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Can you resist buying in a bookshop?


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I'm terrible, and I just can't walk into a bookshop empty handed! There is ALWAYS something there that I will want. There is probably an equation for the amount of time spent in any bookstore equalling the amount of books I will probably leave with!

 

I tell myself lies. I say, "just have a look around! Yes! Go on! You don't HAVE to buy anything!" Of course, this is a pack of lies and deep in my nefarious book reading heart I know that I will certainly, every time, leave with at least one book!

 

How about you? Can you enter and leave again without some pappery goodness?!

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Usually, yes. But there is one place where I simply cannot avoid the temptation and that is at the proverbial Airport bookshop before a long haul flight. It has become almost a tradition to buy a paperback - usually a thriller - before a flight to read along the way.

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The only way I can leave a bookshop without a new book is if I haven't enough money on me to pay for one. I'm awful for coming away with bargains that cost 50p or

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I can usually resist, but only because I see so many books I want that I can never decide, so I walk out empty-handed (then I'll go back when sales are on and buy up big :D). I have more trouble resisting second-hand bookshops because there are such great bargains to be found.

 

However, I only go into the book store if I'm in a book buying mood :tong:

 

Is there any other mood to be in? :)

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Guest fireball

Some of Galactic Space Hamster wrote:

 

I'm terrible, and I just can't walk into a bookshop empty handed!

_ditto.gif

 

I tell myself lies. I say, "just have a look around! Yes! Go on! You don't HAVE to buy anything!" Of course, this is a pack of lies and deep in my nefarious book reading heart I know that I will certainly, every time, leave with at least one book!

08.gif

 

 

I said somewhere on these fourms, that I couldn't take myself anywhere. Nice to know I'm not alone. Sometimes I'm...daring eek.jpg and I buy 2 books, when I think I'm not looking.:)

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More often than not, I don't buy a book when I go into a bookstore. :) It's mainly down to the fact that I must have probably over 100 books that I own, that I have yet to read. But also, I have a great local library which has a great selection. It also comes down to money - I'm not keen on buying something that I may only read once.

 

If I do buy a book, then it's usually because I've heard such great things about it that I have to have it, or I'm a fan of the authors previous work.

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I can resist, it's hard, but I can do it. Mainly I don't have the money to buy the books I would like so I just like to browse. I really love book shops, like being in them looking at the books on the shelves and imagining what I would buy if I could afford it; if they have a coffee shop to sit in even better. I make a note of what I really want to read and then order from the library - but then, I love libraries too:D

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Surprisingly, I usually can control myself, but only when I'm in Borders, which is a full-price bookstore. But if I go into Half Price Books, I have a tendency to go crazy. But who can resist $1.00 paperbacks? I even found a 1st edition of The Silmarillion there, and it only cost me about $5.

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I am good at resisting books in bookshops these days because I used to buy so many books and never read them. I figured I was wasting money so I stopped.

 

I tend to buy new books now only after careful consideration, and save my impulse acquisitions for the library.

 

Second hand books on the other hand erm ...:)

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I'm gettting better at resisting, now that I have catalogued my books online and realize how truly many unread books I have. They currently outnumber the books that I have actually read by just about three-to-one and that fact is sobering me up, especially since we are not talking small numbers here on either hand. But I still see books . . . . :)

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that's a great deal ice cream!! going into a bookstore without buying a book is impossible for me and if i do leave without a book i feel extremely guilty- carm

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I can leave a bookshop without buying anything, especially if it's Waterstone's as I don't think they're very cheap. But I don't like doing it - I feel kind of annoyed and disappointed if I haven't bought anything.

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I don't like libraries. Something about reading someone elses book. I don't like it. I would rather buy the book and finish it when I want to finish it. Plus the library fees are crazy.

