/lit/ - Literature

Every time I walk into Waterstones they bombard me with Feminist "literature". It's not something I want to experience very often.

My local bookstore sells only Stalker books and Darya Dontsova. I would rather read the fucking greeks, but I can't even do that without travelling for several hours to look at a slightly less disappointing selection. Amazon can ship any book I want within two weeks, I will go and personally kill the local bookstore owner if that's what it takes to keep it that way.
And don't get me started on the local library, which has older stalker and dontsova books and the collected works of lenin

>>13916129
The local bookstore caters to Mennonites. I don't feel like reading YA Christian love stories

I pay roughly 30% more if I buy books from local bookstores instead of Amazon, and that's including shipping from the latter. Bookstores could cease to exist for all that I care since they offer nothing worthy beside a comfy environment, and I can get that at home.

>>13916129
>BUT MUH SMALL BUSINESSES
Fuck off with that shit I pirate books

>>13916129
My local books store is books a million. This is what is looks like on a good day

>>13916129
Lately I've been buying many books from Amazon Japan, of course I live there, but I never did it before. I used to go to Bookoff almost every day, I bought most of my books there for almost nothing and it was fun because I never knew what I was going to find, but now I have a full time job and I can't walk across Tokyo looking for books that often. I started to import books from Amazon.com to save some money, but those fuckers treated them like shit and after receiving an almost detroyed copy of Dracula's Guest I stopped importing them. Now I buy on Amazon Japan, not everything tho, some books are way more expensive than in Amazon or Amazon UK, but so far I've been lucky and I found many books cheaper than in the US or UK.
Kinokuniya is expensive, although I visit it when they have sales (usually 20% off). Buying imported books in Sanseido is burning money, they are 4 or 5 times more expensive than in the US. Even in my third world shithole, Argentina, imported books are cheaper.

>>13916129
Waterstones doesn't sell anything obscure and often only has one or two copies of books, meaning they never have what I want anyway, and the only other bookshop is a children's one, which admittedly is pretty great if you want kids books.

Waterstones is alright, if you can navigate past the 'Why Mummy Drinks Wine', and 'The Subtle Art of Divorce Proceedings and Not G*ving a F*ck' sections.
I like those charity shops that are entirely dedicated to books, my favourite places to go for new things to read. Invest some time in those shops and they'll reward you with books you would never encounter or think to order online; also they're cheap as chips. I'm rarely the person who sees a book on 4chan and must order it though, I wait for it to drift naturally into my physical life.

>local bookstore
They basically only stock YA novels. I don't shop from Amazon though because they don't have a department in my country so then I have to pay for shipping which is usually free on national sites.

>>13916129
My local bookstore only stocks translations. I couldn't find a single book in its original language. Come on, almost every supermarket here caters to another language. Is the bookstore the last bastion of the Englishman?

A lot of major retail chains are fucking garbage. Independent stores are worth supporting if they actually curate a decent selection

>>13916129
Yes. I regret their passing, but not enough to torture myself by shopping only in places charging 30-50 percent more for books and not having most of what I want ("We can order that in! It will take a few months and cost an arm and a leg"). I shop in thrift stores, library book stores, amazon, amazon's marketplace, through bookfinder, Ebay, amazons from other countries (UK, Germany), Facebook Marketplace, kijiji, etc., and ultimately I care about not a fucking thing but getting the books I want for the lowest price--something I am very good at.

I don't buy anything from Amazon.

Two reasons for that:
>I have worked in a shitty place that didn't respect workers' rights before. In Amazon, it is even worse than how my job was. If I can't stand it, I shouldn't support a company that mistreats its employees.
>It is good that there are multiple competing bookstores. In my country, Amazon is at risk of making every other bookstore go out of business. For that reason I only buy books from national bookstores, even if they cost a bit more.

If I buy some online English audiobook or ebook I do it literally anywhere that isn't Amazon.

Amazon wants to become the market. We shouldn't let it.

>>13916708
based
I don't shop at amazon either, I dont want to support their shady business. But I have to admit that my local antiquariats and bookstores have a nice selection and the local university library is huge, so I can get pretty much everything for a low price.
Aren't there any other national- online bookstores one could buy at except amazon? Atleast try to let the money stay in your country.

>>13916129
the only bookstore near me is barnes and noble god i wish i lived in new york city

>>13916129
Trying to minimize it.

Trying to nudge people to buy second hand e-readers and strip DRM from kobo is how I do it.

Told my local store about Indiebound and it felt great trying to enable them. Just had them pop into the store finding site and it felt like I had enabled a great deal.

> Why do you guys do this? Are you content in being complicit in the death of the local bookstore?

Yes.

The only local bookstore near me is a christian one.
The other bookstore is B&N.

