Thread: I'm Jealous

I just got an e-mail from an old friend who lives in rainy Seattle. It included a photo of him browsing around, on a rainy day, in one of the largest bookstores I have ever seen.

I don't miss much - in fact almost nothing - but I sure do miss bookstores! Nobody in this country reads...in the one bookstore, which actually almost exclusively sells school supplies, the few books they do have are wrapped in plastic, so they can't be opened. Forget browsing. I really miss bookstores! And, thank god for Amazon and Kindle!

Amazon ?

^What? The bookstore? Didn't know Amazon had bookstores....

Unless you are in Bangkok or Chaing Mai, there's no option re bookstores here in LOS either. People don't read here as well. Mail order via EMS is the way to go within Thailand.

Feel your pain, Davis...

on-line shopping BUT end result is a hard cover / paperback delivered to your door .

Amazon.com: Books

^See the last sentence in my original post.......

Surely BM there is a pleathora of See ed book shops in the bigger Citys ?

sure Ive seen em and bought books in there

touche .

One of the things I make sure to do when back in the States is to cruise bookstores. Love them. Second hand bookstores are my favorite.

A bit of a trip for you, but Makati has a couple of very good bookstores.

Originally Posted by nigelandjan

Surely BM there is a pleathora of See ed book shops in the bigger Citys ?

sure Ive seen em and bought books in there

I've never found any outside Bangkok or CM.

Right now I'm using a 2nd-hand bookstore in BKK which ships by post (EMS) for a very reasonable rate.

^^^I used to order about ten books a month, but the postage was as much as the book, and it took a month to get here. In the year or so I've had my Kindle, I now order twice as many books, at the same cost. Amazon is a great company!

Originally Posted by misskit

A bit of a trip for you, but Makati has a couple of very good bookstores.

Where????? There used to be a couple in Makati, as well as one in Alabang, but none ever lasted. You got a name???? If so, I'll Google address and owe you many greens!

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I just got an e-mail from an old friend who lives in rainy Seattle. It included a photo of him browsing around, on a rainy day, in one of the largest bookstores I have ever seen.

I don't miss much - in fact almost nothing - but I sure do miss bookstores! Nobody in this country reads...in the one bookstore, which actually almost exclusively sells school supplies, the few books they do have are wrapped in plastic, so they can't be opened. Forget browsing. I really miss bookstores! And, thank god for Amazon and Kindle!

Well it was probably one of these two;

The Elliott Bay Book Company | Celebrating 40 Years of Independent Bookselling

Third Place Books | Books, community, events and more

But the best one is in Portland it is basically an entire city block;

Locations - Powell's City of Books - Powell's Books

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Where????? There used to be a couple in Makati, as well as one in Alabang, but none ever lasted. You got a name???? If so, I'll Google address and owe you many greens!

Couldn't remember the name, but they were in Ayala and Glorietta Malls, so looks to be National Bookstore. Seems they have a superstore in Cubao, Quezon City that would be even better.

National Book Store

^Thanks for the effort. National Book Store is the store I was talking about earlier. Mostly school supplies, a very, very limited selection of books, all wrapped in plastic, and mostly cookbooks. I'm in those Nationals you mentioned quite a bit for school crap for the twins. The name should be National School Supply Store. A bookstore it ain't!

Oops, sorry, didn't remember the plastic bit. I just went there to buy books on wildlife and always came away with useful things.

And yes, they did have a lot of office supplies.

Did you see their online bookstore?

Originally Posted by The Big Fella

What type of books do you read David ? I have boxes of the things as like you I love a good read. I toyed with getting a Kindle but I don't think it will be the same as having a book in your hand. A bit like reading the online newspapers isn't the same as sitting down with a coffee and your paper.

I did a thread on Kindles last year - you might want to take a look. I, like you, thought it would be hard to transition....it took me only a few weeks to become totally converted. After more than 60 years of reading books, I think I only have read one or two 'real' books since getting my Kindle. It's the best purchase I ever made. My brother was even more skeptical than you - he was hooked in a week.

I read lots of history, historical fiction, espionage stuff (Alan Furst at the moment), period detective stories (Philip Kerr at the moment) - just about anything other than scifi, westerns, romance novels and self-help type crap. Try a Kindle! Or at least look at the thread!!

Originally Posted by misskit

Oops, sorry, didn't remember the plastic bit. I just went there to buy books on wildlife and always came away with useful things.

And yes, they did have a lot of office supplies.

Did you see their online bookstore?

Haven't looked at their on-line store, but can't believe it would even come close to Amazon. I can see them stocking some wildlife books - Flips like pictures.

Originally Posted by hazz

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I just got an e-mail from an old friend who lives in rainy Seattle. It included a photo of him browsing around, on a rainy day, in one of the largest bookstores I have ever seen.

I don't miss much - in fact almost nothing - but I sure do miss bookstores! Nobody in this country reads...in the one bookstore, which actually almost exclusively sells school supplies, the few books they do have are wrapped in plastic, so they can't be opened. Forget browsing. I really miss bookstores! And, thank god for Amazon and Kindle!

I cannot agree more. Ive been to the best bookshops of offer in thailand, hong kong and singapore and they are all piss poor. As you say..... thank god for the tablet

mid, for me the layout, format and font of a book is critical for its readability and I think for most people its something they give importance too. There is nothing like browsing a bookshop... particularly a second hand one; tablets and amazon/googles previews are piss poor alteratives. I miss the anarchy of the old foyles bookshop in london... the best bookshop I have ever used.

I will say however that now I have spent 3-4 years exclusivly using ebooks, the lack of weight and volume out ways the loss of the tactile pleasure of paper.... so I don't see me going back to paper beyond those special books.. one just has to collect. saying that.. this ebook, the elements by theodore gray, did manage to spark that must collect bug... it gave everything the paper book did,but with three dimensions and time

I too am sold on my Kindle at this point, but I think that might change if I had access to some good bookstores. Maybe not....With around 2,000 books weighing down a variety of bookcases in the house, and with the fairly certain knowledge that nobody will ever look at any of them once I croak - it's increasingly hard for me to justify the +2 cost of ordering 'real' books on-line.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Haven't looked at their on-line store, but can't believe it would even come close to Amazon.

No, but could save on postage.

Originally Posted by misskit

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Haven't looked at their on-line store, but can't believe it would even come close to Amazon.

No, but could save on postage.

Order the Kindle edition off Amazon - no postage, in your Kindle in under a minute, cheaper than either paperback or hardback editions.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

and with the fairly certain knowledge that nobody will ever look at any of them once I croak

That is sad, is there not some library or other institution you could bequeath them to?

Originally Posted by quimbian corholla

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

and with the fairly certain knowledge that nobody will ever look at any of them once I croak

That is sad, is there not some library or other institution you could bequeath them to?

It is sad - but it's the Philippines - there are no libraries. Filipinos don't read. It's very, very rare for me to see any books in a Filipino house - other than a Bible. I have some great books, too. A lot of old history books with some fantastic maps - some first editions - a number of complete collections of various favorite authors - a number of books which include sections on family members - some real treasures. But, they're too heavy to ship to the States, and in any case, my siblings already have floor to ceiling books in their homes. So, I don't have a clue what to do with them....