Treasure Trove
For one reason or another, I'm always something of a latecomer on the scene where new trends are concerned. The first time I ever surfed the internet was late 1997 and I didn't own my first computer until the year 2000. I didn't have a cell phone until just a few years ago and when I did get one it was a very outmoded Nokia 3310. It doesn't even have a camera, if you can believe it, and the only mp3-player in this house belongs to my ten-year-old daughter. I haven't seen the latest movies or heard the latest music and my idea of haute couture is a gently-used wool coat from the Salvation Army Thrift Store. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that I've only recently been turned on to eBay.
Sure, I'd heard of eBay and I knew it was a good place to pick up knickknacks for cheap, but I never thought about what it could do for me. Turns out, though, it can do a lot. Not long ago I was looking for a copy of a book I recommended here, Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. In a fit of generosity I'd given my copy away and almost immediately regretted it. As I've mentioned before, books are incredibly expensive here in Sweden--particularly books in English--and I couldn't bring myself to shell out twenty bucks for a book I'd already read. I turned to the internet looking for cheaper alternatives, and what to my wondering eye did appear? Yep, it was eBay.
It's probably obvious to everyone else, but it had never occurred to me before that you could buy books on eBay. Tacky Avon figurines? Of course. Designer-knockoff handbags? Mais oui. But books? You could have knocked me over with a feather.
Before long The Blind Assassin was winging its way toward me at a fraction of the price--even factoring in shipping--I'd have paid to buy it new. Since that glorious day of discovery, I've been lining my bookshelves with eBay finds, including chick-lit favorites like Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, by Helen Fielding, and classics such as Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. So far I haven't searched for a title I wasn't able to find, and I've found untold treasures that I didn't even know I was looking for until I saw them.
I may never have to set foot in a bookstore again.
Okay, okay, I know that's just the eBay buzz talking--nothing can ever take the place in my heart of browsing through the stacks in a well-stocked bookstore--but sorting through the eBay listings has much to recommend it. Don't take my word for it, though; go check out eBay for that new book you've been meaning to read but haven't gotten around to buying. I bet you'll come away with a great deal on not only that one, but at least a couple of others as well.