Fans of British Writers discussion

Back in 2011, a lady on Goodreads, who was concerned about the need to support physical bookstores in order to keep them open and preserve all the benefits they provide, challenged the rest of us to buy at least two books (new ones, not used) per year from a brick-and-mortar store. I've met that challenge every year from 2011 on, and I've met it for 2016, having already bought two books so far (as presents for my wife). Maybe some others would be interested in taking up this challenge as well?

I find most of the books I get not on Amazon in charity shops. I love browsing in charity shops! But in a proper bookshop I just bought Tom Jones's autobiography "Over the Top and Back". It's a really lively good read and a glimpse of past life even if you're not into his music. I haven't got to all the showbiz tales yet he's still in the valleys. Just shows the that no matter how obscure your background if its in your destiny it will happen. God decides!

I don't often buy new books, but my younger daughter and her husband are new book buyers, (they live near a bookstore), so at least it is in the family. I buy new books as presents for my grandkids.

Books you buy as gifts count for the challenge, too, Rosemarie! And books make great gifts --especially for kids; forming a love of reading that hopefully will be lifelong is one of the best gifts you can give them.

I buy from Amazon and barns and nobles... I don't think these places count as book shops? Or do they?

I'm going to Louisville this weekend, I know of a perfect little bookstore I can buy two books in #^_^ LOVE this challenge! Thanks for sharing!

A, Amazon definitely would NOT count --it's a challenge to support face-to-face bookstores, not the online market. Barnes and Noble's online site wouldn't count, either; but they also have a chain of brick-and-mortar, physical stores around the U.S. (and maybe other countries as well), so anything you buy in one of those would count. And supporting the little bookstore in Louisville that you mentioned certainly would count. Thanks for your interest!

I buy at least five books a year from our local bookstore. Also, whenever we travel we explore local bookstores. Just bought two books from a book store in Austin, TX. Do the books on art from art museums count?

Oksana wrote: "I buy at least five books a year from our local bookstore. Also, whenever we travel we explore local bookstores. Just bought two books from a book store in Austin, TX. Do the books on art from art museums count?"

Oksana, I would certainly think those ought to count! If a museum has an area that sells books, I'd say it would qualify as a book store.

When I buy from B&N it's from the local one. I do buy used books from them but they also have a discounted section of new books. Last trip there I picked up The Days of Anna Madrigal brand new and deep discount! ;)

I wish there were an independent story near me but the few that are seem to be more specialty type but I keep looking.

I don't get discounts at the local B&N store! And mine doesn't sell used books! That's so interesting !

A wrote: "I don't get discounts at the local B&N store! And mine doesn't sell used books! That's so interesting !"

Not all the B&N's in my area have a used book section. You can check on their website for the ones in your area to see if any of them sells used books. The discounted new books are probably those that are leftovers because they never have more than a few of each book on the racks.

We had lots of books available in my childhood home but one I found entrancing was A Short History of England by J.R Green. I was puzzled because it was a solid book like an old fashioned Bible but of course now I know the scope of history I realise it was concise. I think the author was one of those talented Victorian clergymen who did other things as well. At 8 I wasn't capable of reading it all through but I would be entranced by portions of it. His description of the Anglo-Saxon times and later Mediaeval times was very Game of Thrones and he used literature and personal accounts a lot so you got a feel of how life was like in those times. It's an entrancing book. When he got to the 19th century which for him was recent he got more businesslike and stopped using literature sources and just concentrated on Acts of Parliament and the story got drier and a bit boring. I just love that book!

Jane, I read quite a few history books, especially ones written for kids (a lot of which I don't list on my bookshelves because I've forgotten the titles/author's names), but adult history books, too, so I can relate; I'd undoubtedly have loved that book, too! History was my favorite subject in school, and I went on to get a B.A. in it.

Here's an interesting and encouraging article on independent bookstores, from a blog called the Passive Voice, which one of my Goodreads friends regularly reads: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2016/0... .

I love the idea of Book printing machine. One of the things I like about our local store is that they have local authors coming over for a chat and a cup of tea. I went to see Andy Weir who wrote The Martian.

Oksana wrote: "I love the idea of Book printing machine. One of the things I like about our local store is that they have local authors coming over for a chat and a cup of tea. I went to see Andy Weir who wrote T..."

Cool!

