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Greetings Fanatics!
Since you're reading our blog instead of watching YouTube videos or working, I'm going to assume that you enjoy reading as a hobby at least a little bit. Well, we Fanatics are fans of the written word as well.
Now that Isaac is older (and louder), we don't find ourselves at the local library to borrow books as much as we used to. Instead, we find ourselves at various second hand books stores around town. We prefer the pre-owned books because they're cheaper, don't cause as much guilt for us when we inevitably wear it out, and it's better(?) for the environment. But you can only go to Half Price Books so many times before it feels picked over, and it's disheartening to me to see so many copies of Catcher in the Rye in one place. So, when I stumbled upon a website called
ThriftBooks, I was intrigued. I'd never heard of a designated second hand book web-store before (don't talk to me about early Amazon) and I liked the idea of looking through books from the comfort of my own home; no one breathing down my neck (Aaron), no one judging what I was browsing (Aaron). An ideal shopping experience worth pursuing.
Even when we'd go to the bookstores in person we'd usually have a budget of $20 a trip, which would get one paperback novel each for Aaron and I and
maybe a book for Isaac. So far, we've spent around $130 on ThriftBooks purchases since March of last year. For hardcore book fanatics, that already sounds quite cheap, even miserly. But consider this; we've purchased 26 books, all on ThriftBooks. That's about $5 a book, which is really great considering that we've bought things ranging from textbooks to novels to children's books to a hardcover 2nd edition.You can even control what condition your books come in - a copy of JAWS in 'fair' condition, one that you might bring to the beach to read is less expensive than a 'good' condition copy. Another thing I like is that shipping is free within the U.S, if you spend more than $10 on books (which, believe it or not, is sometimes hard to accomplish). Shipping is fast, and while the books come from the ThriftBooks warehouses all over the U.S., tracking is included so you can know the whereabouts of your copy of
American Psycho at all times.
While it's definitely worth supporting your locally owned second hand book shop, Thriftbooks is a valuable website to consider when you have a certain books in mind or if you want to buy a bunch of books at once. Or if you're a bit antisocial like us and want the mailman to deliver your books.
(And remember to buy through our links or banner so that we get that sweet affiliate cash!)
Stay Fanatic,
Megh
