Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Cheap books, electronic and otherwise

E-reader prices have taken a tumble in America due to the success of the iPad.

Recently I saw at Dymocks the Kobo e-reader for $199, but they have sold out and you have to place them on order.   I thought the screen was a bit small though, but then I thought the same when I saw a Kindle.

Anyhow, I’ll still wait for the next generation of them before buying.  I’m currently getting plenty of cheap reading by going to the Lifeline Bookfest held every 6 months in Brisbane’s convention centre. 

In January, as I have reported here before, I got Clive James’ first volume of autobiography which I had been wanting to read for years.   This time (on the Queens Birthday weekend) I got the second volume.  I am also getting more Graham Greene, including his autobiography, and he is difficult to find anywhere other than second hand book stores.

One thing you do learn from going to the Lifeline book sale is this:  there are a hell of a lot of Bryce Courtney novels sold in Australia.  Unfortunately, he has no appeal to me at all.

For readers outside of Brisbane who may not understand the size of this Lifeline second hand book sale, here’s a photo from the Brisbane Times which gives a good indication:

bookfest1a-600x400

We like out second hand books in Brisbane.

2 comments:

Richard_H said...

*sniff*...
My wife has expressly forbidden me from going to the Lifeline Bookfest lest I return with a couple of cubic metres of "new" books that have to be stored somewhere.

Steve said...

Other men are threatened with the frying pan for coming home from the pub at all hours. Poor Richard may suffer a similar fate for coming back with a whiff of old book smell on your shirt sleeves. :)