THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I LOVE BOOKS but I had to cut down on my expenses since they are soooo not affordable right now. :-)

Hey! I already signed up for moocher!! Anyone there? I'm under ATTRIANNA

try: http://gigapedia.org/
i've downloaded audio harry potter books from here before for free but it's a little disorganized.

javabeans: i live in los angeles too and love the lapl. all libraries can use a little more esoteric books but it's all right. the county system isn't as well developed but it's an alternative to lapl. or use ocpl if you're close to orange county.

love your site!

Since I started college the only books I get to read are my stupid textbooks. You would think if we spend so much money on them, they would try and make them more interesting for us. But, they just like to take my money and give me crap :)

Those sites seem cool though, since summer is coming I plan to read books that are fun aka chick lit, supernatural romances, and whatever else rocks my boat.

Javabeans, are your watching We Got Married? Not sure if you'd like it, but it is such a cute show.

Another book rental service I have used is Booksfree. Their prices look cheaper than Paperspine and there's more plan choices.

http://www.booksfree.com/

Regarding LibraryThing, I use the "My Library" function in Google Books to put some titles of what I own and wish list of things I plan to get.

AHH BOOKS!! what else to say? they ROCK!
I read too much books for my own good. Im sort of an addict, once i pick up a book...dont even try to bother talking to me...haha. I'll be like a zombie.
I suppose every book addict have one problem....MONEY! I have that same issue....so to satisfy my book craving.....i usually buy them at the flea market...for like 25 cents, 50 cents, or up to 2 dollars. Sometimes i get lucky and find a really good book...but most of the time i get OK OK stuff, which i dont mind....its interesting to see other varieties out there.
I'm more into romance novels and educational books. I heard you read more into surreal fiction novels....hmm never really notice much about it. Any you REALLY REALLY recommend Dramabean? Im all open to different types.

You might be interested in http://www.dailylit.com/
Depending on what books you want, it could either be free or cost you.
Its basically a service that sends a paragraph (or about five minutes of reading) to your email of any book you choose. You can change the length of how much is sent to you and how frequently it shows up in your email.
They have some classics (Dickens, Austen, Wilde) that are free as they're public domain, and newer books are under $10 at the most.

BTW, love the blog!

I love scouting out used bookstores. I remember when I used to live in Korea, there was this really cool used book store run by an American expat, it was called What The Book? It was in Seoul, you had to look for it though, it was past the red light district and up past the mosque. There is another used book store up that way called Anne's Book Nook, but its not as good. The person who owned the bookstore What The Book? was really cool, his wife was Korean and I guess the store was in her name, but he was the one running it, mainly for foreigners like myself who were teaching ESL in Korea, or people on the American military base. I spent many an hour there sipping espresso and browsing through his selection. Also, if you're ever in Seoul, if you go to the COEX mall, they have a really good bookstore there (I forget the name) but it has a great English section.

@ hua

thanks for the ilink! will check it out :)

i love to visit thrift stores for cheap books :) unfortunately, most of the genres i read can not be easily found in thrift stores and half-price bookstore is also expensive.

i'm thinking of checking this out, it seems cheaper than paperspine and you can also trade dvds for books! http://www.bookins.com/index.php

I usually go to book fairs or look at the books that libraries are selling =] if it's a book I really have to have I just go to a book store xD I've been pretty obsessed with the Twilight series lately!

i am currently reading catcher in the rye. i was feeling ashamed as a english major graduate. i'd never touched the classic. i'm only about 40 pages in so i have no real opinion yet. but i am getting a silence of the lambs feeling. when the silence of the lambs movie came out it was critically lauded and everyone went on and on about it. so by the time i finally saw it, my expectations were too high and i finished it thinking "ehh, it was ok" Kind of how I felt when I finallly finished Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride"

i'll read anything, i once took a class on nordic myths. but my true love is contemporary ethnic lit by women ( Louise Erdrich, Sandra Cisneros, Laura Esquivel, etc) . J California Cooper write excellent short stories that are usually tied together by some them like love or family. her stories in Homemade love had me laughing out lad on the subway like a crazy person. i think people actually switched trains because of me. I also have to plug the late Octavia Butler, whose book Kindred I read last year and thought about for days. She was categorized as a sci fi writer which doesn't usually appeal to me, but something made me try Kindred and I was not disappointed. Warning: it does contain accounts of slavery that can be hard to read, but if you can suck it up it is a rewarding book.

Java I want to recommend Karen Tei Yamashita if you haven't already read her. she does have a surrealistic style but i really think you'll enjoy her. I don't usually like the surreal but I dug her book Through the Arc of the Rain Forest. it wove in commentary on immigration, loneliness, cultural integration and love. she hasn't written that many books but I recommend Tropic of Orange, which is about LA.

Since you love 19th century lit, I was curious how do you feel about Jane Eyre and the contemprary response piece Wide Sargasso Sea? I'm a big fan of sargasso sea.

I could go on about books forever (don't get me started on beach-read brit chick lit) but I won't. wait i already have...

have a good weekend!

For those of you book-lovers who have enough patience then you can get books on fullbooks.com where loads of novels are listed by title but I warn you the set-up isn't brilliant.

Plus Java, have you read 'The Rose and The Ring' by Thackeray? It was the first book I got out of the library. Am trying to find a decent hardcover copy at the moment but is proving difficult...aaahh, the search goes on.

Also, for Austen lovers, I recommend Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Wives & Daughters,' or if the book is a little dense then watch the BBC version which was very good too. LOL.

And lastly, modern (ish) rec. I would say 'Princess Bride,' by William Goldman because it's a classic.

:-D

My more literate friends frequent Making Light, the frightfully erudite blog and discussion board. http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/ About books, music, politics.... everything under the sun, really.

I love books too. I do recomend this website http://www.gutenberg.org.
It comes in e-book or audio ranging from classic authors such as Jane Austen, Mark Twain, HG Wells, Charles Dicken and even the Grimm Brothers & etc.
All free!
Happy reading if you still haven't found this fantabulous website. (that's my opinion, thou).