I’m in Canada, so options available in Canada are especially appreciated.
Do you want free? Ask in the piracy mag.
I want to read on paper. There are already too many screens in my life.
Secondsale.com has treated me well
Book outlet! They’re based in Thorold Ontario. They don’t have everything but I always check them first.
I use www.ethicalbooksearch.com to find the best second hand options in the UK. You can change your location to Canada, for which they say they search Awesome Books, Better World Books, Biblio and ebooks.
Canuckian results from www.DuckDuckGo.com include…
( I’m just copy/pasting interesting-looking links: I haven’t experience with these, but am just saving you some clicks : )
https://chatelaine.com/living/independent-bookstores-canada/
https://www.savvynewcanadians.com/best-bookstore-toronto/
( they are the Canadian equivalent to Am & B&N: they bought & wrecked Chapters, years ago )
https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/home
https://www.renaud-bray.com/home.aspx
http://pulpfictionbooksvancouver.com/
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Alibris for used? They’re independent. For new, if you have a local bookstore, I’d go with them first. If not, depends on your province. There’s probably a largish bookstore in the provincial capital that will ship.
powells.com. Largest independent bookstore in the world, they ship to Canada, but it ain’t gonna be particularly cheap i’m guessing.
Depending on what kinds of books you’re into: https://www.pmpress.org/ https://www.akpress.org/
Maybe Thriftbooks? They do offer shipping to Canada but it’s not always cheap.
Abe books. Ebay. If the book is new, bookshop dot org.
But 💯 thriftbooks
But you’re better off coming down to Portland and visiting the mothership in person.
I haven’t been (to PDX) since before the pandemic. Powell’s is an excellent reason to change that.
For Germany, just in case.
Gebraucht:
Neu:
Really surprised nobody has mentioned Better World Books yet. Good selection of books, most of the used books seem to be former library books, and they (at least claim) to donate books to charity with every purchase.
You can get really cool books for really cheap with their bargain bin sales too.
I’ve also tried ThriftBooks but I got too many bad copies - one book, Lord of the Flies, which was owned by a high schooler and had writing on every single page of the book and another book which clearly had urine of some kind on it judging by how obsessed my cat was with the yellow stain on the spine. Their edition picker is also terrible, very similar to the way Amazon handles their options to where different editions are all smashed into one page.
It doesn’t answer your specific question and isn’t meant to be preachy, just want to say that I’m shocked more people don’t use public libraries for books they don’t want to keep forever. Check it out as often as you want, no need to keep it on a shelf, if you really love it, then buy it.
My toxic trait is that I want to keep every book I ever read …
I hope you hire movers or never move
I use the Libby app with my library card for digital loaned books and audiobooks, maybe the same system works with Canadian libraries
You don’t even have to go there! Ebooks and audiobooks are widely available through libraries too. Depending on your area you might also have access to free language programs or classes on other subjects. Emedia has really taken off with libraries.
Kobo isn’t bad.
I’m looking for hard copy books. Paper in my hands!
Maybe a local independent bookstore?
Facebook marketplace for used books and used goods in general. Lots of good quality basically new stuff on there for cheap. I guess because so many Canadians just buy stuff without thinking and then it piles up and they need to make space.
Some neighbourhoods also have some boxes on posts (not sure what they’re called, they resemble mailboxes) where people can take and give away books for free as well.
You can also type ‘bookstores’ in google maps and seeing what local stores will come up.