Have found Abebooks to be great for used.

I do buy books, usually used books at the library book sales, but for all my reading it is the library.

I buy a book if I fall in love with it, and have shelves full of books. But until I have read a book, I have no idea if it is a "keeper" or not. I read it borrowed from the library, and if it is one I must have available to me at all times, I will then buy it.

Many of the books I do own are reference books---the kind I do not want to wait to look at if I need information. And there is also the authors that I love and want to support by buying.

If there is a book I want to read, and I am willing to buy it, I usually will buy it for the library and ask to get it as soon as it comes in. Then when I am done, it is available for anyone else to read.

If you noticed, I love and support my library!

... for many year, but the shelves are full of volumes I just can part with. Ya know?

We use the Houston library especially for kids books.

I seldom use the library because I don't like commitment. Having to return the books on time is way too much a commitment for me. And that's actually the truth, lol.

I have hundreds of free books on my Kindle and I'm still accumulating more. You never know when I might be too poor to afford books or when they may stop offering free ones for my Kindle!

In hard copy, I only read paperback books, hard covers are too heavy. I get most of my books at this great used bookstore close by where I live. The owner will keep an eye out for me if there is something specific I'm looking for and give me first dibbs on it when it comes in. Life's good.

Once in a while I do pay full price because of a need to feed my instant gratification thingy.

I read a lot of series. I am a little OCD and I like to read the series in sequential order. I keep all my series and most I've read two or three times.

holding the book with the same 2 or 3 fingers and thumb makes my thumb go numb after a very short time.

I have the same hard time with my thumb in computer word games, etc., where all I use is the mouse. It's not so bad if I type things with all fingers both hands.

I don't hold hardbacks - I find something to prop them perfectly and use a giant paperclip for pages read - they do NOT damage the book the way I use them...

I use my right hand to hold the paperback because my left is practically useless now.

I have always read while I lay down either on a couch or in bed. I'm ashamed to say, I've always been much too lazy to read sitting up, lol. But if I'm at a Dr.'s office or something I persevere.

I do not do the local library anymore because I do not like the pressure of returning a book "on time"
and
I usually have several books going at once.
So, I get books from swap sites, or from the dozens of free download places on the web
and I use a Nook to read in dr. offices or anyplace I will have to wait around.

And, like you, reading while lying on my side has always been the most comfortable.
My secret desire is for one of those "fainting couches" or chaise lounges to loll around on while reading!

of having to return the book on time, lol!

Followed by used or kindle

If the book turns out to be something special I'll buy a hard copy

And if I really like the book(s), I order them used from Amazon or another bookseller, depending on price. I have all but the last 2 Doss series and am considering a couple of other authors...

I love my library. They go out of their way to please me, it seems. But I think that they're just nice to everybody....

I am a "regular" they greet me by name I always have a long list of books on reserve, and swear that after they see my car drive by they wait a while and then call me and tell me something is in. I also get a considerable number of books at garage sales and rummage sales. Most of my cookbooks are acquired that way. I like to own my cookbooks, but have two checked out of the library right now. And I am putting books about Tasha Tudor on my Christmas list as I have taken checked them out so many times I think they need to come live with me now. I prefer borrowing or buying used, trying to be more ecologically friendly, but can't stop the reading.

did not accumulate many. But now that I am in one place I quickly have filled up my book cases.

I tend to buy more books these days than I used to. I figure the authors can use the income, too.

It often takes me longer than 2 weeks to read a book and I often forget to renew.

I mostly use Audible or rent them from our local bookstore.

Before technology, I always bought hard covers. I have many many books that I have no room to display now. I have a connection to those books and I hate to get rid of them. They're in cartons now and I should probably bite the bullet and donate them to a book sale somewhere.

Long ago, I noticed books were accumulating. Plus, the money savings. I only buy paperbacks now for taking on trips.

Intimations of mortality have led to concern about the detritus I'll leave behind. I've begun divesting.

I always end up owing the library money for overdue books, so I just shop at used bookstores and maneuver
around the bags and boxes of books that pile up everywhere at home and in my car.

i dont really consider those real books, lol. some are good. many are ok. but they dont go thru editor and publisher so they are not as smooth as a lot of the published books. i can read the kindle free books for a while, then i am back to the library to get real books.

Despite already having a couple years' worth of reading material on shelves throughout the house, I still have a list I take with me every time the local library has a book sale. I get some good, like-new stuff that way.

having a couple years worth of reading material on the shelves. I have that and also a ton on my Kindle.

I love libraries,and one is just down the road from my house, but I can't resist buying new books.

the library. My wonderful library (Santa Fe, NM) does not charge overdue fines. But if you have a book more than 14 days overdue you can't check out anything new.

I also make constant use of reserving books on-line.

Twice in the past I have helped people planning to open a used bookstore with a serious donation of books. Something like thirty boxes each time. In both cases they were relocating to other parts of the country, and were amazed and grateful for my donation. I was just glad to know someone else would eventually be reading books I no longer wanted.

The last book I read, "Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev, was a book I read in high school! To put that in perspective, I turn 60 in a few months. I appreciated it alot more this time around. In intend to re-read all the books I read in my youth. Without the pressure of writing book reports and tests concerning the books, I'm enjoying it alot more.

greatest pleasures, as far as I'm concerned.

so I'm using the library more now, and downloading to my kindle . . .

My purchases are almost always non fiction unless it's a fiction book that may take awhile to read like the Game of Thrones series or an author I just have to have on the day it comes out (Louise Penney)
We can also get the ISBN and recommend books for the library to purchase

I usually go to the library. But about once a year I make the mistake of going to Half Price Books. I end spending way too much money...

It's great, no worries about returning anything on time - it just doesn't let you open that file after the due date has passed.

If I bought every book I read, you couldn't walk in my house because books would be everywhere. As it is, we have 3 bookshelves full of "keepers" and another couple boxes of overflow.

I always check the library first, but if it something I really want to read and the library doesn't own it, I buy it. Most of the time, after I finish it I donate it to the library and they put it in the collection.

The nearest (tiny) libraries are 25 miles away.
I do a lot of reading in notEnglish, which widens the selections available. They say it keeps your brain at least idling.

Of course, I wouldn't download any authors in any foreign languages when those works were still in copyright here. That would be wrong. To do that.

I would love to switch much of my library to digital, except I can't even afford to buy the kindle or nook, let alone convert all my hard copies to digital. Why are digital books, which don't use paper, ink, binding, or shipping, almost as much money as the hard version? In some cases, like text books, they cost MORE than the book itself.

I used to buy books all the time. These days, I buy a few books a year (10? 15? 20?) and get the rest from the library. I've got about 22 library books in my reading stack at this moment.

I tend to buy longer books and more nonfictions, stuff that it's going to take a while to read. But as a librarian, I usually go there first. Unfortunately my public library system is less than stellar, particularly for items off the beaten path.