There used to be a independent bookstore in my town. It was wonderful to go into and shop. Then Barnes & Noble came to my local mall and the store closed up. They couldn't compete with a bigger store that had a Starbucks in it. I found out that last year Barnes and Noble closed the store down. Now there are no bookstores in my town. I use Amazon or Alibis to buy books.

Marianne, I know a lot of people nowadays are in the same boat you are --living in a community that doesn't have a brick-and-mortar bookstore you can patronize. That's a shame, and a sad feature of modern life. :-( But who knows; maybe sometime someone will try starting another bookstore in your town, and make a go of it now that Barnes and Noble is out of the picture.

Werner wrote: "Marianne, I know a lot of people nowadays are in the same boat you are --living in a community that doesn't have a brick-and-mortar bookstore you can patronize. That's a shame, and a sad feature of..."

I hope so, but it doesn't look like it is likely to happen. People want the big box bookstores that have a restaurant in them instead of the independently run bookstore where the people know and love books. I read where people prefer getting books online or on an e-reader. Very sad!

In Bristol UK where I live 40-50 years ago there were a number of well known and valued second hand bookshops where you could browse for hours and find treasures,i don't mean rare or valuable first editions though maybe some folk did,but just obscure books by little known authors and I made a huge collection of books about gardens. Don't have it now. All gone now.Any browsing for surprise finds has to be in charity shops. Of course it's all on Amazon now but actual browsing in shops was magical at the time.

I went to a small town in a scenic part of Ontario called Elora, and discovered a new bookstore that sold a combination on used and new books. I bought a copy of Little Women from the used section.

This past Monday, I was saddened to learn that the local bookstore, Hearthside Books, will be closing its doors for good on Feb. 18. :-( I've shopped there since at least 2004 (they were the only bookstore I could find, besides Bluefield College's, that was willing to carry my book!). According to the newspaper article, they just didn't have enough business to sustain the store, so it's a graphic reminder of how important it is to support bookstores while we have them. (Now, I'll have to go further afield to find one to support.)

Werner wrote: "This past Monday, I was saddened to learn that the local bookstore, Hearthside Books, will be closing its doors for good on Feb. 18. :-( I've shopped there since at least 2004..."

So sorry to hear your local independent book shop is closing,

In these days of the Mighty Zon the only indie bookshops that seem to survive are those that branch out and do something else as well - like become a book and coffee shop.

I do hope you are able to find another to support not too far away from you.

Thanks, E.M. Sadly, I probably won't find another bookstore around here. There used to be a couple of chain bookstores in the mall between the Bluefields and Princeton, WV, and there's a small Christian bookstore on the WV side as well. But I believe both of the former closed some time ago (I don't get out to the mall much anyway); and the latter has a very limited selection and poor special ordering capability.

For now, I'll probably do my new book purchasing, for the annual challenge, from the Barnes and Noble store in Harrisonburg, VA. We get up to that area a few times a year to visit my wife's family, and I've enjoyed window shopping there before; it's a large store, with a pretty good selection. I've never bought anything from them, but last year I did point out a couple of books there to my wife as good potential gifts for me. :-)

My local bookshop, The Crannog Bookshop, is closing as well, here in Cavan, Co Cavan. That leaves us just Eason's as the second hand bookshop closed last year as well.
It's getting harder to find any local bookshops other than in large towns or cities.

I'm so sorry to hear your local bookshop is closing. It's the same where I live,all the local quirky independent shops have gone. It was a real pity when Borders in town closed as well. It's now a choice of Waterstones or charity shops.

The closing of our local home-owned bookstore earlier this year made it harder for me to fulfill my goal of supporting a brick-and-mortar store this time around. But there's a chain bookstore in the Mercer Mall (it replaced one of the other chain outlets that had closed), and this weekend, I finally got out there for some shopping. I fulfilled my two-book purchase commitment (for myself, this time!), and was pleased to see that the store was pretty busy with shoppers.

My bookstore-supporting challenge really had to wait until nearly the last minute this year; but I fulfilled it this morning, again at the bookstore in the mall. I was glad to see that once again, they were doing a brisk business!

That's good. I hope you got some good books.

