Books, Readers and Beyond: #53 Finding Books Online

Unfortunately, the last bookstore in Crosby closed a while back. So, the closest bookstores to visit for me are in Humble. The two main stores are Barnes and Noble at Deerbrook Mall and the Half Price Bookstore in Deerbrook Plaza. Both have websites. Barnes and Noble has a full range of materials from books, magazines, audios, DVDs, etc. Half Price Books has a combination of both new and used books along with used DVDs, VHS, audios, magazines, etc. Humble does have a couple of other used bookstores that I drive by on a regular bases, the Hard-to-Find Book Store and Ye Olde Book Shoppe, they are listed in the phonebook but only the basic information is listed on the web.


For the second exercise I choose the Anne McCaffrey book Dragonflight and searched for it on both Barnes and Noble and Amazon. At Barnes and Noble, the book was priced anywhere from $.01 to $13.95 depending on whether it was new or used. It was available in both abridged and unabridged audios with prices between $1.99 for abridged and used and $29.95 to $43.97 for unabridged. The MP3 on CD edition was $24.95. At Amazon, the prices were similar, anywhere between $3.88 to $13.05 depending on whether it was new or used. A leather bound copy is listed at $112.50. It is also available in both abridged and unabridged audios ranging in price from $9.98 to $49.95 and the MP3 on CD goes for $24.95. The Kindle edition is $5.95. There is also a limited graphic novel edition starting at $19.95.

For the third exercise I went to Bartleby.com and read part of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The site has a very limited list of titles and all can be considered classics. Pride and Prejudice was from the Harvard Classics series and included a biographical note, criticisms and interpretations by six people including Sir Walter Scott and Lord Macaculey. A list of characters preceded the individual chapters. I found the ads on each screen distracting and waiting for the screen to download the next chapter a little annoying. I did like the font, it was easy to read. I also read the same book on Project Gutenberg as a comparison. I looked at the plain text version of the book, which was in Times New Roman. I've never liked that font because it makes it hard to read over long periods of time. However, they did have a bigger and better selection. In general, I'm not fond of reading a book on a computer screen. I prefer the hard copy of a book. I like the ability of moving from location to location that a book offers. It's hard to cuddle up with a computer screen. Perhaps the Kindle would solve some of these concerns. It's portable and as near as I can tell, there are no ads moving on the screen. I was at the DPS recently and saw a woman reading from her Kindle as we were standing in line. She seemed to enjoy it. I used the plain text version because I couldn't download on the computers at work. I like the idea of downloading either to a MP3 or Kindle. I also like the idea of the Playaways. But, for now anyway, the selection is very small and the cost is similar to cd. Maybe one day...