My new year resolution to cut back on buying books and to reduce the to-be-read pile is not working out too well. So far this year I've bought more books than I've read. Yesterday I picked up five in an Oxfam book store in Dublin:
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez
Blue Lightening by Ann Cleeves
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre
I'm always a little conflicted buying books in a charity shop: on the one hand, I'm giving money to a good cause, on the other I know the author isn't getting a penny. Hopefully a little oxygen via the blog is a bit of compensation.
3 comments:
I loved the Brookmyre book. Not my usual fare but so very funny.
I don't see how buying in charity shops can be a bad thing. No worse than borrowing a book from a friend (and even though I know library borrowing does theoretically give something to an author I don't imagine it puts food on the table for many with the pennies they probably accrue).
I did likewise (charity shop) with Brighton Rock is one I bought at a charity shop, but I don't have twinges of conscience since many I've picked up as a punt have led me to buy (at full price) several others by the same writer, most notably Peter Temple (1 charity + 7 full price) and John Lawton (4 full price and several to add)
Re library earnings - one not very high profile author admitted he'd had a holiday in Crete for self and wife on the proceeds.
Thanks for the comments. Yes, you're right, given the amount of money I spend on books each year, and the charity bought ones often lead to other purchases, I shouldn't get too worried about this. I still like to try to make sure the author does profit from my reading though. And I would like to think that an author should be able to take a holiday on their earnings for their labour and creativity - everyone else does.
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