Bookstores, Book News & What to Read
It's not unusual for a library customer to say something like, "It doesn't look like this book has been used very much and I'd really like to have it. May I buy it?" Library books are offered for sale when they are withdrawn from the collection, but we can't say in advance when, if ever, that will be. If you're unable to locate a book at a store in town one of these sites may be useful. Curious about the value of one of your books? Try the second-hand/out-of print services to see what others are asking for it.
- Book Price Comparisons: For new and used books, the AddAll and Bookfinder search engines are the most comprehensive. Also helpful are AAABookSearch, BestBookBuys, BestBookDeal, Bookfinder4u.com, BooksPrice, FetchBook and PriceViewer.com.
- Book Appraisals: The Bibliobot service of Pacific Book Auction Galleries offers free online appraisals of used and rare books.
- New Books: Among the most popular sites are Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Booksamillion, and Powell’s Books.
- Bargain (Remaindered) Books: Comprehensive selections can be found at BookCloseouts, Daedalus Books, Half.com (part of eBay, but no bidding involved), HamiltonBook, MainBookshop, and 1000sofdiscountbooks.
- Used and Rare Books: Advanced Book Exchange has the most listings of this type. Other worthwhile Web sites include the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (with helpful features and articles), Alibris (the used book division of Amazon), and eBay. Some excellent foreign sites include Antiqbook (Netherlands), Biblion (British), Chapitre (French) and ZVAB (German). For those wishing to learn more about the antiquarian book world, the University of Delaware’s Book Collecting and Book Buying web page and Lee Stoltzfus’ Rare Book News are excellent and regularly updated resources.
What to read
- Readers' advisor sites - Websites recommended by Fresno County Public Library Staff. Search for books by plot, theme, character, setting, author and title. Recommended sites for mysteries, romances and science fiction.
- BookSpot - Best seller lists, award winners, reading lists by grade level, genre, and theme.
Staff Picks