Three fantastic places to find and buy books online, and my new favorite reviewer
Bye bye, Amazon.
I’m excited to share my three favorite new ways to find books.
But first, remember in 1995, when Amazon first launched as an online bookshop?
It was diverting! I poked around “Earth’s biggest bookstore” with fascinated glee.
Amazon became a creeping addiction for me over the last 30 years. It wasn’t until my mother declared that she was giving up Amazon when I thought: there must be better alternatives to this schlock-filled behemoth. Amazon had even gobbled up my beloved AbeBooks! Wah.
Finding books online used to be fun. It didn’t used to be mixed in with fast fashion and cleaning products. Luckily, I found three ways to bring back the book acquisition magic, and a new favorite source for book reviews…
(1) My first new book source is your grandma’s 99-year-old Book of the Month Club!
I joined BOTM on a whim — I was in a reading rut, and I wanted to shake things up. I discovered an active discussion group about the books on Reddit, and I jumped in with my eyes closed. Some of the books have been weird, or a little basic, but only one has been kind of a stinker.
You can opt for the monthly book selections, choose a past reader favorite, or just skip the month if the selections piss me off. I enjoy this once-a-month blue box that pushes me out of my comfort zone.
As for online bookstores that remind me of the old Amazon, I poked around and found two new best bookstore friends:
(2) Blackwell’s. Just admit it: British and Canadian people are better at literature than we are in the U.S. If you aren’t convinced, please spend five minutes soaking in the Blackwell’s aura. You will instantly learn about several books you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
Blackwell’s is owned by Waterstones now, making it less of a “hidden gem,” but Waterstones is also wonderful! Their Boston-based store, where I spent many happy hours, closed after a fire in 1999, so this Blackwell’s website is the closest I can get to that vibe without flying to England, and it’s free shipping to the US, so yay.
(3) And if you’re looking for a random old book, World of Books is now my favorite place to find used books online. I have a list of Pennsylvania-specific naturalist titles right now (obscure mushrooms, anyone?), and World of Books has hooked me up!
You can sell your books on World of Books too, and they support authors through AUTHORShare, so they receive a royalty on the resale of their books. What’s not to love?
Finally, after scouring Substack for good book reviews, and unsubscribing from a dozen disappointing ones, I discovered Reads with Alicia.
Alicia Loh finds books and creates conglomerate reviews of books by many types o authors. I especially like that she introduces me to Asian authors I probably wouldn’t have found on my own.
I hope you, too, find some interesting new reads, and I’d love to hear about the places you find new books, too!