• If you start a thread here you have permission to edit the thread and your posts indefinitely. So if the status of your sale or auction changes, please come back and update the thread.

Cheapest place to buy Bukowski's works (Canadian specific) (1 Viewer)

Hey folks!

So, as I mentioned in another thread (which you may or may not have read), I am a rookie when it comes to Bukowski. I'm starting to collect all his works (which, as you know, is A LOT). Trying to find the cheapest place to buy books and such.
I use Amazon.ca at the moment and can find some good deals.
I bought Women for $0.26 + $6.50 shipping!
Most of his other books, however, are $6-9 + $6.50 shipping on Amazon. I know this is still a good deal, but, when you're looking at buying 20+ books, this starts to add up. I'm not the richest man in the world, but, I'm not the poorest.
Oh, and the reason I mentioned Canadian specific is because shipping from the USA/overseas is usually much higher. I checked into Abebooks.com and found some good deals, but, shipping from the USA was listed at $8-10 per book and when you add on the price of $3-4/book, Amazon is still the cheaper option.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks!
 
For chrissakes, support your local bookstore! If they don't have what you want, ask them to order it, and odds are they will. It's worth paying the $15 locally because it shows there's a market for Bukowski in your neck of Canada, and it likely supports some folks who believe in promoting things like literature and reading.

While I love the information super highway, this is one of those things that piss me off about our modern age.

"I want all the best things, delivered to my door tomorrow, but I'm unwilling to pay or work for those luxuries."

If you want a deal, you need to find the deal. Go to garage sales, go to flea markets, go to used bookshops. You need to work for it, and if you're too lazy to work it on foot and too cheap to order from Mr. & Mrs. Shopkeep, then go to the library and get the books there.

Not trying to sound mean spirited, but I'm sitting in my sweltering & empty bookshop feeling a little cranky about people buying online.
 
For chrissakes, support your local bookstore!
If we had a local bookstore, I would buy from there.
I'm from Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Google it. hahaha.
We have a Coles, which is owned by Indigo Books.
I don't see the difference between supporting that major chain or ordering online, from Marketplace sellers, off of Amazon.
 
I looked it up! City of 25K isn't that bad. I spoke with the nice lady who runs Reynolds books, and while they don't carry Bukowski, they do carry writers. I told her I'd suggest you stop in.

And that's where the answer, for me is, between ordering books online and supporting a bookstore, even if it is a 'major chain'. What is the value of a bookstore? What is the value of having a place who's entire goal is getting people to READ?
I am, of course, biased, as I own a used bookshop which -- like the nice lady at Reynolds books -- carries local authors.

I discovered John Fante in a used shop and bought a copy of 1933 was a Bad Year because the paper BSP used to print the books was really nice. That was the only reason, and that book blew me away! That would never happen on Amazon.

Bookstores (and libraries) provide an entrance point that either doesn't exist on the internet, or which is obscured by so much content. Don't get me wrong. I order books from sellers on the internet -- but only when I know I can't get the book here in Denver.

So -- in my opinion -- even if it's a crappy big box store at Mayflower Mall, buying a book locally from a shop does a few things that buying online won't ever do:

-- helps keep the bookstore open so that other people may discover great works and have a bookshop
-- ordering books like Bukowski shows there's a market. When they order a few and you scoop them up, maybe they'll order a couple extras and maybe some dopey kid in a Sloan shirt will walk in and think, 'Factotum? What's this all about?' and pick it up
-- keep the money and jobs local. I'd guess that working at Cole's beats not working

I know -- box stores suck. You know what sucks worse? No bookstores.

Please take my comments as those of an occasionally under caffeinated book guy. I'm really excited you're getting into Bukowski. There's a lot of great stuff in those dozens of books.

As to asking people for the secrets of where the cheap places are online? Well, most book folk don't give up their secrets that easy!
 
I frequent Reynolds quite often! I was actually just there on Saturday. Bought Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. And yes, that lady is a sweetheart. My friend found Darwin's Origin of Species for $10. Jealous.

The problem with buying at Coles versus online for me is money.
I'm not in a position in life currently where I have a substantial amount of money.
Price is the bottom line.
If I find Women online for $0.26 + $6.49 shipping on Amazon and it costs me $15.99 + tax at Coles, I'm sorry, but, I have to pick Amazon.
 
That's legit, and I don't begrudge that reality. I just get old man cranky about the internet first tendency of so many people. That being said, no high five on the Sloan reference? ;) NOVA SCOTIA PRIDE!
 
I honestly didn't find you one bit cranky at all!
I completely agree with all your points.
When I'm in bigger cities, I head into ma and pa bookstores and cd stores all the time.
Sloan are decent. I was never a huge fan, but, I like the fact that they're from my neck of the woods (generally speaking) and have had a successful career.
 
I've gotten 8 or 9 Bukowski books in the used book stores of Halifax, Nova Scotia. but that's over 20 years of searching.

and to have my own Josh Rock moment; I went to high school with the drummer of Sloan and university with a couple of the others. Chris Murphy was in my acting class.

I know, you are all underwhelmed.
 
J.W. Doull on Barrington Street, Schooner Books on Inglis, Back Pages Books on Queen, and my favourite, at least when it comes to the owner, is the Last Word on Windsor. everytime I bought a Buk book there he would say how much he likes Bukowski, but how Henry Miller is so much better. not surprisingly, he prefers weed to booze.

Wayne at The Last Word:

Jessica-Books2-300x225.jpg
 
Last time I went to downtown Vancouver (other coast) I visited MacLeod's books, which is always busting at the seams with interesting books. Also went to Albion books up the street and got the Neil and Me memoir by Scott Young. Then went to HMV where Joe Keithley did a few songs in order to sell his second book on DOA.

Mostly I stay in Burnaby, go to Companion Books or the Sally Ann across the street. Sometimes further west to Brown's Books, or back into Vancouver and Pulp Fiction on Main as well as Wilkinson's a couple blocks west.

I spend too much time and money at book stores. :DD
 
Something else I'm wondering is:

Why is there (seemingly) such a huge price difference between Women/Post Office and all of Buk's other novels? Is it because Women/Post Office are the most popular? I paid $0.26 for Women and $3 for Post Office off Amazon. I cannot find any of the other novels for less than $7. I know, this is still cheap and I fully intend to buy them, I'm just curious. Always looking for the lowest price point. I have A LOT of Buk material to catch up on/purchase, so, I'm sure you can understand my need for savings.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top