The Wonderful World of Books

As well as collecting 45 rpm records, LP Records, Audio Cassettes, CD’s, Talking Books and Video Tapes & DVD’s I am also a fairly avid collector of books. This is borne out by the fact that at any time there are usually between twenty and thirty books waiting to be read!

Once again all the books are catalogued on my computer, by Title, Category, Type, Author, Publisher, Cost, Date Acquired, Location and ISBN Number. I have tried and better tried to reduce the pile of books waiting to be read, but whenever I enter a bookshop, charity shop or receive material from the book companies below I invariably find a book or books I want to purchase!

So how many books do I possess at the moment? - In the order of 1,200!

As I have previously mentioned, at least once a year I go through all my Records, Audio Cassettes, CD’s, Video Tapes, DVD’s and Books, and take all my “surplus to requirements goods” to a charity shop on the Isle of Arran, so there can be a fair turnover of goods each year! For instance this year I took three large cardboard boxes full of goods to ARCAS (ARran CAncer Support) on the Isle of Arran!

For some years I have ordered books from four different book companies. Each of these companies sells books at well below the current market prices, usually up to and above 50% off! This is because they stock end of print runs, or buy in vast quantities so that they can pass the savings on to their customers. None of these companies have a minimum buy policy, so if I only want to buy only one book a year that is no problem. Each provides a mail order set up and often the books arrive by return of post!

So who are these companies I use?

Selections.com has sections on their website for Books, Garden Products, Film & TV (DVD’s) and Music (CD’s). Their web site gives you the opportunity to search in all categories or in each individual category.

Postscript Books have a search facility and you can narrow your field of search if you can supply title, author, ISBN, Code, Publisher or a keyword. An alternative way of searching is via the categories the books are divided into:

Archaeology, Art, Biography, British Isles, Craft & Hobbies, Eastern Studies, History, Literature, Mind, Body & Spirit, Miscellaneous, Music, Natural History, PPE, Reference, Religion, Science & Maths, Scottish interest, Social Studies, Transport, Travel & Places, and War & Military History.

The Book People (this firm often comes round schools and places of work too) have a quite good selection of children’s books, and the first half of the small catalogues they send out is usually listing Children’s Books, whilst the second half lists adults books. Book Points are awarded against all purchases and these can be redeemed for free books from any of their advertised books.

The selection and range of books is more limited than the previous two companies, but searches can be made on their web site, either by title or under the following categories:

What’s New, Babies and Toddlers, Bestsellers, Children’s Fiction, Children’s Film & TV, Children’s Reference, Children’s Activities, Biographies, Crafts and Hobbies, Fiction, Film & TV, Food & Drink, Sport and Wellbeing, Home & Garden, Reference, Great Gifts, Book Ends, Christmas.

The last company I deal with is Bibliophile. Each month they produce a 40 page broadsheet size paper. Bibliophile contains by far the largest selection of books. On their website you can search by
Art & Architecture, Business, Cartoons, Computers, Children’s, Collectibles, Crime, Christmas Box, Early Learning, Entertainment, Fiction, Food & Drink, Gardening, Great Britain, Handicrafts, Health & Beauty, Historical, Biography, History, Hobbies, Home Entertainment (CD’s, DVD’s Talking Books), How To..., Humour, Last Chance, Literature, Bargain Basement, Miscellany, Modern Biography, Modern History, Music & Dance, Mythology, Nature, New Age & Occult, Pets, Psychology & Sociology, Religion & Philosophy, Science, Sci-Fi, Scottish Interest, Sport, Transport, Travel & Places, War & Militaria, War Memoirs, Words, Wordsworth Classics, Literature, Children's.

Not only does this company have the widest selection, it also has some fantastic savings on books. I recently bought a book which had a full price of £45.00 for £12.00. It also carries a large selection of real low priced bargains in both its Last Chance section and its Bargain Basement. The Last Chance section is usually where there are less than 20 copies of the book left, whilst the Bargain Basement is where the books have been further reduced (probably because of slow sales).

If you are a book lover and enjoy reading, you will certainly find lots of bargains obtainable from the above mentioned companies. If you've not already experienced their books go on line and have a look at what is on offer. Like me, I am sure you will be tempted to buy!