Used Book Stores

I always love a great deal, so I've been searching some more for ways to get cheap books that might be in limited supply at the library.  I've always been a fan of Half Price Books in Texas and just found today that there is one Half Price Books location in Omaha.  It's in the Westwood Plaza shopping center at 123rd and Center.  They sell new and used books, and they will also give you cash on the spot for books you bring in to sell to them. 

Here are some other used book stores that I found just from searching online, but I haven't been to any of them myself.  If you check any of them out (or any others that aren't listed), please share with the group what you thought about the store and their pricing. 

Pageturners Used Books
5004 Dodge Street, Omaha

Jackson Street Booksellers
1119 Jackson Street, Omaha

Polly's Books
8542 Granville Parkway, LaVista

Judy's Books
1004 Lincoln Road, Bellevue

Backshelf Books
6059 Maple Street, Omaha

Friendly Used Books
6001 Maple Street, Omaha

GoodReads Bookswap and Thrift Books

Although I've never actually used GoodReads Bookswap personally, I thought I'd mention it as one option for finding copies of our books for book group.  (I've added it to the sidebar list of other websites where you can find cheap used copies of books.)  GoodReads Bookswap is a part of GoodReads.com where users can list what books they own and offer to give them away.  You can browse or search for books you want, find someone who has a copy they no longer want, request it from them, and only pay for shipping.  Again, I haven't ever done this, but it looks like GoodReads calculates the estimated shipping cost based on the weight of the book, plus adds a small handling fee to run the bookswap.  So I'm not sure how prices compare to used books elsewhere on the web, but feel free to check out GoodReads Bookswap if you're trying to find a cheap copy of a book. As a side note, for every 10 books you give away on bookswap, you earn any one free book from anyone on bookswap. 

We can also coordinate our own swaps among us in the group.  If you own a copy or plan to purchase one and have extra time to loan it out, please comment on the blog to let everyone know that you have a copy available.  And if you do try GoodReads Bookswap, let me know how it worked for you and what the cost really ended up being.

I also added a new link for Thrift Books in the sidebar.  I have purchased a few books from them through Amazon, but found that if you shop at their own website, the prices can be just slightly cheaper, especially if you buy more than one book from the same warehouse.  They have free shipping and most books are less than $4.00, with a 50 cent discount for each additional book coming from the same warehouse.  They also carry several LDS titles, so this is a cheap way to read some good LDS books without spending a lot at Deseret Book or Seagull Book and Tape.

Book Suggestion Guidelines and Schedule Changes

It's never too soon to be thinking of which books you'd like to recommend for the group to read.  We will be choosing new titles at our meeting on Thursday, April 29th, so please be prepared to come with some suggestions.  Here are some guidelines to follow as you think about which books you'd like to recommend, as well as some info about how the book voting will work:

• Each person will have the opportunity to briefly describe each of their 2-3 suggestions, then the group will vote on which one book from each person will be chosen.  The person who suggested the book will then be the discussion leader for that book and be responsible for bringing a refreshment for that meeting. (Links to book discussion guides can be found in the right side bar.)
• If you'd like to suggest a book, please bring at least 2 or 3 suggestions so the group has options to vote on.
• All genres of literature are welcome (i.e. adult fiction, YA fiction, non-fiction, historical, biographies, religious, etc.)
• Please only suggest books that you have previously read so you can verify that they are appropriate for our group (books should not contain an inappropriate amount of bad language, violence, or sex).
• If possible, please bring an actual copy of each book you are suggesting to our book group voting.  This helps others get an idea of how long the book is, size of print, etc. although we all know not to judge a book by its cover!
• If you'd like to recommend some books, but are unable to attend that night, please contact Jodi, or comment to this post with your book suggestions and we'll make sure they get presented and voted on.

So be thinking now about what 2-3 books you'd like to recommend.  If you're struggling with ideas, you can always find popular books that got good reviews at GoodReads or Reading For Sanity (an excellent book review blog by a group of Mormon moms).  Find a book you think sounds interesting to discuss and pre-read it NOW to make sure it's appropriate for our group.  I'm so excited to see everyone's suggestions and find out what we'll be reading for the next several months!

Also, please notice the new schedule in the right side bar.  We are going to be transitioning our meetings to the fourth Thursday of each month, starting in May.  To avoid going 6 whole weeks without meeting, and to avoid having to read a book in only 2 weeks, we'll meet as regularly scheduled on April 8th, then we'll meet again 3 weeks later on April 29th when we'll vote on new books, then start meeting on the fourth Thursday starting in May.  All meetings through May will continue to be held at Lisa's home.

We're looking forward to some great book groups coming up, and remember that even if you haven't read the book for that month, we still want you to come and enjoy some good company, and bring a friend too!

Letters for Emily by Camron Wright

Our next book is Letters for Emily by Camron Wright.  Kim will be leading this discussion on Thursday, April 8th at 7:30pm at Lisa's house.  There is one copy at the Papillion Library (large print), one copy at the La Vista Library, and another large print copy at the Bellevue Library.  Used copies at Amazon.com cost $0.01 plus shipping.  It's a fun and sweet story that will leave you feeling uplifted, so please plan now to attend.