May 25, 2001 04:46 AM
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Since I have been buying books for more years than I care to remember, I will suggest the five best places I have found to buy books today. We did not get real serious about buying books during our earliest years of our married life we just could not afford them. After my husband returned from World War II most of our expenses went to books my husband needed for his college courses. Many of his books were paid for by his Veterans benefits, but any extra books he needed for his classes we had to pay for.
We still have those college books as they meant so much to us, for my husband to get this education. He graduated as a teacher of high school students and we continued to collect books as our money could afford. Most of these were purchased from local Bookstores. As money became more plentiful our library continue to grow. As children became part of our family, we read typical children’s book to them. As they grew up and left home some of these books became keepsakes for them.
So now our library has grown with our own collections and I will reveal five places where I purchase my book, for my own use and as gifts to my children and grandchildren. I will not say they all are the best sites, but ones I use at this time.
Number #1 AMAZON.COM
I have been using this site for at least 4 years, after I first joined the Internet and heard of this great place to buy books. I have found it so easy to register and hunt for books that I would be interested in. There web site is very easy to use, the check out is completely safe with a secure site for your Credit card information. This always stays current so you do not have to enter this every time you purchase a book. You can list addresses you want your books sent to, especially when I want to send a gift to one of my family. The book can be wrapped as a gift if you want as a special feature. They e-mail you promptly that your order has been received, then again when the books have been sent. If they seem to have been delayed, they have a tracking system so you can tell just where your order is at that time. You have a choice of express shipment or they will come by UPS or Postal shipment.
One experience I had with Amazon that put them in this #1 spot, a book I was ordering for my grandson’s birthday was going to be delayed. They informed me that it would be 2-4 weeks delay, this would not reach my grandson for his birthday, and I e-mailed them explaining my situation as to why I needed that book by a certain date. Within a few days I got an e-mail that said the book would arrive on time for his birthday. It is hard to get good service like that.
Another nice feature, that when you check into their Web site, your name comes up with a Welcome. They also put on a selection list of categories of books you had ordered in the past with new choices. It is always this personal touch that gets me every time. They also have a gift certificate section, which I have used and my children have used so we can pick out our own books.
#2-HAMILTONBOOKS.COM
This is a Bargain book Web site, I first wrote for information after seeing an Ad in one of my magazines. At that time I received a large newsprint catalog listing books in numerous categories. They would show some book covers and a write up of these books, but many were just written up about the books including price. Their categories were huge, from fiction, biographies, history, cookbooks, sports, religion and more I can’t remember here. I would spend hours going over this catalog, my hands and clothes would be full of newsprint, but I loved the search. I would keep a notebook handy to write down which book I was interested in purchasing. They included an order blank and I would transfer my list onto their order sheet. Totaling up my order I included a check with the $3.00 shipping fee. Yes they only charged $3.00, but you had to wait for your order but what fun going through all those books when they arrived.
They are now on the Internet with an easy web site to surf looking for books. There is a special button to place your order as you keep browsing for more books. They now have a credit card service, but you can still print out your order when you have finished browsing and can send your check for books ordered. The shipping with this is still $3.00 but if by Credit Card the shipping may be more. You may find popular book listed, over printing books, out-of-date books, special interest books and very inexpensive novels that may have been published some years ago. A good easy web site check it out.
LITERARYGUILD.COM
This is a subscription book club I used to belong to this club some years ago. I became disgusted with their special selection that you would receive if you did not send back their card to stop it. At that time we were spending some months away from our home address, and when we returned found boxes of books that I did not order. I returned them unopened and cancelled my subscription.
Now lately I have rejoined because they are now on line and you can cancel their special selection on line. This is a great improvement I also was interested in getting 5 books for a $1.00 that help to entice me. I now can look over their array of books on line and pick out what I want and place my order on line. You have a choice of giving a credit card or have is shipped and paying the bill when the book arrives. I usually sent my check in when the books arrive. I have found this system is much better, although their selection is much smaller. It is much harder to fulfill your quote of buying a certain amount of books in the following years. I find they do not carry enough non-fiction books, which is where my interest lies.
BOOKOFTHEMONTH.COM
You will find this section will be the same as my write up for #3 LiteraryGuild.com. This is a subscription book club as well, after you pick out your 5-books for a $1.00 plus shipping you must purchase extra books for the next two years. They do not have a large selection of books as with Literary Guild and over do on the fiction books. Since I do not care for fiction, my selections are small. I suppose after I fulfill my obligation with both these subscription club, I may not renew. I will say you do get lots of books when you pick out your 5 for a $1.00 in the beginning. It is just the problem of their special selection that will be sent if you do not cancel the order.
BARNES&NOBLE.COM
I have purchased books from this Web site when one of my children gave me a gift certificate from this site. I did order some books but I did not find it as easy to look for the books I was interested in. You will have to fill in your Credit Card information because your books order will be more than your gift certificate was for. They did notify me when my order was shipped. The books arrived in good shape, so I had no problem with that. It just that I did not feel as comfortable on this site as did with Amazon.com.
I have shopped in their bookstore while I was in Texas; they have a nice display of their books. I do enjoy walking through bookstores as well; many of them are now offering coffee bars for your enjoyment while you browse. My husband likes this as he can sit at read and enjoy his coffee, while I continue to look for books. IT’S NOT THE HOURS YOU PUT INTO LOOKING FOR BOOKS, IT’S WHAT THESE HOURS PRODUCE!!
