benedict

.... and what do you do there?

I visit my "local" Waterstones probably once a week.

Mostly I find myself browsing the same areas: sf; crime fiction; teenage/juvenile fiction.

Maybe just once a month on average now will I actually make a purchase: former purchases, book clubs, internet sites and close-out catalogues mean that I am still waaaaaaaaay behind in my reading.

But I like to keep up on what is being published, to get ideas as to future gift purchases (hence the youth fiction, for nieces and nephews).

I have always liked bookshops and browsing can be quite therapeutic! Of course it is dangerous when I am standing there with book tokens in my wallet! My good intentions still often fly out of the window and I find myself buying yet more to add to that pile!

So, what about you folks? How about sharing your bookish experiences! And libraries count, too: when I was young and poor they were my mainstay!

joeydaninja

I love going to bookstores!

even though, I really don't buy anything.

i like the idea of being surrounded by all those volumes of knowledge.

it makes me feel "powerful" in a way. i don't know if that made sense.

nothing is more pleasurable than spending a sunday afternoon in a bookstore of library, after having a hearty lunch and maybe a little nap, and just opening one book after another.

internet before there was internet

Alyoshka

I will go to Half Price Books (a Dallas chain) weekly. Typically I just peruse the short story anthologies, poetry, drama, and art sections.

fallow

Going to Barnes and Noble and Books-a-Million is one of my favorite pastimes. However, I usually buy something when I go, as I don't really purchase anything over the internet.

Unfortunately, I haven't gone to one in the past month, since I've been busy with school and I have no car for my freshman year.

J-Dubya

I feel the same way, it makes perfect sense. My wife knows if I want to go to the bookstore it's going to be a while.

littlefuzzy

Bookstores are a blight on this land!!!








(Every time I go, I have to buy $30-50 worth of clearance books, or a huge stack of used books at used book stores...)

Darren Garrison

I buy my magazines in book stores and my books on-line. The books I read are so expensive in book stores that I save much $ ordering from someone like half.com, even when you factor in shipping.

alyxstarr

I like going to bookstores to just browse. Occasionally I make impulse buys, if I see something that looks really interesting and don't feel like waiting to get it online, or if it's on the bargain book rack and therefore not worth finding online.

But my favorite kind of bookstores are used bookstores. Just the atmosphere is usually enough -- I love being surrounded by old, well-loved books, and having all that knowledge and genius at my fingertips. It's why I love libraries too. But it's also the place for finding treasures you would never think of looking for elsewhere -- things like old editions of French novels and hardbound classics and paperbacks that I've been meaning to read but haven't been worth buying at full price.

BoatDrinks

I love bookstores as well. I always start out just browsing and always end up with something.

As a writer I like that Barnes & Noble (and some others) started those coffee place/bookstore things because I do the majority of my non-office writing in these places.

I also going to mystery bookstores. Much smaller places with great atmospheres.

ChiTownAbs, Inc

Good place to check out chicks too

veritas

Used bookstores are a godsend, esp. those that sell books at half cover price. I've stocked a huge collection of Updike paperbacks for maybe $.75 each.

Try to stay away from the larger retailers. I can't leave a bookstore empty-handed, and I'm prone to make spur-of-the-moment purchases and blow $100 at a time.

Online e-tailers are much better--lower prices, coupons, and plenty of time to talk yourself out of a purchase.

bishop2knight

I go to B&N about once a week. I go to TATTERED COVER (the best bookstore I've ever been to) about once every 2-3 weeks. I visit various used book shops about once every 2 months.

I love to check out new books. I always find something new that I would've missed if I didn't go to stores regularly.

Then again, if I didn't go, I woulnd't have spent $300+ on books in the last 45 days.

Pointyskull

I love bookstores, but I use 'em as a source of materials for my ever-growing library list...

gondorspit

I love going to used bookstores, look at out-of-print books and the such . . . but my buying far exceeds my reading these days.

Startide

I have stopped buying new books (except for a few authors who are not known to milk a series), though I still drop by about once every two weeks at a Barnes & Noble, Borders, and on occasion Half Price Books (a chain store selling used or remaindered books). If the author starts milking the series, I will stop buying it, sell off the books, and switch to ebooks. I no longer consider dead tree books to be "holy" objects of reverence in the same way that I used to.

I browse the stores to gather names/bibliographic references for use in requesting the books at the library online card catalog. That way, I know if the book is there at the library or not, and if not, i submit my "reservation" for the book when it comes back in.

Also, the names of the books might let me get a ebook review via the internet such as a newsgroup, IRC, or even P2P information exchange.

Pointyskull

Ditto
Our suburban library system has this option too, and I use it extensively. I can request a book at 2:00am on a Saturday, and my library will generally have it for me within a few days...

Beaver

The Tattered Cover rocks! It's a little far for me to go to regularly though. I go to used book stores, and also to B&N quite a bit to shop for bargain books and to browse.

JawsAddict

I visit a bookstore every week or two, and I constantly drop by Half Price Books to see whether they have anything new. My all-time favorite bookstore is Bookpeople in Austin, TX, but it's too far away for me to visit more than a couple of times a year.
They have a great website, though, at www.bookpeople.com.

gdjohnson

My family and I enjoy visiting local bookstores like B & N and BaM. After we go out to dinner it's a good place to relax and they are open late so we don't have to rush. My wife and son are big readers like me so we usually find something interesting during our visits.
Greg

Tuan Jim

Virtually every day - I work in the Student Stores building in the computer dept. and the book store is just below us. I know a number of folks there and buy stuff every now and then. They also have a nice frequent buyer card -- 10 transactions and on your next transaction you get the average of all your purchases off. -- not too shabby. Don't buy that much stuff there though simply because I despise full MSRP.

I also go by "The Second Foundation" about once a week -- local comic book/scifi bookstore. Great stuff. Along with my normal purchases, I normally pick up one book a week at least and more in the summer.

Another good used store near Fayetteville and also in Durham, is Ed McKay's used books. You can always find a ton of good stuff dirt cheap and it's good for unloading your old crap at -- even PC, video games and CDs.

Tuan Jim

mookiemeister

I use to visit local bookstore once every week or two. But now that the closest one is closed, I do more shopping online.

antennaball

i stop by half-price books usually every saturday afternoon or sunday evening...pick up a couple of books to hold me for the upcoming week.

Giantrobo

Almost every weekend.

I LOVE the BORDERS here in Torrance and they just built a huge new BARNES & NOBLE about a block away from that Borders.

The Antipodean

I avoid the Waldenbooks here like the plague... can't stand those guys... but whenever I go to the 'big cities' I love to browse at used bookstores. I tend to go once a month or so. In fact just blew $100+ at Powell's in Portland last weekend... but I had an excuse, it was my birthday!

TeeSeeJay

Browsing books is something I love to do, something that you just can't do with amazon.com. Finding gems in the clearance section, or finding a newly-published author in the new releases section...strolling through books on subjects I'd never stumble upon online...lots of interesting stuff in science and math sections.

When I know exactly what I'm after, I'll buy online (new or used) to save a few $$, but I love going to B&N and just looking around.