I have a leeetle bit of a hoarding problem.
No, it's not back issues of Vogue, or empty soup cans, or cats.
(Shut up... five cats doesn't count as "hoarding.")
It's BOOKS, lovely, lovely books.
And it's not enough to have a book; no, if it's a book I love,
I must also have a hardcover edition:
(Minnie is also a fan of Louis Sachar's Newbery-winning Holes.)
My local library's "Friends of the Library" bookstore is an excellent source of inexpensive paperbacks -- I can leave with an armload of books for less than ten dollars.
But when it's hardcovers I crave, I head to BetterWorldBooks.
This fine online company receives used books from donations, drives, and library discards;
sells them online, and uses a portion of the profits to fund literacy programs and libraries.
Here's where you can learn more about them.
Take a look at my latest haul!
I got eight books from them for only $24.40!
That works out to only $3.50 per hardback book!
Why were these books so cheap? They were in the "Bargain Bin," because of one reason:
The library-ness of them!
Do I care that there's an envelope and bar code in the front of the book?
Not at all!
In fact, it adds to the value of the book for me.
I can pretend I have my own personal library.
Even better is when a book has an actual date-stamp sheet in the front:
Seeing those crooked dates stamped just fills my nerdy-girl heart with glee.
(Btw: the only negative is those stickers on the spine are tricky to get off. But I'll address how I rejuvenate used books in another post.)
I'm with you, Beth. I'm getting ready to move again and it's AGONY knowing that I need to donate/repurpose several tons of books. At least, it seems like tons.
ReplyDeleteBetter World Books is AMAZING! I use them all the time!
Getting rid of your books?
Delete*clutches heart*
Oh, nooooo!!!
One of the things that's so great about BetterWorldBooks is that the libraries that work with it are culling some of the very books I grew up on. So while a Mrs. Coverlet book may be out of print, it's just now leaving a library somewhere and making its way to BWB!
Did you ever read the Melendy family books - The Saturdays, Four-Story Mistake, etc., by Elizabeth Enright? I love those.
ReplyDeleteI have While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away and Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians. Deliver me from Eva! ;)
TLK
I have an awesome story about Mrs. Coverlet! During an evening out with my husband a few weeks ago we shared an order of bread pudding, and I told him that I first found out about the dessert in a book I read as a kid. I couldn't remember the title, but I remembered details of the book. THE VERY NEXT DAY, I was looking in the Friends of the Library and I saw While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away for 25 cents! I clutched it to my bosom, so excited! I now knew the author and title so I could also buy Mrs. Coverlet's Magicians. (which had the bread pudding.)
DeleteAnd I haven't read the Melendy books, but I'll put them in my library queue!