Thrift store junkie

My To Be Read pile is as mountainous as it is mostly because of thrift stores.

I haven’t had as much time to do this lately, but I love going into thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army and perusing their book section, looking for Regency romances.

I especially look for the mass market paperback novels of the category Regency romances that used to be printed years ago by Harlequin, Zebra, Fawcett, and Signet. They typically have pretty recognizable spines.

I can spend a good hour looking for Regencies at a thrift store if they have a good book section. After a while, I had to take with me a list of the books I already have (titles and authors) so that I don’t get duplicates.

I have not had as much luck at garage sales. Whenever I did the round of sales in my area, there weren’t many boxes of Regency romances--there were usually other genres instead. :(

I also did buy some boxes of books on eBay where the sellers would auction off a huge box of Regencies, but after a while I didn’t like that too much because there were usually books in the box that I already had.

My TBR pile of print books (let’s not even go into my TBR list of ebooks!) is almost entirely Regency romances I bought from thrift stores. I’m slowly going through them and donating back any book that I don’t want to keep, but I’m thoroughly enjoying having such a huge pool of titles to choose from whenever I’m hankering after a Regency!

I know some of you do the same thing, right??? Confess! And, er, give me any tips you might have. :)

Thrift store junkies unite!

Comments

Martha A. said…

I collect older books too! I have liked Grace Livingston Hill and would love to find some of the good older regency books too! I can have piles of books TBR and still go into a bookstore, second hand store and usually come out with a book or four...

Tue May 08, 10:20:00 AM 2012

Erica Vetsch said…

I love used bookstores, Goodwill and Salvation army for used books. If I like an author, I tend to want to read their back-list, and thrift stores are a great place to find out of print books. :) My bedside TBR pile is threatening to topple over and kill me in my sleep. But what a way to go. :D

Tue May 08, 10:24:00 AM 2012

Ladette said…

Ha, my TBR pile is huge and my TBR Ebooks... well, lets just say I have over one thousand ebooks and I've read about 5. :) Oh well. They are there when I need them.

You now have my curiosity up about the Regency books. I have no idea what the look like or anything about them. Google, here I come. :)

Tue May 08, 10:33:00 AM 2012

Fedora said…

Totally, Camy! I actually volunteer at a local FoL and can keep an eye out for you to, if you have a list of authors/titles you're looking for :) I also had to cut way back on hitting thrift stores, garage sales, and the like because well... DH would prefer for us to not be literally buried in books ;) Free free to e-mail me directly with your list, OK? :)

f dot chen at comcast dot net

Tue May 08, 10:36:00 AM 2012

Anonymous said…

I go through phases of historical and then contemporary. I like going to the library when I have time to browse and filling a bag with books (that I'll binge read in a week).

Why Regency? I'm curious, since you write contemporaries??

Natalia Gortova
www.nataliagortova.blogspot.com

Tue May 08, 10:50:00 AM 2012

Angela said…

I too peruse the thrift shops books, library sales, and here in San Antonio there is a yearly 70,000 book used book sale where hardbacks are $1 and paperbacks are 50 cents... Most recently I've joined paperback swap.com where I can get more recent stuff and it helps to thin out my already read stash.

Tue May 08, 10:56:00 AM 2012

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said…

Oh yes Goodwill, Salvation Army and the St. Vincent DePaul thrift shops in this area are AWESOME for getting books. St. Vincent's is nice because the books are usually only 25 cents! We also have a chain of closeout stores called Ollie's which is awesome for getting new books and publishers remainders. I've seen the Sushi series there for around $3 a book. If you're ever on the East Coast you should definitely look for an Ollie's LOL!

XOXO~ Renee C.

Tue May 08, 01:14:00 PM 2012

Camy Tang said…

Sounds eerily familiar ... :)

Tue May 08, 06:42:00 PM 2012

Camy Tang said…

I've found tons of great backlist at used bookstores! Now I tend to buy them on ebook since they're easier to find. :)

Tue May 08, 06:43:00 PM 2012

Camy Tang said…

Regency romances used to be category romance mass market paperback books (about 60-70K words) published by Harlequin, Zebra, Signet, Fawcett. The lines went dead several years ago but I loved them because they tended to be relatively clean and the stories were cute and short. Now, the historical Regency romances are a lot longer (100-120 K words) and usually have a lot of sex in them.

Tue May 08, 06:45:00 PM 2012

Camy Tang said…

I LOVE YOU!!!! YOU ROCK!!!! I would love any by Patricia Veryan. Thank you!!!!!!

Tue May 08, 06:46:00 PM 2012

Camy Tang said…

I'm not sure why. My first romance book was a Regency romance--Regency Miss by Alix Melbourne. Loved that book! Maybe that's why I have such a fondness for Regency even though I don't write it.

Tue May 08, 06:46:00 PM 2012

Camy Tang said…

Oh my gosh I would go nuts at that booksale!!!!! I should look into Paperbackswap.com, but then again, my TBR pile is so large I ought to read those rather than getting more books from Paperbackswap!

Tue May 08, 06:47:00 PM 2012

Camy Tang said…

WOW 25 cents!!!!! I'm glad to see my Sushi series there, because I never mind when my books are sold cheaply since that means someone who hasn't read me can pick up a book for a low price and low risk. :)

Tue May 08, 06:49:00 PM 2012

Fedora said…

Will add that name to my "look for" list :)

Tue May 15, 10:25:00 AM 2012

Camy Tang said…

Thank you SO much!!!!

Tue May 15, 03:39:00 PM 2012

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