>>587 (OP) Not in like... 27 years? I still have a fairly complete library of the classics. But I am also cheap as shit. So I get all my books as epubs from Z-Library these days. Grab 10 a day. Read about 1 a day. Worked through all of the black library shit from games workshop, Not bad pulp tbh. Warhammer 40k is fun. But the more you invest into it the more you realise when an author fucks up the lore. So have I read anything good lately? Well I reread sphere for like the hundredth time last week cuz of the sub thing. It still holds up, and "The Lion: Son of the Forest" is probably the best recent book from BL. Grabbed a dozen histories of the barbary corsairs and the US Marine campaign to wipe them out I plan to get to tomorrow and on the 4th. Should be fun.

>>589 Damn, son. I only wish I was that productive with reading. Feels like I have less and less time to read more and more often.

>>640 Yeah. Its hard to find time, but worth it. Man we fucked them pirates up yo. Thomas Jefferson was such a badass.

>>587 (OP) I stopped reading paper books years ago now its all pdfs on my computers and I can clik to increase font size whew :)

>>587 (OP) Books stores just feel like a ripoff to me now. I prefer to get books at library sales or thrift shops. Haven't gone in a long while though because I'm unemployed and feel bad spending money on anything nonessential now.

Almost never. In my experience, Library book sales are full of unwanted and worn books Estate sales are full of middle aged woman romances Garage sales are full of extremely specific niches I do most of my purchases at used book stores and AbeBooks these days.

>>587 (OP) Living in a small space after my ex kicked me out, mostly just read ebooks. Do miss the feel of paper and the smell though.

>>745 Used bookstores can be pretty hit or miss along with the other ones you mentioned, fortunately I live around two good ones and my uni has a good used bookstore. The ones that I feel tend to be the absolute worst are those little free libraries people set up in front of their house. It's either children's literature (which is fine for the kids in the area), or just straight up romance slop for women.

>>788 For sure, I mentally characterize the used book stores I've been to as either real stores or hoarder dens. Most readers have experienced the later; stacks of books everywhere, no real categorization, average quality (physical and intellectual) of books very low, owner seems more interested in collecting books than actually running a business. Some readers like the hoarder dens ('I just love the smell of books!' or 'It's like a library!'), but they are awful from a customer perspective. My favorite used bookstores are like if Barnes and Noble was a local used book store: clean, well categorized, consistent modest sales, helpful employees. If B&N started selling used books I'd be all over it. In my area there's a really good 2nd & Charles that fits the description. As long as you don't sell to them (their trade in program is laughably pathetic), it's a good store.

>>790 Unfortunately I know and semi-regular a used bookstore in the hoarder den category. It's really unfortunate because there are some good books I've come across in there, but some of their organization is very hit or miss. Barnes and Noble could maybe really benefit from selling used books, especially because they have the resources like BookOff and could borrow from that model, but I assume it's probably a really big departure they have no interest in making. I also think Barnes and Noble is too corporate and trend chasing to do something like that. It's really sad, because I think a bookstore that sells both old and new books and other media could potentially succeed, but I can't think of any examples that do that in my area let alone on a large scale.

>>788 little free libraries reflect the community they're in. I've gotten sheet music, chekov plays, and field guides from them. really nice books in great condition, too. check the rich neighborhoods like 20 mins from a city center. I used to live in a neighborhood where all the houses were 2+ million dollars(I rented a room) and the little free libraries were always packed with good stuff and there was a high turnover rate, so there was always new stuff too. I've seen little free libraries in the ghetto that are smashed out, full of mcdonald's wrappers and narcan. If yours are full of romance novels and kids lit, you should probably move. Yesterday I got a clean copy of Schubert's Winterreise score from a piano store. They had a big bin of free music and I spent 5 mins looking through it. They had Mozart Sonatas, Bach Organ music, and Liszt Etudes. Maybe I'll go back and get more later, I can't imagine anyone else is getting any. I played a 70 thousand dollar piano for an hour and had fun chatting with the salesman. Last week, I went to the local used bookstore by the university and got a biography of Toscanini that has quips and anecdotes from people who knew him. It wasn't on zlibrary or available through normal online shops, so I picked it up. Totally worth it. Honestly, I mostly use the Libby app to listen to audiobooks while I walk the dog or ride the train. Libby is great if you read old stuff on topics that aren't very popular. I listened to Ovid's metamorphoses lately and a book about extinct ecosystems called Otherlands. If you ever want to go back in time to the triassic and have someone help you imagine what it was like, that is your book. It was really engaging and went from the more recent familiar ecosystems to the more distant and alien ones in a way that eased you into the scary depths of the past.