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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 19 2010 at 9:27pm | IP Logged
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My favorite pastime 
But when do you give up and give in and, I hate to say this, buy the book new because you can't get it any other way?
I've had some on my wish list for four years now. If I wait much longer my kids will have outgrown them 
What's the longest you've ever waited for a book?
And... what is your best:" This is how I got my copy" story?
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Aug 19 2010 at 10:30pm | IP Logged
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Oh, dear.
I hate spending big bucks on books, but I do on occasion...after I've exhausted inter-library loan, Abebooks, etc. and hit our local library and thrift shop book sales. I usually spend quite a while searching before I give up.
My best story is two stories.
First, my endless quest to buy copies of the books I loved as a girl led me to the Friends of the Library book sale in Virginia Beach. This wasn't a book sale - well, it was - but an Event. After our first visit we started bringing along dd's godparents - book lovers - and dd's godbrother's red wagon, with a stick-up bicycle safety flag. We'd line up over an hour before opening time (and we were never close to being first in line) and then pour in to the halls filled with books. We had pre-made lists and split up by topic/genre. After an hour of shopping we regrouped at the wagon to look over the books we'd grabbed up and accept or reject them. Dd's godfather was a brand-new teacher at the time and we stocked his classroom library from this book sale. Such fun!
I had a list of books I wanted to own because I'd loved them as a girl. I spent about ten years finding and buying the books. Judith of France took me the longest because it is rare and I didn't have $90 to spend on one book, but I eventually found it via Abebooks or somewhere similar for a reasonable price.
The best part about my search for all these books was that I discovered as an adult that the common theme of faith ran through them all...and most of them focused on the Catholic faith in some way. (The ones that did not were very balanced in their approach to Catholicism if it was part of the story.) I wish we still lived in a time when mainstream authors felt comfortable creating believeable, authentic Catholic characters...I know some do (Donna Jo Napoli, for ex.), but it's pretty rare.
Some of the books on my list...I treasure them and read them often:
Judith of France by Margaret Leighton
Journey for a Princess by Margaret Leighton
The Giving Gift by Alma Power-Waters
Campion Towers by John and Patricia Beatty (the main character is Puritan and fears Catholics, but learns important lessons about love and tolerance)
And, of course, every single Betsy-Tacy book, many of which were out of print when I began my quest.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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JennGM
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| Posted: Aug 20 2010 at 7:55am | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
My favorite pastime
But when do you give up and give in and, I hate to say this, buy the book new because you can't get it any other way?
I've had some on my wish list for four years now. If I wait much longer my kids will have outgrown them |
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Too funny, Melinda. I do let some sit for a while. After a long time I decide if it's worth it, do I really want it, etc., and maybe up my price point. But I do a lot of scavenging, plus comparison shopping on the internet.
Newly published books are harder to wait for cheaper prices. I still don't have some main titles for Catholic Mosaic. I wanted to pay less, and I can't find them for a good price at all.
Older books are a bit easier, although not always.
Seastar wrote:
| What's the longest you've ever waited for a book? |
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Hmmm...I'm still waiting for one book. I'm not willing to pay $150 plus for it. So that's going on 3-4 years. I looked for a long time to find my own copy of Cooking for Christ by Florence Berger. This was in the days before the Internet.
And Shadow Castle, it took a long time (years) to find a copy of that. They ended up reprinting before I could find a used one. 
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| And... what is your best:" This is how I got my copy" story? |
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Nothing to blow horns about. I've just been very blessed to find good titles over time. If I scanned my bookshelves, I could give a story about most of the books I've found. I guess one of my biggest finds was one year I found St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica in hardback with dj from 1920 for $1.00 each volume.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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allegiance_mom
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I am pretty stubborn about keeping books on my wishlist for years and years, until I can find it at a reasonable price or (better) for free.