>>13916129
Sometimes they don't have books in stock or can't get it in stock

>>13916129
Amazon allows small bookstores to compete worldwide. I don't read many books in English, so most of the books I buy have come from small bookstores in Spain who have books I would NEVER find locally where I live in the US, since they were published in Spain and don't have an international market.

So your mistake is thinking that buying ON Amazon means you're buying FROM Amazon. Click on your buying options and pick a smaller seller. You don't have to buy from the big guys, some of which aren't even good sellers anyways and engage in trickery to make their books the first to show up if you just click "buy" without viewing your buying options (they usually do this by lowering their prices one penny below the cheapest book-seller, thereby hijacking Amazon's system of trying to get you the cheapest book. Doing this of course stifles competition because only the big guys can afford to keep lowering their prices like that). My point is: VIEW YOUR BUYING OPTIONS. You can still support smaller sellers, even internationally!

All the people in this thread that are happy with letting amazon rule their purchasing choices instead of expending a bit of effort and maybe waiting

Consumerism really is a cancer

>>13917149
t. guy who has two options: Goodwill and Barnes and Noble and thinks he is superior to Amazon buyers who have dozens of options of sellers to buy from of a drastically differing range of size.

>>13916129
all book stores are run by leftist faggots
let them choke on the fruits of their ideology

>>13916129
Because they don't have anything interesting other than random books on various religions. Chapters doesn't have what I want and if they do they order it. Amazon is cheaper, bigger selection, why wouldn't I?

>>13916129
>Are you content in being complicit in the death of the local bookstore
Yes

I live in a remote area. The closest bookstore may be 200km away.

>>13916146
Where do you live?

>>13919072
Chapters actually have a pretty good selection but it's much more expensive than Amazon and I just hate being there.

Because of this shit

>>13919090
the zone

>>13919090
>cyrilic
I don't know, africa?

>>13916197
>I live in Japan
What motivated you to live there? Story time?

>>13919186
The hardcore scene, I love music, in 2015 I traveled to Tokyo for the first time just to go to shows.
Tokyo itself is another reason, I fell in love with this city the first time I visited it, although I don't like the old or traditional parts of this place. And a woman, we got married in december.

>>13919350
Congratulations

>>13916129
My local bookstore is a chain which only books are normalfagcore, they can fucking eat shit and die for all I care.

>>13916129
>my local bookstore carries semi-obscure shit like Simplicius Simplicissimus, Tomcat Murr, and Seneca's Tragedies
feels based
too bad they don't have anything by Dostoevsky

>>13916129
Its cheaper retard. Have you seen the prices in bookstores? Its like they WANT to die off

>>13916129
I have no local bookstores. My options are Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the odd book at a tag sale, or driving an hour or more to a store that I don't have credit at to spend two dollars more than the price of Amazon.

Use Ebay, not Amazon.

>>13916129
I refuse to buy or use amazon for anything.

>>13916129
I don't. My "local" bookstore isn't really small though, it's one of those famous-ish independent book stores, so I'm not sure if it's that much better. Good prices though.

>>13916129
Because it`s the only way to buy English language books where I live. Is that a good enough reason?

Why not just buy from used bookstores?

My local bookstore dedicates more shelf space to funko pops than the classics. They are already dead.

>>13916129
Fuck local bookstores and FUCK small business.

>>13920828
Go to bed Trump

>>13916129
>Buying books

lmao I haven't paid for a single piece of media in years.

>>13919140
>He doesn't wear reading socks

There are no bookstores where I live.
Books, belts, hats and phones are the only products I buy from the internet (so, just books because the rest lasts forever).

>>13921022
Naw dude my belts gone to shit

>>13919350
What type of hardcore.

>tfw the only local bookstore is barnes & noble
hard pass

>>13916146
кeк

>>13916129
The sad truth is that local bookstores are pretty useless in a lot of places, as evidenced by this thread. So their disappearance is not even a loss. A great bookstore is a very rare thing already.

>be le conscious consumer guise
absolutely liberal and bluepilled

>>13920828
based schumpeterian

>>13921284

>>13916129
This is an example of the staff at a local bookstore for me. I actually want the place to go out of business.

I only go to my local Waterstones for stuff like NYBR since I've never had any luck finding them in charity shops which is my main go too for literature.

>>13922096
>>13917280
Look at these brainlets and laugh

>>13916146
Читaй книги c тeлeфoнa и нe мyчaйcя. Ha кpaйний cлyчaй пoкyпaй нa aвитo, пoчтa тo в твoeй мyхocpaни ecть, нaдeюcь.

>>13922096
Women are destroying literature. It shouldn’t be surprising that they’re also destroying book stores.

