Star ratings taken from Amazon UK.
Author: Jackie
Having read the title of the post, you may think I’m completely mad! You may think that there is nothing you don’t know about searching for books, and in some cases you may be right! I thought I knew it all too, but I’ve learnt a lot in the last few years, so I thought I’d share some of my knowledge with you.
My job is selling books online, and I have recently started to change my business model. Instead of searching for books at charity sales and other local events, I now source books from the comfort of my own home. I buy books on the Internet, then sell them for a profit on Amazon in the UK. I am able to do this because I know a lot about books, and how to find them!
If you’re after a best-selling paperback, then you probably won’t do much better than Amazon, but if you’re after a rare or out of print book, then there are lots of other places to look.
My favourite is: http://www.bookfinder.com as this searches all the major book-selling sites worldwide. It splits out new and used copies of each book, and includes postal costs to your country, so that you can instantly tell which copy will be cheapest.
Addall, Abe and Alibris are also good sites to check, but if you can’t find what you’re looking for there then the best thing to do is put the title of the book into Google. Make sure that you put “quotation marks” around the title, so that it only comes up with exact matches for your book, and not everything else to do with the individual words in it. Searches like this will often throw up independent book shops, some only written in a foreign language. Most people give up the moment they see a web page written in Spanish/Portuguese/German etc. and it is for this reason that there are many bargains on these sites. With the help of translation sites like Babel Fish, any web page can be translated into your own language, and so there is no need to be afraid of them. I have bought many great books from sites that I have never heard of, or couldn’t understand!
The other thing to bear in mind is where the book you are looking for was published, as it will generally be cheaper/more easily available in it’s country of origin. For example, I was looking for The Scream by Rohinton Mistry a few months ago. At the time, it wasn’t available at all in the UK, so I started my search with Canadian sites, as this is where the author is from.
I you’d like any more information, or help finding a book – just ask! I love the challenge of trying to find a rare book!
Happy searching!
This is the third week of the Blog Improvement Project. Our task for this week is to add ten different types of post to our blog.
Blog Post Bingo!
- Take a look at the 10 types of blog post below. Over the next two weeks, try to write as many of these different kinds of posts as you can.
- A Link Post – share a series of links your readers might find interesting
- A Short Post – less than 200 words
- A List Post – simple as it sounds, a list of some sort
- An Opinion Post – take an event, news, or another blog post and share your opinion on it
- A Poll or Question Post – post a poll or ask your readers a specific question for feedback
- A How-To Post – You’re an expert in something; big or small, share how to do it
- A Long Post – more than 700 words
- A Review Post – self-explanatory, I think
- A Definition Post – show your expertise about a topic related to your blog
- FREE SPACE – a type of post of your choice (that is not the same as one of the previous posts)
This is a really interesting challenge for me, as I do seem to be stuck in a rut – just posting book reviews. I look forward to creating a more interesting, varied blog!
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Weekly Geeks # 4: Passions
Weekly Geek Task Four:
What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging? For example, are you crafty (knitting, woodworking, scrapbooking, model building)? Do you cook? Into gaming (computer or board)? Sports (player or spectator)? Photography? Maybe you like geocaching, rock climbing? Or love attending events like renaissance fairs, concerts? Music? Dancing? You get the idea. Tell us why you’re passionate about it. Post photos of what you’ve made or of yourself doing whatever it is you love doing.
If I have to rule out everything book related (finding, selling or researching books, reading blogs, etc) then the thing I like doing most in my spare time is cooking. I love good food, and knowing exactly what is in whatever I’m eating is very important to me. I love making and decorating cakes with my little boy. Here’s the cake I made for his third birthday:
I’m not really very arty, but I managed to make this by following this great tutorial.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought my husband a sausage making machine for Christmas and we have really enjoyed making them from scratch. We mince our own belly and shoulder pork, and then experiment with different flavourings. My favourite so far have been pork and apple! If you’re interested in making sausages then everything you need to know is here.
Not only does homemade food taste better – it’s cheaper too!
I highly recommend you give it a go!
I had a quick look at all the other weekly geekers pages. I was drawn to Fizzy Drink’s page, as I love travel too. Seattle looks great!
I was very impressed with The Ax For The Frozen Sea’s tattoo’s – beautiful! – but I bet it hurt!!
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is the true account of a Victorian murder mystery, committed in an English country house. This murder became the basis of many classic books written during this time period, including the first English detective novel, The Moonstone. It is meticulously researched, and full of interesting information, not just on the Road Hill House murder, but every day family life in the 1860s.
The facts are laid out in the same order Mr. Whicher discovered them, so as well as being extremely informative, this book also acts as a murder mystery. The great thing about this murder is that it took place within a locked building, so all the potential killers are immediately obvious, and it is just a case of unearthing all their secrets, and discovering which one committed the dreadful dead.
This book isn’t a quick, easy read. It is dense with facts that need time to be savoured, but I found it so interesting that I was never tempted to skip a single word.
I love the fact that the book went on to explain what happened to all the characters up to their death. It also includes photographs of all the key characters, and maps of house and surrounding area.
The only drawback to the book was that it gave away key plot points to many of the books which were written during this time period, or based on the Road Hill murder. This was great for all those to which I already knew the plot (eg. many of Dicken’s novels) but as I planned to read The Moonstone very soon, it was a little bit disappointing, (although I only have myself to blame, as I was aware that these would be within the book!).
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Victorian England, the development of the police detective, or who just loves a good whodunnit!
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January Summary
I read 11 books in January, which is probably a record for me. A combination of factors came together to give me much more time for reading this month, hopefully I’ll be able to continue this for the rest of the year, as I have really enjoyed it.
I read three books for Orange January
a. We Need To Talk About Kevin– Lionel Shriver completed 14th January 2009
b. Fugitive Pieces– Anne Michaels completed 10th January 2009
c. Digging to America – Anne Tyler completed 5th January 2009
My favourite was We Need to Talk About Kevin; there was just so much to think about in it, that I am still trying to persuade all my ‘real world!’ friends to read it!
The rest of the books I read in January:
The Bride from Odessa– Edgardo Cozarinsky completed 27th January
Mudbound – Hilary Jordan completed January 8th 2009
December – Elizabeth Winthrop completed 22nd January 2009
The Brutal Art– Jesse Kellerman completed 27th January
What Was Lost– Catherine O’Flynn completed 2nd January 2009
When Will There be Good News – Kate Atkinson completed 24th January 2009
The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson completed 20th January 2009
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte completed 21st January 2009
My other recommendations are The Gargoyle and Mudbound, both of which are well worth reading if you haven’t already.
Although I didn’t enjoy reading Wuthering Heights, I am really glad that I did. I’m going to make an effort to read many more Classics this year. I’ve ordered copies of The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, so hopefully I’ll read them very soon.
I hope your reading in January was as enjoyable as mine!