Exercise One:
The three closest to my branch appear to be a Barnes and Noble, a Borders, and a 1/2 Price Books. Where, oh where, are my independent booksellers? Do you just not have an online presence...is that why I'm not finding you? What happened to the days when I could take a free bus to Bookpeople and Bookwoman :o(
Anyway...all three of these booksellers have a web presence.
Barnes and Noble - Quite flashy and interactive, with a scrolling "our picks this week" feature. Barnes and Noble sells a variety of materials (not just books...although I've noticed that their movies and music tend to be on the overpriced and small selection side of things). Also, this might just be a temporary feature of today rather than any everyday one...but "Tween-tastic Artists"...who thinks these captions up? I'm not a tween, but I'm certainly offended.
Borders - I personally like the Borders website better than BN. First, they have a Shelfari-looking feature of new titles...which I think helps them integrate into the online bookish communities a little better. I also believe that Borders has pulled in customer opinions within their home page in a more accessible manner.
1/2 Price Books - Personally my favorite chain bookstore to shop in (although I work in a library...so I rarely, if ever, purchase books) out of the three. 1/2 Price Books doesn't have a snappy, super-interactive website. But, honestly, I don't think they need to be flashy. People love 1/2 price books because of the unique experience you have in each one. Of course you find stock overlap, but sometimes what you see on the shelves can be extremely unique to the community.
Exercise Two:
I did a search for Looking for Alaska by John Green on Google (the shopping section) and found several copies: from Amazon @ $4.99, Golden Gate Bookstore @ $9.97 and Barnes and Noble @ $15.99. I guess Amazon and Golden Gate have used books because $16...I don't think so. Katy Budget Books has a copy of the title for $7.99; Books a Million is selling a copy for the same price ($7.99); BookMooch had no copies available for trade. Amazon has a downloadable audio version for $15.73. And of course Harris County Public Library has several copies of the book, a downloadable audiobook, and an audio book on CD...for free!
Exercise Three:
I downloaded James Patterson's Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports from the Maximum Ride series. While a read a lot online (well, I guess I read a lot just in general), I don't enjoy pleasure reading on a computer as much as holding the book in my hands. Partly I guess it is a mobility issue. My husband and I have a laptop, but he uses it more often (as he is the student in the family) and I don't really feel like I'm in a position to say "stop working on that paper and give me the laptop, I need to read some teen fiction!" So, until I can read it in my bed or while I'm eating breakfast in the morning...it just doesn't feel as much like a pleasure. Instead it feels like online reading...like I do when I'm at work. However, in some ways I do wish that I would use the laptop for more pleasure reading. Not only does it seem more convenient (never getting overdue fines...it just automatically reverts back to the system!), but it seems more cost effecient and perhaps even better for the environment.
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