What book do you see the most of at used stores?

[waryan]

I know this is a weird question but I always see the same books in prominence at used book stores and I wonder what the circumstance is- school reading perhaps, but I notice and am told that those don't usually stay on shelves for long because everyone comes in asking for them as soon as they're sold. Then I just wonder if the book is no good, or simply wasn't worth hanging around.

Anyway what books do you guys notice? It could be something you see 20 copies of at every book store, which I happen to see of THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG (and any Oprah's book club picks for that matter, which explains itself I guess) or a book you only see one or two copies of but you ALWAYS see it at every store, like THE MAMBO KING PLAYS SONGS OF LOVE.

haha anyway strange topic I know, but I am quite curious if anyone also sees this sort of thing.

[JBI]

Shakespeare, then Harry Potter

[Niamh]

Shakespeare, then Harry Potter

I knew you where going to say potter. :p
I see a lot of Shakespeare, Mills and Boon, Dan Brown, Patterson, Binchy, Kelly...
...rarely seen potter. But i suppose its different in each country...

[JBI]

Over 300 million copies of Potter in such a small time period, it is only natural that they end up everywhere. Though I confess, I could have put more obscure works, for instance, Austen, Dickens, Tennyson, and Victorian novelists and poets in general seem to be everywhere, especially in ugly versions from the early 20th century. For contemporary books, always the paper-backs and the Potters, and if I go to a Canadian store which specializes, a whole shelf of New Canadian Library old books from the original mid-century publications.

That being said, I get most of my used books at charity events which separate by genre, often, so I don't end up sifting through the popular paper-backs, fantasy novels, and crime-fiction/other "genres". Usually I get there as they are opening, scan the poetry quickly, head to the Can Lit, scan that slowly, go to regular literary novels, scan there, go to literary criticism, then head back to poetry and can lit.

[waryan]

very interesting as i never see harry potter books!

[Joreads]

very interesting as i never see harry potter books!

I never see any either.

[WrdOrnitologist]

Yes, Harry Potter, plus a lot o pseudo literature, fashionable!
:lol:

[ravilobo]

Chicken soup for the soul.
old dictinaries
Gunniess book of world records
Agatha Christie
John Grisham
Sydney sheldon

[imperiex]

the books that has covers of a woman and a man locked in passionate embrace, the woman usually has her bosom half exposed, they were snogging in front of a scenery somewhere. ppl dont seem to bother buying those books imo.

hey you did say what book did you 'see' most at used stores ;p

[*Classic*Charm*]

Wicked! A ton of copies of Wicked.

[waryan]

Lots of Dickens, lots of Hemingway, lots of Fitzgerald

[*Classic*Charm*]

Lots of Dickens, lots of Hemingway, lots of Fitzgerald

But never the ones I'm looking for...:(

[Etienne]

Well here they always keep only one or two copies of the same book on the shelves usually, even if they have more. Also the books are pretty well separated, so I end up never seeing those Harry Potters and friends. So usually the most common sights are the classics, with usually the more recent the harder to find. Those books studied in schools generally, for example are always there.

[waryan]

But never the ones I'm looking for...:(

I know exactly what you mean

[andave_ya]

the books that has covers of a woman and a man locked in passionate embrace, the woman usually has her bosom half exposed, they were snogging in front of a scenery somewhere. ppl dont seem to bother buying those books imo.

hey you did say what book did you 'see' most at used stores ;p


hurray for amazingly AWFUL books, right? I see those too, constantly and repulsively.

[Niamh]

Agatha Christie
John Grisham
Sydney sheldon
Yeah there does be a lot of these too.

I knew you where going to say potter. :p
I see a lot of Shakespeare, Mills and Boon, Dan Brown, Patterson, Binchy, Kelly...
...rarely seen potter. But i suppose its different in each country...


the books that has covers of a woman and a man locked in passionate embrace, the woman usually has her bosom half exposed, they were snogging in front of a scenery somewhere. ppl dont seem to bother buying those books imo.

hey you did say what book did you 'see' most at used stores ;p
I think you will find that a lot of those are Mills and Boon. There does be hundreds of them.

[JBI]

Well, over half the fiction paper-back sales in the States are romance novels. It doesn't surprise me.

