Second-hand books are way cheaper, so why do you need to buy a new copy of the book? Both will have the same contents anyway, so unless you are looking for something that has been recently published, it seems reasonable to prefer a second-hand book.
As long as the words are readable, I’m good. I even have one book where the pages are already falling apart, but I’m still ok with it because I can read the text. Sometimes second-hand books have surprises, like when my PJAM kabarkada, Johanna, bought a second-hand book, it turned out to have a signature from the author. My friend, Vinny, says that second-hand books have a certain charm–the well-loved pages caressed by repeated reading, the art and pictures of years gone by, the thoughts and fantasies of the authors of the past are all within that old book.
How about you? What do you love about second-hand books? Please leave a comment below!
For more about books, check out these links:
- The Books I Bought at the Floating Book Fair
- Sugar on a World: A Review of Mahdur Jaffrey’s Climbing the Mango Trees
- My Virtual Notebook: Writing Tips from Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark
Check out The REaD Hunter, an online bookstore that sells second-hand books through Facebook. We ship books all over Metro Manila and selected provinces in the Philippines. Orders made during the week are shipped every Saturday. We accept payment through MLhuillier and Gcash.
Check out my other blog categories.
Age of the Diary by Jasmine T. Cruz. If you like this post, please subscribe to this blog. Follow Ja on Twitter: ageofthediary. Email Ja at: ageofthediary@gmail.com.
i’ve got a Booksale branch in my room (90% of my books are from booksale!)
Cool! I’ve been buying more second hand books lately too. I don’t think they take up 90% of my collection, but I guess I’ll be approaching that percentage soon.
It’s just so exciting to find unbelievably cheap used books in very good condition. That’s the thrill.
Yeah! I super love that too
I’ve found Booksale to be one of the better 2nd hand book stores. All of their books are in excellent shape. It is fun to browse for unique or strange books and for hard to find books that are a number of years old. The best books are not always the current Top Ten best sellers.
The prices at Booksale in Bacolod are usually P87-P107 for paperbacks, so I guess 7 is their lucky number. Some books are less than P87. In fact, I paid only P10 for the singer Jimmy Buffet’s book, “A Pirate Looks at Fifty.” Imagine P10 for a book that gives hours of reading entertainment! I have a book case with three shelves lined with books from Booksale. I enjoy the computer very much but I still find time to read everyday from an actual book in my hands.
~ Gary ~
I do love a good bargain too. When I buy good books for as low as P10-20, it really makes my day. I also love reading articles online and ebooks, but my bookshelf is also filled with so many books. I keep buying new ones even though I still have lots of books that I haven’t read yet.
i love booksale
Ako rin! Cubao x second-hand bookstores din.