I know in some of the European Union countries it's actually really expensive getting the books in ebook format. It's some tax they have and the tax on digital books is a little higher than the tax on the physical book. It's kind of some weird way to protect the physical stuff.

---------- Post added 08-16-2013 at 09:21 PM ----------

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing with the characters being older in the series than the books.

@Ling: I keep expecting ebook prices to go down but ebooks have been around for at least 5-6 years now and they still haven't gone down. I was interested in getting ebook versions of my textbooks, but by God they're the same price or more than their physical counterparts, especially when taking into account the used book market for physical copies. And for textbooks you usually only get a one year pass for them! So one, you lose access to the 80$ book you bought, and two you can't resell it! RIPOOOOFFFF!

@Ser: That's interesting. I've been hearing that a lot of states and/or the government are trying to put into effect internet taxation here in the U.S. I'm not a proponent of that. I go to the internet to avoid sales tax.

I didn't realise you could buy an ebook with limited time access to it...that sucks.

I'm glad I bought all my textbooks hardcophy and not sold any of them, I'm thinking they may come in handy this semester. I have to write about theory in practice as well as other stuff as part of my written assignments for placement.

Mostly that's just for stuff like textbooks, but that's a really expensive rental, ya know?

I buy all hard copy, and I do keep a lot of them. I keep the ones pertaining to my major for the most part, so I have almost all the psych books I've ever had to buy. I do sell off most of the other books because they're awfully expensive paper weights. >.>

<--- has never bought any of the required books after first term. I don't have the money and the school always has a copy of the book that I can check out and do the homework out of after my class. I also have a lot of art classes though so I realize this is not an option of other classes XD

I buy my text books in hard copy. I need it so I can mark them to death when reading if need be. I only sold a couple books I knew I wouldn't need again.
When I was at the community college, I had the fun of going to a store not far from the campus to purchase the books used for a price cheaper than used at the bookstore on campus. I had instructors telling us to do so anyway.
Then after I met and started dating Mike, I borrowed all of his books that I needed (We both were Political Science majors as undergrad students). I did this in Fredonia also if I took a class he had taken before. So, that saved me a lot of money which I needed to since that was when we were broke.

I still buy used copies of any of my books now anyway and I go on websites that sell them to find a cheaper copy.

Haha, yeah, Birdie that's definitely not something I could ever do. XP

I buy almost all of my books on amazon. The used section usually has great deals. If it doesn't I go to the college and see what kind of deal they've got, and if THAT sucks, I buy a new one.

I hardly ever buy stuff online, and once I bought a textbook through a different bookstore who said they would order it in and sell it for cheaper, I didn't get the book until well into the semester, because they made a stuff up with the piece of paper I had written my order on, misplaced it or something. After that I decided it was just better to get it from the uni's textbook store at full price or sometimes, at a slight discount.

Online is the only way to go, man. I get $100 books for $25 sometimes. I definitely never pay full price, I know that.

The only times I've ever played full price is when my school pulls the bs move of making textbooks specific to the school. AKA, they change one word in the book, and thus make it the only version of the book you can buy.

I suppose buying online is cheaper, but I've never done it that way for fear of not receiving the book by the time I needed it....much like that other bookstore I mentioned with that stuff up with the order. [no]

Anyway, being in my (hopefully) last semester and not needing a textbook for this course means I don't have to worry about that anymore.

Yeah, there is that fear. Usually I order books in July, though, to try and avoid that and I've never had a problem

That's nice you don't have a book. I've only had that luck a couple of times. >.>

I've had I think 3 courses with no required textbook. But then I once had to buy a sealed pack with two books for one particular course...that was expensive....

Ach, I've had courses that required like five different books. Those were literature courses though, so most of the books weren't expensive, but it was kind of a pain. I miss lit courses, but my elective courses are all gone so I can't take any more.

I get decent deals from Half.com also.

Presuming the literature books you were required to get were fiction books，Elysium, that would have been a good opportunity to build on your personal library's collection. And if they're books about literature, just as good, very interesting.

Actually, many of my textbooks have been interesting too, though I haven't read them entirely what I did read was good. Most of them were accessible in terms of language.

Yeah, most of them were books like "Hamlet" or "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," and I did keep them because yeah they did grow my literary collection. ^.^ There were some lit textbooks but they were usually anthologies so I kept them as well.