My favorite book story is the time I went to a church auction. I didn't realize that they still had the entire library from the elementary school and convent, which had both been closed for decades. All of the books were spread out on 8' tables in the hall outside the room with the auction. Thousands of them. They were for sale for $5 a bag! I managed to get 28 books into a grocery bad (provided by them) and lug it up the stairs. Because of the auction crowds, I had to park a block away. I was newly pregnant, so I called my husband on my cell and had him drive over to the church and cruise by to pick up the bag from me. I was then able to get to my car and drive myself home!
In that bag I got many Vision books (original editions) and lots of other goodies. Many of the adult theology books I sold on ebay and made far more money than I spent that day. But we still have a dozen or so of the Vision books on my sons' bookshelf.
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Allegiance Mom in NY
Wife 17 years
Mom to two boys, 14 and 8, and one pre-born babe in Heaven (Jan 2010)
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Aug 21 2010 at 11:35am | IP Logged
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OK- so ten years... not too long to wait ! That makes me feel better.
I go back and forth a lot about whether to give in and buy books or wait until they cross my path or show up as a "wish granted" from one of the swap sites. I've gotten some amazing books that way.
And if the library has the book, I am less likely to buy it, but then I do think that if we had our own copy we'd be enjoying it more often. I don't have a copy of The Clown of God, but the library does.... but then how often do I remember to check it out again and bring it home?
At a book sale last year I came across a copy of The Switherby Pilgrims, which I right away recognized as a Bethlehem Books living history title.
This was the 3rd or 4th day of the sale, and many people had passed that copy by. I'm sure everyone around me thought I was a nut when I said,
"Wow! The Switherby Pilgrims!! For a quarter!"
Well, the truth is, I am quite probably a nut
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Karen T
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My favorite "find" happened about 2 yrs ago and was a little different than most of your wishes granted! I have a set of older Tolkien books, paperback, but had all matching covers - The Hobbit plus the Trilogy. My sister had bought them at a used store in the early 70's and I think they were printed in the early 60's. I had carted that set of books around for 20+ years, and about 7 yrs ago we got a dog with severe separation anxiety. On one of his escapades, he managed to eat most of The Fellowship! I looked in every used bookstore I could find, and ended up buying an entire "new" set of hardbacks used, just to have a matching set, b/c I am so compulsive about having sets match But I kept my old set for sentimentality, and last year when I started using paperback swap I happened to find a copy of the Fellowship that matches my originals! Silly I know.
Karen
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Erin
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Karen T wrote:
I looked in every used bookstore I could find, and ended up buying an entire "new" set of hardbacks used, just to have a matching set, b/c I am so compulsive about having sets match But I kept my old set for sentimentality, and last year when I started using paperback swap I happened to find a copy of the Fellowship that matches my originals! Silly I know.
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Karen
Not silly, my friend has a real thing about matching sets so I understand more now. She tells me it gives her such pleasure to look at them all sitting on the shelf matching. I figure if it gives me pleasure to see my books with plastic covering  , I can understand matching sets.
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
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leanne maree
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I have had few nice success stories. I was trying to locate very hard to locate Aussie books. 'Banksias and Bilbies' and 'A sunburnt Country'. But I was determined.
I googled A Sunburnt Country and low and behold, It was at a country little second hand bookshop, Very cheap, So I purchased it, and was very pleased with myself. Since this it has been reprinted by a friend, with new chapters.
The second one was a book that was used for Nature Study printed by the Victorian Guild society, OOP, And I again googled it and located it very quickly at a horticultist supplier. They had 3 left.
I have 2 other books given to me by a Christian friend- saying I don't want these. They were 2 saint Books-vision originals, and we were very pleased to receive them.
leanne 
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Leanne
Loving wife to Dermot and Adoring mother to Louise, Kristie, Kieran & Brid
http://leannemaree.blogspot.com/
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JennGM
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I'm tickled pink with my find from this weekend -- a beautiful hardback version of Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock! It's from 1939, the same version of the current reprint.
My, it's heavier and bigger than the paperback reprint!
Oh, and it was $7.50!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Book Hunting....