 

I just like to buy the books. Its like my own library and I like collecting books. Some people collect movies or CDs, I collect books. So when I'm in the book store and as I said before I usually leave with around 4, I consider it adding to my collection :)

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I don't like libraries. Something about reading someone elses book. I don't like it. I would rather buy the book and finish it when I want to finish it. Plus the library fees are crazy.
I never realised, until I became a member here, that in some countries you have to pay to join the library or to take books out. Over here we're very lucky in that registration is free and you only have to pay if you're late returning the book (when you get fined). We usually have t pay a small fee to take out music or other media, but books are free to borrow. I don't use our library nearly as much as I used to, but I do occasionally pop in and find some absolute gems. :)
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Guest fireball

Speaking of libraries.

 

:

Labour dispute disrupting library services

Kim Westad, Times Colonist

Published: Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Children's librarian Tracy Kendrick plans on wearing her Alice in Wonderland costume to work until the job dispute that has eight local libraries down to core services today is settled.

"I'm very upset and shocked we have to go this far for pay equity. For me, it's a social justice issue," Kendrick said yesterday, holding a placard that said, "Alice is wondering when there will be pay equity for library workers."

She was among more than 100 library workers who picketed and shut down the Greater Victoria Public Library system's eight branches for five hours yesterday.

"I think this is gender discrimination and it's coming out in our wages," said Kendrick. The workers, 80 per cent of whom are women, want the same rate of pay as City of Victoria employees doing comparable tasks.

 

Libraries are open today, but with reduced services. It's the latest job action in a labour dispute between CUPE Local 410, which represents library workers, and the 10 municipalities that pay their wages.

 

It affects the eight libraries in the GVPL: the Bruce Hutchison branch, Central Library, Central Saanich, Emily Carr, Esquimalt, Juan de Fuca, Nellie McClung and the Oak Bay Library.

 

Programs such as literacy for children and adults, children's story time, seniors' education, author talks and legal information clinics are all cancelled as the union increases its job action.

 

"Unfortunately, at this point we feel we have to demonstrate our resolve by withdrawing services," said CUPE 410 representative Ed Seedhouse. "We have been driven to that extremity against our will and want nothing more than a reasoned discussion of the issues."

Employees jammed the board meeting of the GVPL at the Central Library on Broughton Street yesterday, spilling outside the packed room that rarely has anyone in the audience.

 

Seedhouse told the board that the union will agree to third-party binding arbitration on whether pay equity has been reached in the GVPL system. The union will abide by the arbitrator's findings.

At press time, messages to the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association, which negotiates on behalf of the 10 municipalities, had not been returned to say if they would agree to arbitration.

 

Earlier, association negotiator Ron Brunsdon said the key issue - pay equity - has already been dealt with, which the union disagrees with.

The union says the labour association agreed a decade ago to pay library workers on par with their counterparts at the City of Victoria.

 

The labour association said they didn't agree to that, but says that in any event, they have increased library wages 9.5 per cent to cover pay equity alone over the past decade. The association says library workers are paid on par with other library workers in the province.

Both sides appear to be at an impasse.

The union "would like nothing better" than to return to the bargaining table, Seedhouse said. But it's difficult to negotiate when no one will talk, he said, noting that labour negotiations are done in camera, where the public is not allowed and where those involved are not allowed to talk about discussions.

 

GVPL chair Chris Graham said he cannot discuss labour issues because of that.

 

Libraries are largely funded by municipal taxes. Every year, the library board goes to the municipalities with its budget, asking for approval.

Municipalities have many competing demands for tax dollars. The labour association takes direction from a committee that is composed of the mayor or a councillor from each of the municipalities, as well as the GVPL.

 

The reduction in library services will continue indefinitely.

 

I really feel for those whose only choice is the library to get books, I also feel for the staff having to DO what they are doing, they sure must hate to it, but their needs or important too.

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I can happily browse around a Waterstone's for ages and leave without buying anything. I figure they've got enough money without needing mine.

 

Smaller, independent bookshops are a different matter. There are fewer and fewer these days (this is probably not the place for a discussion about how the big chains are squeezing them out of the market, but that would be an interesting one!). I usually try to buy a couple of books from such stores, even if I could get them cheaper elsewhere - I suppose it's a kind of contribution towards keeping the "niche" sector alive.

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