[mortalterror]

Well, over half the fiction paper-back sales in the States are romance novels. It doesn't surprise me.

You do know that Harlequin Enterprises, a Toronto based company, owner of Mills and Boon, and Canada's biggest publisher, is the world's leading publisher of romance and women's fiction don't you?

[JBI]

You do know that Harlequin Enterprises, a Toronto based company, owner of Mills and Boon, and Canada's biggest publisher, is the world's leading publisher of romance and women's fiction don't you?

Yes. I do. What's your point? I merely gave the statistic, because I knew it - had I known the Canadian one, I would give it, though I think our rate would be slightly lower for various reasons.

1) we usually get flooded by American publications, which leads many Canadian readers to read hard-cover sub-literary to literary works (what I mean by that is moderate difficult in terms of scope, to complex).

That being said though, I wouldn't doubt that romance novels are major in Canada, I just doubt Canadian publications of romance novels are that big in Canada. People here read Nora Roberts (or whatever she publishes under now) true, but they also read Elizabeth Hay, Margret Atwood, and others.

The romance as a genre is more American I would say, in the sense that it portrays more American concepts than Canadian ones.

If I were to guess I would say around 35-40% of paper-back fiction, though the problem is, that this is paper-back fiction, not all fiction.

[Nightshade]

Yes. I do. What's your point? I merely gave the statistic, because I knew it - had I known the Canadian one, I would give it, though I think our rate would be slightly lower for various reasons.

1) we usually get flooded by American publications, which leads many Canadian readers to read hard-cover sub-literary to literary works (what I mean by that is moderate difficult in terms of scope, to complex).

That being said though, I wouldn't doubt that romance novels are major in Canada, I just doubt Canadian publications of romance novels are that big in Canada. People here read Nora Roberts (or whatever she publishes under now) true, but they also read Elizabeth Hay, Margret Atwood, and others.

The romance as a genre is more American I would say, in the sense that it portrays more American concepts than Canadian ones.

If I were to guess I would say around 35-40% of paper-back fiction, though the problem is, that this is paper-back fiction, not all fiction.
Given that this week is the 100th aniversry of Mills and Boons ( i think thats the only exp,lanaion I can think of the BBc making a drama all about it ) I feel the urge to say JBI the thing about romance novels is they are big EVERYWHERE supposedly they transdend the ideas of culture and blah blah Im not goin to get into it except to ask a question of people who bash the books is have you ever read any of them? Because most people who choose to slam them havent whh I think is unfair yes they are silly books but as someone I spoke to a few months ago said that why women buy them because if you know you are unlikly to get a chance to finish the book what with 3 screaming under 4 year olds ( tripets in this case) and another baby on the way you want a book you can put down and not have to worry about the ending because when it comes to it you know how its going to end.
Having said all that I dont much care for them myself have read the odd one because I read at least 3 books from ever genre we offer in the library every year it keeps me up to speed and helps with the tracking down of books ( its not of any consequence to anyone but library staff I guess but MIlls and boons operate the colour of the book and titles correspond to various themes and if you have to find 50 books and your list says romance but you know you have the books organised by colour if you can tell the colour from the title it cuts an all day job down to a maximumn of 40 minute job. ) - I will say this is my main job Ive even had phone calls and emailf from work going wer have a list can you give us the colour and can you remberif we have had this one in or not.

Anyway the book I see the most is he Divinci code, its amaziong how many copies of that are still hanging around but really see that many mills and boons in charity shops round here any more geereally they dont sell and we have a regional book man who comes to all the charityu shops so most people dont even bother putting them out they just box them up for him.

:D

[mortalterror]

Yes. I do. What's your point?

Just this, that people who live in glass igloos shouldn't throw stones.

[JBI]

Just this, that people who live in glass igloos shouldn't throw stones.

Honestly - what's with the throwing stones? all I said was that the sales on romance novels were giant, and the fact that they were seen in used book stores was unsurprising. I didn't even comment on the nature, or value of romance novels, because quite frankly, I don't care.

I was merely trying to talk about the popularity of said works, not the actual works themselves.

As for the biggest distributor being Canadian - who cares. It simply means investors purchase the company on the Toronto Exchange rather than the American or British exchanges. It is not as if the major romance writers are Canadian anyway - most of the romances on the best-seller lists I see in Canada seem to be imports.

