How do you buy and select your books?

[shadowkat]

[Note: this is a general poll - if you don't perfectly fit into a category, who does? Just pick the one that fits you best. And if you feel it doesn't say what you want about your habits - leave a response detailing them. It's no different than doing those quiz memes.]

Curious how others online get their books. I get mine by browsing in bookstores. I rarely if ever order books online - because getting deliveries is so problematic. And I like to check out the book first, see if it's something I want. I like to discover them in bookstores. Also don't like libraries - I love my books too hard partly and I don't like deadlines.
That's me. Curious to see how others operate.


[Poll #1023668]

Comments

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

I buy a lot of books, and tend to keep them. My shelves are overloaded now, so I'm going to cull them..I did that awhile ago, and donated several bags of books to the patients' library at the hospital.
I love bookstores, can spend hours just browsing. I like to be able to thumb through a book before I buy it, so buying online isn't really for me.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the response, this is really close to my own behavior regarding books. I don't have the space or the money to order or buy books without checking them out first in a bookstore, browsing. And right now am trying to cull some of them - because, well you know you have too many when they are in boxes under your bed and you haven't read half the one's on your shelves.

In college and even now, I will often read a good percentage of a book in a bookstore - see if I want it, if it grips me after the initial five paragraphs or two chapters in? I'll buy. Or if it grabs me at the end.
I used to buy whatever people on lj rec'd but have discovered that our tastes often differ and I tend to be a moody reader.