>>13922196
c тeлeфoнa нe вcтaвляeт, нa aвитo интepecных мнe книг или нeт, или пo итoгy тaк жe дopoгo, кaк тyпo зaкaзaть c aмaзoнa и пoдoждaть
cтapaюcь читaть в opигинaлe, чтoбы coвceм нe дeгpaдиpoвaть, a в этoм ни aвитo, ни тeм бoлee oзoн или читaй гopoд мнe пoмoчь нe мoгyт

I buy everything on AbeBooks. Last time I went to a small bookstore, I brought up three books and I didn't know how much they'd be since they don't have price tags (just the market price that comes printed directly). Cashier said $97 for the three books. Went home and looked up new copies on AB and total was $55.

Amazon is cheaper and I'm a student so I'm broke af

>>13922337
muh rent and lights

I only get shit on Amazon that I can't possibly get anywhere else.

Getting a new Amazon package in today. Feels comfy, bros

used bookstores in germany haven't got what i want to read, only possible get for interesting shit is flea- or antique market. even the foreign language bookstores have mainly novels, art shit, at max ww2 stuff and literary critique and all that shit.

My Amazon package didn't arrive today. They say it was most likely lost.
Is contacting the sender even fucking worth it?
I'm in Europe and he's in New Mexico.
Is there a chance for the package to arrive still?

I feel bad for all of you that don't live in a small New England town. Where I live has three small book stores within walking distance. One owned by the library, one used book shop that is full of collectibles and disorganized piles, and a shop that sells new books and hosts poetry readings and the like. The library also hosts a huge book sale every year where you can get boxes of books for pennies. I'm grateful to the desire here to support local businesses.

>>13922337
This. Buying new is retarded. For example, 2 volumes were 80€ I looked at abebooks and got them for 21€ free shipping. And one of them was underlined, saved me some time heh.

>>13919350
based

>>13922447
Fuck you anon, that sounds based.

>>13916129
The closest book store is an hour away

>>13916197
>Confessions of a Justified Sinner
That book is a fun read — doubly so, if you hate Calvinists/libruls. Not as deep or subtle as Dostoyevsky, but Hogg is a great storyteller and worker of suspense.

>>13922446
yeah

>>13916129
Yes.

>>13922337
Abebooks is owned by amazon. You can't escape the kraken.

>>13916129
I know, right? My local Barnes and Noble (wow! so independent!) is packed to the gills with monographs on religion in post-Roman Britain and $250 architectural reference works that went through one print run 50 years ago in between the Starbucks, Lego displays and YA fiction.

Fuck off; I spend too much money at my local used book stores anyway.

>>13926172
It's pretty much all owned by Amazon, but it still tends to be better. I check both.

>Buying books
I'd like to but I just can't justify it when I can get it all for free from libraries and torrenting on to my kindle.

i actually do buy my books from my local bookshop but it's honestly much less convenient and more expensive
i just do it out of some kind of vague sense of 'supporting local businesses' and one of the girls there is kinda qt

>>13916129
My local bookstore will order you a book from Amazon and cut 10% off the listed price. I have no idea how they make money but I love it.

>>13916129
Thriftbooks is the truly based online bookstore option. A lot of volumes come with some wear, but buying books for their aesthetically pleasing appearance is the sort of thing that guys who don't read do.

>>13916139
Waterstones barely qualifies as a local bookstore, but yeah, this is generally the problem. Generally, the only people who make the decision to operate independent bookstores today are pretty committed lefties. Probably will stay that way unless conservatives can wrestle back the humanities.

All my local bookstores that aren't chains and have decent selections are used bookstores. And they're great when I know I want books but don't know what I want exactly, but if I want a specific book I order online.

>>13921094
AV

>>13927479
The local used bookstore I've been going to for years is run by a couple of former members of the Socialist Workers Party. I've read like a half dozen books by Castro from there. Pretty neat.

>>13922446
Yeah I've had stuff arrive a month later than expected.

>>13916129
I have a tattoo of this

>>13927521
> "Worker's Party"
> run and staffed by bourgeoisie and capitalists
Errytime!

>>13922446
For some reason the tracking between states and europe is retarded. Ive had textbooks from UK arrive a week later and to this day it still says package lost on amazon.

>>13927584
>Bookstore staffed by capitalists
That would be neat.

>>13916129
local bookstores are usually absolute trash. nothing but genre fiction or new releases written by ghostwriters for politicians. and this is the type of shit they have to sell in order to be viable, so really, the local bookstore in the truest sense has already died. you can't just go find a tiny little bookstore on main street in small town with a bunch of niche books because that real estate is fucking expensive.

>>13916129
I'm physically disabled. Can't go to a physical bookstore, but plenty of time to read.

