3 posts tagged “bookstores”

OK, I'm in Portland, Oregon right now, which is the reason for the lack of posts from me lately. I could go on about the horrible delays getting here through Chicago on friday or how the airline lost our luggage, but all is soothed by going to bookstores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Powell's, the largest independent bookseller in the U.S, was one of my first stops here in Portland - this is the Powell's City of Books location. I will not lie, my heart did beat faster when I saw the Powell's sign. It's like falling in love. It takes over a whole city block, has 9 (big) rooms on 4 floors. THERE IS A MAP for goodness sakes. And a few information booths throughout the store which I suspect is for all those people who get lost. I spent a few hours in here, happy as a clam on Saturday and again today. It's in walking distance of my hotel. I've been really good though and haven't bought much. Just 2 books, 2 book bags, and a t-shirt. I also picked up free stuff - Powell's postcard, sticker, bookmark, newsletter, and map. I have plenty of time to go back (planning to get another t-shirt). If you spend $50 or more, they will ship the books back for you for free, which is good if you don't want to bring it back in your luggage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a mix of new and used books all on the same shelves. The prices for used look like they're around about 60% of new books. The sf and fantasy sections are quite awesome (4+ big rows next to the horror section which was about a row and a half) and I noticed that romance had paranormal romances split into a separate series of shelves, but I thought for such a popular genre, the romance section was pretty small (2 rows).

There's a post in the "Gold Room" (genre fiction room) which has autographs of science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors who have visited Powell's. I took pictures of all sides (plus a couple of close ups - Neil Gaiman , Robin Hobb and Elizabeth Moon):

  

I got a couple of interesting book related emails today.

1) Abebooks most expensive sales of 2008

Topping the list is an art book called Etudes à l'Eau-Forte with 25 plates by artist Seymour Hayden, which went for $17,216. Number 3 was a first edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban which was signed by the cover artist, which fetched $12,874. Other interesting sales:

• The Twilight series (all 4 books) - first editions, first printings and signed by the author - $4000
• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell - first edition, first printing - $6780
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding - first edition, proof copy - $9260
• Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm - first edition, first issue copy including 22 plates by George Cruikshank inside a clamshell box - $11,388

Click the link above to see more, I'm just giving you the ones I thought were interesting but there are several categories that Abebooks displays on that webpage. Moral of the story: it may pay to be a reader and to hold on to the first edition copies of books you love.

2) From bookcloseouts I got an email about their dollar for dollar sale. Don't hate me when you spend all your money.

"How it works: When you add books to your shopping cart, you may spend that same dollar amount on these 5000+ selected titles for FREE* For example: Buy $10 worth of books, put them in your shopping cart, and then go back to here and spend your $10 credit.

Please note (*) the following:

• This promotion cannot be used in combination with any other promotion including coupons.
• This promotion ends January 31, 2009.
• "FREE" books are limited to the 5,000+ titles selected for this promotion
• Some titles have limited quantities
• Dollar for Dollar free product must be added to your shopping cart before you finalize your purchase
• All free product will appear in BLUE in your shopping cart "

I got this book for mom for Christmas. It's SO HARD to shop for that woman. She will pretty much tell you off for spending money on her for something that you could get cheaper somewhere else on the planet (like Asia, despite the unlikeliness of you passing by there to shop). But this year, she actually told me to get her this book because she loves William Dalrymple's books on India and she hasn't read The Age of Kali yet. This made things easier for me until I decided to go buy it:

It's out of print!

And I waited till last week to order it (Thursday)!

Then ecampus emailed me on Monday (4 days later) to tell me they didn't have it and to cancel the order.

Arghghhhh.

Finally I found it elsewhere and ordered it Monday night. It arrived on Wednesday, which I'm really happy about. The store I got it from is the Housing Works Bookstore through Amazon, which also supports homeless New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS. Cool! I'm very pleased and recommend them. Shop their bookstore here.

Another place that you can go to to support worldwide literacy through your book buying is BetterWorld.com. I've bought books through them before and have been happy with the transactions. They also offer FREE shipping in the US. From their about us page:

All books are available with free shipping to any location within the United States (or $3.97 worldwide). And in case you’re concerned about your eco-footprint, every order is shipped carbon neutral with offsets from Carbonfund.org.

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Ok so on to MORE online contests this week. Over at Reviewer X (a high school sophomore, so lots of YA books featured), Girl Week is going on. She has so much going on, I'm not sure she sleeps. She has 12 giveaways going on and a bunch of author interviews with Melissa Walker, Libba Bray, Megan McCafferty and a few others whose names are new to me. Good thing she has a table of contents with everything organized. This is the list of her contests (the first few are already over though):

1. Signed copy of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert (trade paperback)
2. Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee (ARC format - already released)
3. Win one of five TESS lip glosses (donated by Melissa Walker).
4. I Know It's Over by CK Kelly Martin (hardcover)
5. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (ARC format - already released)
6. Signed copy of Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer (hardcover)
7. Signed copy of Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher (hardcover)
8. Signed ARC of Willow by Julia Hoban (ARC format - out in April 09)
9. ARC of Triple Shot Bettys in Love by Jody Gehrman (ARC format - out on Jan 22nd, 09)
10. Signed set of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray (all three books)
11. Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway (ARC format - already released) [contest over]
12. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (hardcover)
13. Signed Leftovers by Laura Wiess (trade paperback)
14. Signed Jessica Darling series, books 1-4, by Megan McCafferty (all four books)

I can say that I don't know most of these books but I thought Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings were keepers though they didn't make me want to go through High School again. I want to read the rest of the series. I also liked Sarah Dessen's This Lullaby but she's another author whose backlog I haven't had a chance to read yet. I also keep hearing good things about Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy. I read the first book a few years ago but haven't read the other two.

I think this ends in a couple of days so get cracking and enter!