One of my main goals this year is to significantly reduce my TBR pile. To do that I must get rid of more books than I bring into the house. Of course, no one if perfect, and I know I'll buy
something. In the spirit of that something, I'm very tempted to join the Quality Paperback Book Club. I belonged to it years and years ago and it was pretty hassle free. So anyway, I can get five books for four bucks. These are the one's I'm considering. Please help!
1. Back away! Be strong! Don't buy anything!
2. After Dark, Haruki Murakami
3.
Bridge of Sighs, Richard Russo
4. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, Xiaolu Guo
5.
Diary of a Bad Year, Coetzee
6.
Enchantress of Florence, Rushdie
7.
Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff
8.
Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris, Paul Gallico
9.
Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney
10. Three by Vonnegut (Cat's Cradle, Slaughter House 5, Breakfast of Champions)
11.
Doomed Queens, Kris Waldherr
12.
Gulag Archipelago, Soljenitsyne (it's abridged)
13.
Essential Chomsky14.
Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner
15.
In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
16.
A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah
Message edited by its author, Jan 22, 2009, 2:44pm.
I've liked all the
Paul Gallico that I've read; this is a nudgeoid, because I haven't read this one, but IIRC it's funny.
Vonnegut! Most definitely. All three of those are great, although
Slaughterhouse Five was by far my favorite.
Message edited by its author, Jan 22, 2009, 6:59pm.
May I suggest #1 ;)
I nudge the Coetzee. I haven't read that one, but I've enjoyed everything of his that I have read.
I also nudge Coetzee
Update: right now I'm still with sqdancer and picking #1, but who knows how long I can hold out. Anyway, I've taken two off the list:
The Geography of Bliss and
In Defense of Food. I downloaded both of them in audio format from my public library website. I'm currently listening to
The Geography of Bliss and enjoying it very, very much.
I would recommend
Bridge of Sighs. Richard Russo is one of my favorite writers.
I belong to QPBC and just checked out
Doomed Queens this afternoon. Looked pretty pop-ish to me, so I'd recommend denudging that one.
I've heard great things about A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. I haven't read it yet, but it's in my stacks somewhere.
(On QPBC, I haven't bought much from them in the past 4-5 years. I find that even their sales are usually beaten by Overstock.com or, considering the QPBC shipping fee, even B&N and Amazon. Not to mention the various swap sites!)
Murakami - every time!
Cripes - I am going to get booted out of here.
Nudged in order of urgency!!
*Coetzee - a great great writer.
*Solzhenitsyn - just not to be missed
*Penney - a very good novel written about the Canadian North by someone who has never been there (and who, I understand, doesn't like to leave her house in Scotland because of agrophobia)
*Russo
Some of the others are probably wonderful as I have read reviews, but not doing the nudgoid thing here today.
Denudge (cringe)
I don't enjoy reading Vonnegut. Sorry everyone.
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. I'm going with this one too.
#13 - (On QPBC, I haven't bought much from them in the past 4-5 years. I find that even their sales are usually beaten by Overstock.com or, considering the QPBC shipping fee, even B&N and Amazon. Not to mention the various swap sites!)
--------------------
I was quite thrilled to find an edition of a Virginia Woolf novel that I need for my collection on Overstock (it's not available from the usual sources). But it was $16 and the shipping was over $17! Yikes! That just feels like robbery. I'll keep looking.
The SHIPPING was $17? Usually everything on Overstock is $2.99 per order, regardless of price or number of items. Was this an auction, maybe?
That's one reason I've not been using eBay much lately. Too many people jacking up the shipping cost. Why buy an item for $22 and then be asked to pay $9.99 S&H when you could get it for $25 and free shipping at B&N or Amazon?
You might try Half.com for the Woolf. The shipping is regulated, so if you find your book at a decent price, you won't get ripped off.
Based on experience, the shipping was so high because we're talkin' Canada. Our postage rates are really high. That's why I don't Bookmooch--I'd like to find good homes for my books, but I'm not going to pay significant $$ to give them away. I'll try Half.com and see if it's any better.
Well, it doesn't appear that Half.com ships anywhere other than the US, and they don't have a Contact Us link for me to check, so that's another dead end. Oh well, there's always Abebooks.
Check your profile page for a message!
What's the book? I can also check the price on Half.com. And have you checked BookMooch, if you don't mind a used copy? I know that many swappers there will send books across the border; I do it all the time.
Just want to update you all . . . at this point, #1: "back away! be strong! don't buy anything!" is the clear winner. I had to do some TBR pile management yesterday, and I have more unread books than some small town libraries! Buying books is quick. . . reading them takes time.
Amen, sister!
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