When I was in India last year I read The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, a fantastic book that won the Man Booker Prize in 2008.  I had brought my copy from a street seller who laid out a collection of books on a pallet on the pavement, most of which looked a bit worse for ware: the text was miss aligned or faded and the colours on the front coveres were poorly saturated. Initially I thought it was a rejected run from a printing press, books that wouldn’t make the grade of western bookshops.  I had selected the best quality book but even that had the odd missing letter or faded type face.  After coming across handwritten notes and arrows I was convinced the entire book had been photocopied

So all in all a successful purchase - a fantastic book, “stuck it to the man” by buying a pirated book and spent £1.50 on something that would cost me £12.99 in Waterstones.  Books are getting so expensive in the UK that I have been exploring other avenues for obtaining books (despite their relative value for money).

Second hand books are a great way to go.  There is a great open-air bookshop on the South bank, London, next to the British Film institute, which has a vast selection of second hand books for about £3 a paperback. Second hand book shops always seem to have the classics, but are also overstocked with last year’s blockbusters (Dan Brown etc.).  Another great resource for second hand books is Amazon market place, most ot the classics are available for 1p + £2.75 shipping, but often the shipping price will cancel out the saving if you’re buying in bulk.

Borrowing books from friends is a great way to get hold of books.  Personally I feel I’m getting more value for money, out of a book, the more friends I can persuade to read it, and I enjoy being able to discuss it with them afterwards.  I think most people are the same, and as long as you don’t crack the spine or fold the pages, most people will be very willing to loan out their personal library.  However I’ve now reached a point where I avoid looking at friends’ bookshelves as I have shuch a backlog of borrowed books to get through.

Pirate books, with the exception of the few I brought in India, haven’t really featured in my personal library that much. I’ve downloaded the odd ebook or audio book from the piratebay but neither are ideal. I find ebooks are only suitable for reference material, in fact the ability to quickly search through them gives them adavantage over “traditional” paper books; as for novels I don’t like staring at a screen for hours.  And audio books just take too long, I’m not the fastest reader but I can always go faster than someone reading it out loud.

I’m sure the local library would be a great resource.  I’ve not taken the time to find one close to me.  I think I’m seduced by developing my own personal book collection and not having to commit to a return date.

In 2009 I’m going to do my best to read fifty two books.  I have got about twenty unread, or unfinished books gathering dust on my bookshelf, so they’ll be the ones I’ll tackle first.  The rest I’ll try and source as cheaply as possible.