There are around 4 good independent book stores in Edinburgh, and each of them has an absolutely abysmal selection of literature and philosophy. Stacks upon stacks of mainstream authors (I've seen enough Steinbeck spines to make a grown many cry in my attempts to find some Gertrude Stein), and very little else. Occasionally there will be gems, I picked up a copy of a Whitehead the other day for much cheaper than retail. The issue is that inevitably all these bookshop owners are well aware of the market price of even the most obscure books they stock, and so there's never any point to buying in the shop beyond satisfying one's social consciousness. The best bookshop I have ever visited was a tiny one-up one-down in St. David's, owned by a wonderful elderly fellow who had an expansive collection of 1st and 2nd editions and a Mircea Eliade text which I was very surprised to see. The books themselves were also valued way below market-value, to the point where I actually forced him to take more for them to cure my conscience - otherwise I would have been practically robbing from the man. Independent bookshop owners regularly complain about Amazon stealing business and driving them out of the market, but the simple fact is that there is very little effort from the owners themselves to offer anything beyond the experience of buying an overpriced book in the flesh, rather than over the Internet. I try to support my local bookshops as much as possible, but it gets harder and harder.

>tfw no one in this thread knows about the joys of McKay's
Granted they plaster their books in a fuckload of used stickers, but their prices are so cheap.

>>13916129
That's the thing. I live in the third world. There aren't any local bookstores.

>>13927507
Asian Vaginas?

I buy ebooks cause my income sucks. Can't buy ebooks at the local bookstore. And some stuff isn't pirated

>>13930067
This, except Amazon isn't available either.
There are many local publishers but not a single one is close. And even big chains can't make any profit on the book market, so they've started closing down.
I still ALWAYS buy a physical book, though. I have downloaded many ebooks and I have opened them maybe once the past year.

>>13916129
book stores function as gay hook up locations so yes, good riddance.

Only local bookstore closed years ago and I'm not driving 40 miles to go to Barnes and Noble.

>>13922096
Caroline No

Caroline is cute.

>>13916129
A used book store is worse than a piracy site.

>>13916129
reading this thread is insane. I always forget that other people don't have a nice Powells bookstore like I do in my city. It's a few stories and I have never not been able to find what I'm looking for there. They even have a fancy humidity controlled rare book collection(I don't suspect it gets much use and never go in there but it's nice to see the effort into "classics").

anybody has any insight how amazon pricing works?
very frequently there's weird shit like the book will cost 0.01cent and shipping will cost the difference to meet the other listed books average.

im just browsing some sellers directly thru their product list and search for 'university of chicago' etc keywords to find interesting low priced shit, mainly from sellers with discarded library stock as it comes with dustcovers or neatly applied sticky plastic.

>>13916129
>go to local bookstore
>they never have anything good outside the "classics" section and manga
>Fantasy and SciFi are together under the SciFi section
>"Fiction" takes up the back wall and consists of everything from David Foster Wallace to Tom Clancy to Michel Houellebecq

Again I bought most of the "Classics" section there, in particular I'm very happy with a complete collection of Edgar Allen Poe's entire works and letters that was only 9 bucks.

>>13916129
Yes ,i always had bad experience at bookstores and libraries.
Fuck boxstores in general too

>>13916129
I just pirate books. I happen to live in a British colonym so I will gleefully pirate everything written in English, and I will use the Poo pirated books aggregator to help me fuck over the Anglo publishers like they did to my country.

>>13916129
I don't give a shit really. They never have what I'm looking for.

>>13916178
>literally, literally no one mentioned piracy at all
>only tangentially related to the issue at hand
>piratefag still absolutely HAS to announce he pirates shit

Every fucking time.

I can barely even remember the last time I bought a new book of prose for myself. I sometimes buy coffee table books, trades of comics, etc. new because the prices on them can soar on the colectors' market but by and large everything I buy is from a used book store or Amazon because almost all the books I buy are reference materials or art books or otherwise illustrated and e-readers are still fucking awful for those. For most other books I use libgen or sources like Gutenberg or buy used online; I already own two fucking copies of Jurassic Park so I'm sure as shit not about to pay for a digital edition and I'm also not about to fork over $70 to Oxford for a book that's been in print continuously for decades.

>>13916178
Fuck small businesses. Small book store owners make a six figure salary. They don't deserve it. They deserve to go out of business and suffer.

>>13916129
i only ever buy at used bookstores ordirectly from people on marketplaces.

I spend a lot of money at the nearby(ish) used bookstores but I'm not paying 200% of the price for new stuff at the local bookstore. It can close if it wants.

> be first worlder
> books are expensive
i've never paid over 5$ for a book in my life.

The advent of Amazon has forced local bookstores in my area to specialize in rare or more obscure books. Quality has gone up immensely. Amazon has saved the local bookstore.