[kelby_lake]

Mills and Boon. They are hilarious!
Harry Potter
The Lovely Bones
Bridget Jones' Diary
Curious Incident of the dog in the nighttime

Generally depressing books.

[islandclimber]

Yeah, I agree with you JBI.. I don't think romance is quite as popular in Canada as in the US.. and there aren't many big romance writers from Canada, and Canadians do seem to like to read Canadian writers... Even in bookstores the romance section up here in Canada isn't that big... and I almost never notice that many people in the romance section lol.. Or maybe I am oblivious lol.. As I really don't care...

My aunt reads romance novels, and I have skimmed through a few just to see what they are like.. to put it lightly they are trash, absolutely awful.. I don't know how they can even be considered entertaining... oh well, to each their own...

The authors I see most often in used book stores are:

-Stephen King,
- Dickens,
- Agatha Christie,
- Tom Clancy
-Dan Brown
-and surprisingly I see Alice Munro quite a bit,
-and yes quite a number of romance novels but never that many from a single particular author

[LadyWentworth]

Dan Brown, Patterson, Binchy


Chicken soup for the soul


Wicked! A ton of copies of Wicked.



Tom Clancy

All of the above.


romance novels
Loads of these!!! Especially in Half-Price books.


My aunt reads romance novels, and I have skimmed through a few just to see what they are like.. to put it lightly they are trash, absolutely awful.. I don't know how they can even be considered entertaining...
I have only read 2 in my life. Same author. They were given to me by a friend because she thought the stories were so good. Since they were "historical romances" she thought I would like them. My opinion: They are good for a laugh. I know some people enjoy them, but the storylines, dialogue and characters are funny. For me, they are, at least. I never had any desire to read a 3rd romance novel, though. I just don't care about them.

[grace86]

I see a lot of Dan Brown, Clancy, romance novels and Oprah's picks. Mostly contemporary stuff.

[Niamh]

I have to read chick lit novels quite frequantly, as i read them for a publishing house. When you have read some of the crap i've read, you would appriciate and enjoy what is on the shelves. I was never a big Chick lit/ romance reader, i'm still not. But i see some value in them.... well not all of them. I tend to enjoy the ones that are witty, with depth and literary.....
....just dont pass me Ahearn or Mackle...
Also i think Ireland is one of the biggest producers of the genre. We have hundreds of chick lit authors.....

[JBI]

I have to read chick lit novels quite frequantly, as i read them for a publishing house. When you have read some of the crap i've read, you would appriciate and enjoy what is on the shelves. I was never a big Chick lit/ romance reader, i'm still not. But i see some value in them.... well not all of them. I tend to enjoy the ones that are witty, with depth and literary.....
....just dont pass me Ahearn or Mackle...
Also i think Ireland is one of the biggest producers of the genre. We have hundreds of chick lit authors.....

Almost all English speaking countries do. Though I think America probably more so than elsewhere, for various reasons.

[RG57]

I usually notice that there are stacks of Mills & Boon being sold in bundles.

[weltanschauung]

danielle steel, mang. its incredible.

[PabloQ]

I seem to notice a lot of Faulkner at the used book stores I go to. There's always a proportion of the most popular best selling titles, so that explain most of the responses above. I don't go to the used book store to find a beat up copy of the DaVinci Code. I'm typically looking for titles by classical authors that I enjoy.

[Tallon]

Always alot of classics, more people buy them than read them and that makes used book stores very good for us bibliophiles.

[RG57]

I forgot books by Jeffrey Archer appear to a used book shop destination.

[Ashurbanipal]

I see the da-vinci code all over the place.

[Cailin]

I have to read chick lit novels quite frequantly, as i read them for a publishing house. When you have read some of the crap i've read, you would appriciate and enjoy what is on the shelves. I was never a big Chick lit/ romance reader, i'm still not. But i see some value in them.... well not all of them. I tend to enjoy the ones that are witty, with depth and literary.....
....just dont pass me Ahearn or Mackle...
Also i think Ireland is one of the biggest producers of the genre. We have hundreds of chick lit authors.....

I second that Niamh! What is it about our apparent penchant for Sheila O'Flanagan et al? Always see TONS of them in the second hand bookshops - along with a plethora of copies of David McWilliams' The Pope's Children.