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Reading as a cheap hobby

Reading needn't cost anything if you live within walking distance of a library or get a free bus pass. Libraries often put on free activities for children, too. If you're lucky, your local library will be warm and have some cosy armchairs. Some libraries will allow laptops so that students can work on projects and homework. Those who work from home can have a change of 'scenery' at a library and some libraries have cafés. If you take a notebook or a Kindle or phone with a good camera, keen cooks can copy down recipes or take photos. If you have arthritic fingers or don't possess a phone or tablet, most libraries will do cheap photocopies for you.

If you prefer to own books rather than borrow them from a library, there are several options:

* Charity shops
* Boot fairs
* eBay
* Book fairs
*Amazon and Amazon Marketplace
* Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org

These cover a variety of price points, from free (Project Gutenberg) to potentially expensive (book fairs).

A 2009 study from the University of Sussex showed that reading for as little as six minutes reduced stress by up to 68% and a study from the University of Liverpool found that reading for 30 minutes per week reduced depression by 21%.

Reading can be free or cheap, it can raise money for charities, it slows the heart rate, reduces stress and depression and buying secondhand books is a great form of recycling. 

As I couldn't find a thread exclusively about reading, I thought that I would start one so that we bookworms could discuss why we read, our favourite genres and books and our latest finds.

For example, when I was a child I didn't go anywhere without a book. On car journeys, I would read rather than look at the scenery, if there was any. I would take one holdall or suitcase on holiday and another holdall for books. Whenever I went to stay with my grandmother, she would hand over a carrier bag filled with secondhand books.

My grandmother bought me a copy of the Kama Sutra from a jumble sale when I was about ten, because she thought it was a book about yoga 😂 I was almost halfway through it before my mother found out and confiscated it.

I have Kindle Unlimited and read every day, mostly police procedural and magazines. 


Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, had me in tears aged nine and I loved the pony books by the Pullein-Thompson sisters. I collect 1970s Fontana paperback books by Agatha Christie as they have beautiful front cover illustrations. My favourite book is Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. Another book which made me cry, was Borrowed Time by Paul Monette. Creepiest book that I have read is Christine by Stephen King. I haven't read any of the Harry Potter books ! The Sheik by E M Hull (1919) a pig farmer's wife, is quite violent and disturbing in places IMO. Georgette Heyer Recency romances are pure mush but just the thing for a winter afternoon in front of a log fire 🔥 I own hundreds of cook books. I worked in two famous London bookshops, Foyles and Hatchards for a total of six years.

Latest books bought: The Hairy Bikers Mediterranean Adventure for my husband, Mary Berry Makes It Easy for my cousin in Vancouver and several cookbooks for ne from eBay all under £3 with free postage.

Eagerly awaiting all your book related posts ! 😁






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Comments

  • Brambling
    Brambling Posts: 5,637 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I don't think I've read any Farley Mowat, boys adventure books were the Hardy Boys.  Money wasn't plentyful growing up so any books we owned were treasured and reread 
    Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage   -          Anais Nin
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