CJAD 800AM at 8:40am Wed: Second-hand Books
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009Q1: Summer time, with more down time gives us many more chances to enjoy reading.
What better way to spend a lazy summer day than to curl up with a good book, or even a not so good book. Despite the inventions of radio, movies, television or the Internet, books still sell. In the North America more than 275,000 new titles are published every year.
Q2: How do you explain that?
Books are portable and go everywhere with you without having to be plugged in, backed up or requiring batteries. Books can keep you company while waiting in lines, at the doctor’s office, on the Metro and, of course, in the bath and bathroom. Books are great to go to sleep with.
Q3: Books bought in bookstores are getting to be expensive these days, what else can we do?
You can buy them in second-hand stores, at garage sales or trade with friends and family – and of course online: Amazon, e-bay, chapters.indigo.ca, barnesandnoble.com, smartshoppingmontreal.com
Q4 : With all that competition – around Montreal – do we have many second-hand bookstores and can you let us know about a few of them?
If you shop at second-hand stores, you soon learn that not only can you buy there but you can also sell back books when you finish them. This causes more problems, though, because it gets you back into the stores more often, and yes, you do wind up buying more books. There are 20 stores I mention in my Smart Shopping Montreal book, here are some with a little twist:
The Word Bookstore, 469 Milton. Hours: Mon-Wed 9:30-6, Thurs & Fri 9:30-9, Sat 11-6. Every day for the past 34 years, their window display has a new theme, and the books change. If you pass when the store is closed, slip a note under the door with the title you want and the time, and you may win the privilege of buying it. Today’s subject will be books by and about Virginia Woolf, the English novelist. Successful windows are sold out within half an hour of opening.
With an emphasis on liberal arts and the classics, you will find everything from slightly dog-eared hardcovers to collectibles. There is usually a shelf outside selling paperbacks for as little as $.50, and an inside bench selling books at $1 (There’s lots to choose from now as people clean out their books in the Spring and they do a lot of buying then).
Atwater Library Book Room, 1200 ave. Atwater. Hours:Wed-Sat 12-3 If you love to read hardcover books, this little room staffed by volunteers is a godsend. The proceeds from donated books go towards acquiring new additions for the library, and are sold for rock bottom prices, mostly $1 a book, but some a bit more, or $.50 for the few boxes of softcovers. www.atwaterlibrary.ca
www.usedbookcircle.com Used book shopping will never be the same, because now you can type in the book you are looking for, and within 48 hours you can find out which of the 20 participating second-hand book stores in the Montreal area have it in stock. If the book is not found, you can even ask them to keep the request on file in order to notify you when the book shows up later on.