Most of the textbooks I've had have been accessible language wise. A few of them haven't been and those were the ones I sold the second I could because they caused me so much pain. [lol]

I read a weird graphic novel version of Hamlet once, the artwork was twisted, but I got a gist of the story from that. I know that Mark Twain wrote The Adentures of Huckleberry Finn...but like pretty much all classics, I haven't read it.

I didn't even do English as a subject in my last two years of high school, where they would've learnt all about literature and that kind of thing...I took the option many in my position could at the time, and chose to do ESL (English as a second language) class...I sometimes wonder how I would've done in the English subject. Seeing as in reality I am actually much better at English than any other language.

Hamlet is a dark story, but then anything Shakespearean probably is a bit dark. Huckleberry Finn was okay--better than I thought it'd be, but it's just not my favorite genre.

I haven't read a crud ton of classics, but I've read a few.

I actually took two college level English courses in high school, and went on to take a few in college as well. I really like English, but it wasn't a plausible major. It was the one I wanted...but not the one I did.

Wow, that's impressive, doing college level courses while still in high school. I actually quite like English too...

So much that I had considered doing a degree which was essentially about professional writing and communication when I was still deciding what I wanted to study in uni. I can't remember the exact title of the degree now, but I'm kind of glad I didn't end up going down that path. I think it would have taken the fun out of creative writing for me.

When I think about it, I've heard of many classics but I've never read any of them in their original text format. Either I've read retellings of them, read a graphic novel version or watched a movie or other film adaption.

Hamlet is a very dark story and so is Othello I read that before I transferred over to CSU

@Ling: I think I would've enjoyed the English degree far more than what I am doing now, but there was no money to be had from an English degree. I needed something a little more promising to fall back on.

I've seen a lot of movie adaptations of classics rather than having read them. It's kinda sad really, but I usually find classics rather dry or hard to read so the movies are more interesting for me most of the time. BUT, I'm trying to fix that thought process, lol.

@Otaku: I've never read Othello. I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare because his stories are generally so dark. I've read Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and The Taming of the Shrew...which was sexist. Which is another reason I don't like Shakespeare as much as some people.

I think because Shakespeare's works are so old, the language is very much outdated...and hard for the modern person without any knowledge of the old English to understand. I still find it interesting that the original (or presumably original) works are still around and read.

I think I've seen many movie adaptations of classics too...Charles Dickens' stories I quite enjoy, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist being the two I can think of. I've also watched Pride and Prejudice the Keira Knightly movie version...which got me into Jane Austen. Though I've only read graphic novels for Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. I want to read Persuasion....the blurb I've read seems timely for someone like me.

I borrowed a retelling of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations recently which also has illustrations and I hope that'll be good, since I don't know the story yet.

I know when I had to read Shakespeare in school, they had a translated in modern English on the opposite page. ^^"

Ugh, school starts soon.

Haha I actually have a ton of technical drawing books and art history books from my field ~ but none of them from my school, I just don't have a ton of fiction in my library. I have a few of the forgotten realms, my D&D books XD, and the sword of truth series though so I think Game of Thrones may fit in there nicely :)

Yup ~ I only have a month of freedom left, but I can only afford time and money wise to take one class so I shouldn't be to stressed.

@Ling: Ahh yes, Charles Dickens has some great works--I can't go a Christmas without watching some version of A Christmas Carol. Usually several versions. XD [lol]

I also like Jane Austen. I've made an attempt to read Pride and Prejudice, but usually I get sucked into some other book or something and never finish it. I love the Kiera Knightley version of that movie. Mmmmmmm. That Mr. Darcy is my favorite.

@Ser: My teachers were never so nice. :P We had to read it and basically translate it ourselves as homework. That and have long in-class discussions about what specific phrases could possibly mean. That's probably why I avoid reading the classics...so many memories of....boring/torturous class lectures.

I second your ugh. Mine starts Monday and there's a lot I would rather do. >.> I don't know if I gave off the vibe or not, but I was seriously miserable at the school last year and I really don't want to go back...but I need to finish this degree.

@Birdie: That's cool. ^.^ I have a decent sized library of Psych books these days, but I'd like to buy more books in different subjects just to study on my own. I've been thinking of buying like a French textbook and a German textbook...definitely I want to get a higher level Spanish text so I can get my fluency back.

Ugh, I wish I was you in that school situation, lol. Just one class that is. XD