Select Page

Where I get
my books

the hustle of finding new reads with lovely covers on a tiny island

Around 60% of my books come
from Local Bookstores

Living on a small island has its perks, but the number of bookstores isn’t one of them.

I still get most of my books from one or two local booksellers since prices are relatively low compared to online ones (shipping rates when living on an island… again).

My favourite haunt is Merlin Library, which sometimes have a three-for-two deal going that’s basically free license to go nuts, and they also have a penchant for choosing the prettiest cover versions.

Maybe 15% are from Online Bookstores

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been using online bookstores less and less because prices have gone up, but for those hard to find ones that I really, really want, it’s usually BookDepository or Amazon after some quick math at pricing.

5% come from Book sales and thrift shops

I also super love visiting book sales, and we have quite a few going here which I tend to always go to when they’re in my town or close by.

Most of their stuff is usually cookbooks and kids’ stories, but if you hunt well enough, you can always walk out with a treasure or two and they’re usually under three euros.

Thrift shops are normally less well stocked and definitely not as good as the ones abroad, and I don’t really buy books unless they look new and have a pretty cover, but I have managed to thrift a couple here or there. Lesson being, when you see a thrift shop, always stop by for a peak.

5% are Gifts

My handful of people know me enough by now to gift me one of two things; books, and candles. What they don’t know is which book to get me, for which I always have a handy wishlist for those who ask (cheeky, I know)

10% are travel purchases

Because of our lack of Waterstones here on the island, I always make sure to leave 4kgs of extra luggage space for a cute haul whenever I’m visiting a city lucky enough to have one, or two, or more.

And the remaining 5% were
found on Facebook Marketplace

Meeting strangers in new places to buy their books? Yes please.

I don’t use Facebook that much, but there is reward in browsing the marketplace section for books when you’re all out of Instagram feed to scroll. As before, most of what people are selling consists of old chemistry books here and it’s 95% a waste of time, with the remaining 5% possibility of getting your hands on that mainstream book you mildly wanted but wasn’t prepared to splurge on, for one or two euros.