlibrary loans for patrons? About half of what I check out has been brought in for me -- usually within two or three days of my requesting it. Almost as speedy as Big A! When I go online I can check only local holdings or everything in the whole system.

Hey, bpath -- Here's my chance to wish you a Happy Christmas! Do you have more bell performances?

Chisue, we are finished for the season! Our last was the 15th in Evanston. We start rehearsing for spring right after the New Year. We hope for more venues in our neck of the woods, instead of points west. Speaking of libraries and music, I went to a brass band concert in a neighboring library this weekend, it was outstanding.

We were, for a time, planning to go to my DMIL for Christmas (speaking of my family now, not my ensemble!) but that has gone by the wayside so we are hosting meals. Fun times.

Chisue, my previous library was part of a large county-wide system where we could request books from any branch and have them delivered to the branch most convenient for us. That service was free. Interlibrary Loan, on the other hand, was a fee based service, since it can be expensive for the library itself. I never used that.

There are only three branches in my current library. I live within walking distance of the largest one, so I have not investigated the possibilities here.

I'm not actually complaining about my new library or if so, only a very little. Mostly I am just surprised. In the past I have always been able to find books I wanted to read even in much smaller libraries than this. I'm beginning to think that the issue is with me, not with the library itself. It is possible that I already have most of what I want on my bookshelves here at home, at least, as far as nonfiction goes; and that I am finding most of the new fiction I want to read in book stores.

The library ultimately benefits from this. I keep any books I enjoy enough to want to read again (I am a lifelong re-reader). The others I donate to Friends of the Library used book sales, which are fundraisers for libraries.

I have a county wide public library with a branch within walking distance of my house. I can go online and find a book and if my local branch doesn't have it, it can be brought there within a few days at the most. Great system. I have plenty of chain booksellers in the city but I prefer to support Half Price Books for old books and my wonderful little local bookstore for any book purchases. I don't mind paying retail price if it helps them stay in business. They know me and I really like that. I always buy my wall calendar and engagement calendar each year. It's a fun tradition for me. They have a good stock and variety of books but if they don't have what I am looking for, they will order it in for me. I know I could buy it on Amazon for a lower price but I like supporting a local small business.

Great topic, interesting replies.

Oh and thanks for the recommendation of The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians. I just downloaded it onto my Kindle through our public library!!