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    Library Candy

    May 2, 2013 by Brandy Vencel
    Oh, my. We have a new used bookstore in town. I could just as well say there is a used bookstore in town period because I don’t know of another one. But this bookstore? It is amazing. I think the owner said she has over 40,000 volumes in the store. The prices are wonderful. I drop by on my way to other places, like the park or the feed store. I tell the children if they can find a good book, I will buy it for them, because many of them cost less than a dollar–or even less than half a dollar.

    It dawned on me that this is my new candy store and from here on out I’m going to have to be careful not to fritter my money away.

    Each time I go, I come away with a little stack of books we will need in our coming school years. At this point, I have the time to be picky and only buy copies that are hardbound and pretty. When we get closer to school’s start, I’ll have to buy what I can find. I do detest a paperback when a hardback is available!

    Here’s what I’ve gathered in my three {so far} trips to the bookstore:

    In case you think I am over-spending, allow me to brag explain that I have spent just over $30 so far. I feel like I hit the proverbial jackpot!

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    10 Comments

  • Reply Rahime May 3, 2013 at 11:28 pm

    BTW, amazing haul for around $30.

  • Reply Rahime May 3, 2013 at 11:27 pm

    Here one of the Big and Pretty used book stores (which I still love to browse b/c they have 4 floors of books) prices most used books at a whopping 75% of list price (unless, of course the list price is under about $2, at which point they’re usually marked over list). BUT, they do give something like 50% credit for trade. Once upon a time we had somewhat of a book-windfall and sold many, many boxes of books to them and I had lots of credit there. It was lovely.

    In other news, I thought of you yesterday when I picked up a book from the thrift store. It’s called “Stickeen,” by John Muir (which is why I thought of you). It looks like a good little book, though short, fast-read, so it probably wouldn’t take your big boy long to read it…and it’s free on Kindle. 🙂

  • Reply walking May 3, 2013 at 11:46 am

    Sweet!

  • Reply Dawn May 3, 2013 at 11:46 am

    Oh oh oh! Coveting this as I type! Heavenly!!!

    Gabriel LOVES Bad Hat and Roxaboxen. Bet you’re glad to have another Cooney for your library.

    And we just started our second week discussing Pimpernel on the forum…

  • Reply GretchenJoanna May 2, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    What a joy!

  • Reply Anonymous May 2, 2013 at 6:54 pm

    Jealous!! In a good way…:) Julie in St. Louis

  • Reply Mystie May 2, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    What fun!! You’ve found some gems!

  • Reply amy May 2, 2013 at 4:44 pm

    Oh I would be in love. Before we moved back home, the town we lived in had an awesome used book store, prices as low as a quarter. Back on the central coast, well I’m sure you can guess… used book stores here price things at half the cover price, so most books are between 3 and 10 dollars… not a good deal at all. It makes me so sad when I think of that other store. Enough of my sob story, I’m so glad you have a good one locally!

    • Reply Brandy Vencel May 2, 2013 at 5:14 pm

      Yes, I am unfortunately familiar with the used prices in your area! I would always take my list whenever we headed out to San Luis Obispo County, and though it often *was* cheaper than even buying used on Amazon (but not always), I always felt a little cheated. 🙂

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