I hope so too, Rosemarie; and I'm pretty sure that I did! So far, I've never read anything by David Baldacci; but I know he has quite a following, and I've heard good things about his Will Robie series. I already owned the first book, The Innocent, and the BC library has a copy of the second one; but I think that in reading a series, it's often an advantage to have access to all of the installments, so they can be read back-to-back. So today, I picked up the third and fourth books. They're now on my "reads for later" shelf.

I read Baldacci’s Christmas Train (I think that’s the tittle) and liked it but nothing else by him so I look forward to your reviews.

Sarah wrote: "I read Baldacci’s Christmas Train (I think that’s the tittle) and liked it but nothing else by him so I look forward to your reviews."

Sarah, thanks for your interest! It's likely to be a long time (at least several years) before I start the series, though. I still want to finish up a few of my currently "dangling" series before I start any more new ones; and when I do, there are a few other series I'm even more interested in that are likely to take precedence.

Once again, I've recently met the challenge to support brick-and-mortar bookstores by buying at least two brand-new books a year in one! This year, I didn't leave it until the last days of December. :-)

I'm glad to say that I've once again fulfilled the challenge to buy at least two books a year from a physical bookstore! Though this year, as we've come down to the last week of December, it was, as some British Goodreaders might say, a bit of a close-run thing. :-)

I have not bought anything from the physical store because we are still on a very strict lock-down here. But I bought books from local stores and ordered tons of books for myself and my friends from my favourite store in London. https://www.wordonthewater.co.uk/

Whether you go inside the building to buy or you buy from a bookstore's website, Oksana, you're still supporting that store; I'd say it's the same principle. Glad you were able to give them some business despite the lock-down!

I really wanted to read The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino, and the libraries are all closed, so I did order it from my local bookstore. It took a long time to get, and Amazon would have been easier. But I am glad I did it. Still, the problem is that Amazon is just so easy!!

Carol wrote: "It took a long time to get, and Amazon would have been easier. But I am glad I did it. Still, the problem is that Amazon is just so easy!!"

Kudos to you for resisting the temptation, Carol! :-) Hope you enjoy the book.

Since I've accumulated so many piles of unread physical books by now, which are greatly backlogged, and I'm running short on space to put books, I decided not to buy books for myself to fulfill the challenge this year. So instead, I bought two books to donate to the Bluefield University library, where I work. (Barb and I also bought several books as Christmas gifts for family members; so the clerks at our local bookstore were probably pretty glad to see us coming. :-) )

I bought two books at a used book store this past summer. Like you, Werner, I have lots of unread books on my bookshelf. I've already read one of the two books I bought-The Expedition of Humphry Clinkerm y Tobias Smollett. It was a fun read.

Rosemarie wrote: "I bought two books at a used book store this past summer."

Virtual thumbs up, Rosemarie; kudos! :-) And glad you liked the Smollett book. (I've never read any books by him myself, though we have that one and some others at the BU library.)

I have just returned from a car trip through California and Oregon. As we were not flying, we stopped at at least two dozens bookstores. Needless to say that Powell’s City of Books had to be visited twice. Also, I started buying books on BetterWorldBooks.com. They have a variety of used books in different languages and donate a book every time you make a purchase.

Oksana wrote: "I have just returned from a car trip through California and Oregon. As we were not flying, we stopped at at least two dozens bookstores. Needless to say that Powell’s City of Books had to be visited twice."

Sounds good, Oksana. Hope you folks had a good trip!

In most years, I wind up waiting until very late in the year (and sometimes after Christmas!) to complete this challenge. This year, though, I've been much more on the ball; I picked up two books for myself at the bookstore in our local mall over the weekend. So, I've fulfilled the challenge for another year; and I hope others in the group will be able to join me before the year is out!

Yesterday, while I was at our local mall, I visited the Books-a-Million (BAM) outlet, and bought myself two books. One is New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (to the Bible), which replaces an older edition I've owned for 40 years, that was literally fallen apart. The other is a story collection, American Midnight: Tales of the Dark. So I've fulfilled my challenge to support physical bookstores for another year!

It usually takes me until late December to complete my "support bookstores" challenge in any given year. But having won a $25.00 Barnes and Noble gift card earlier this month through the wellness program where I work, and being in Harrisonburg, Virginia (which is home to a large brick-and-mortar Barnes and Noble bookstore) last week, I took the opportunity to redeem it. With that deduction, it didn't cost me much to buy copies of the anthology Golden Age Detective Stories, and of Mycroft and Sherlock by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse.