What's the best cheap/secondhand book store you know?

I had time to duck into National Bookstore's Cubao Superbranch yesterday - it's always a pleasure to browse through their shelves, because there's a disproportionate amount of good books in their stash.

So yesterday I bought Them by Jon Ronson, Devout Sceptics by Bel Mooney, and Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. Previously I bought Snake Oil and other Preoccupations by John Diamond, and Unweaving the Rainbow by Richard Dawkins.

This always happens to me: I manage to dig up a whole armful of books and then... I realize that I can't buy all these books, then I have to winnow down my choices to a reasonable amount. It's a happy dilemma characteristic of only the best cheap book outlets.

So... have you experienced this dilemma regularly at any other bookstore? What secondhand/cheap book stores do you frequent, and how good are their choices?

The National Bookstore cubao superbranch is fantastic. Before they renovated it, i bought, like seven iain banks books. grabe. i think i got 12 books during that shopping spree.

in up los baños, there's a store there called the practical shop. anybody heard of it? it's sells second hand furniture on the 1st floor and used books on the second floor. I got a lot of daphne du mauriers and elmore leonards from that store, for P30 a pop. but my favorite purchase there was Whit, or Isis Amongst the Unsaved by Iain Banks. I got it for P35.

Funny you should say that... when I was there this week, one thought that came to mind while I was browsing was, "Gee, I wonder why Iain Banks keeps popping up?" ;)

"Gee, I wonder why Iain Banks keeps popping up?"

Maybe because Banks may stand for one of the few contemporary writers who gain equal respect for his "general fiction" as he does for his SF.

If I sound less than certain, it's only because I've just read his SF, but even so, it contains flat-out brilliant writing that promises how he can write in any genre he wants...successfully!

Back to the original topic, my favorite would have to be BookSale for its sheer number of branches and low prices. Books for Less has slightly higher prices for its wares, but the condition of the books is less shabby.

I also miss the days when NBS-Cubao wasn't yet renovated the way it was now. I also experience that dilemma of having to grab books from the shelves--necessary, since there's no order in their arrangement--and later deciding which ones I can actually afford to buy.

However, I don't find that part of the experience all too pleasant! It's difficult and heartbreaking at times. In fact, one of my greatest moments of book loss happened in NBS-Cubao, when I failed to trust my judgment and buy the copy of Joel Lane's From Blue to Black that I saw.

And now it's gone...forever.

Speaking of Iain Banks (ate Luds, pwedeng magplugging?) ... anyone interested in buying my copy of The State of the Art? I do meetups and deliveries by Aboitiz GO. :) Anyway, back to our scheduled programming...

I already have The State of the Art, but though I won't buy it, I will at least be able to recommend it to others. It's a brilliant collection that shows Banks's range and is a good introduction to his work.

It's worth it for the story "Odd Attachment" alone. Genius.

Ate Weena's second hand book shop in UP Diliman. Between the isawan & shopping center. :)

Well, it's not a bookstore, but it's a way to get rid of books you don't want to get books that you do want: BookMooch. I've gotten 11 books in good condition from it already.

esmetuts, I'm not from UP. How do I get to Ate Weena's book shop from Katipunan? I'm not familiar with yung isawan at shopping center eh. What kinds of books are sold there?

Found a new store on the 3rd floor of Waltermart, near Don Bosco. It's called Buy-The-Book. I took them at their word, and bought a copy of God's Soldiers, a history of the Jesuits.

I think this is where Powerbooks sends its remaindered books; I peeled off two stickers on the cover of my new purchase, and found a Powerbooks pricetag underneath.

micketymoc, yup, it's a national book store/powerbooks-affiliated store. a friend found it by accident last month and didn't want to tell the rest of humanity about it. he got lots of good titles ranging from 99-120 pesos each.

there's another branch in recto, i think.

Hey, that looks like a neat little place! It's too bad it's not that easy for me to get there. But if any of you spot Joel Lane's From Blue to Black over there (I previously saw a copy in NBS-Cubao), I'm determined to make the effort to do so.

"a friend found it by accident last month and didn't want to tell the rest of humanity about it."

Bwahahahaha, I understand the impulse. I actually saw this store last week and I didn't say anything until now, because I didn't have the money to buy the book I wanted at the time. Now that I've got the book I wanted, I can share the "secret" with the world! :D

Sigh. I've never gone to Waltermart. I've never even heard of it. Why can't there be more good used bookstores closer to where I live?!

Hi, is this Don Bosco in Mandaluyong? What Waltermart branch is this? Thank you very much :)

This is the Don Bosco in Makati, near Makati Cinema Square. Waltermart is across Don Bosco, on Pasong Tamo. You can't miss it.

There's this one in UP Diliman, they sell secondhand books but still in very good condition. It's near the shopping center.

#17 yes, and they also brand-new books at a much lower price. (If we're talking about the one near the Post Office.)

Buy-The-Book? Cool. I gotta check it out!
I buy in every Booksale I can find.
Goody, here in Davao it's Bookshop. I gotta browse thoroughly. Sometimes they have what I want.

Buy the Book has branches in Isetann Recto and SM Manila. They take credit cards (at least the SM Manila one does) and gives you a free book for every 5 of the same kind. They even took my email address for a mailing list.

Useless information It's also the name of Ellen Degeneres's bookstore in her sitcom.

Hm, anyone in Davao ever run into Books Plus? A high school classmate of mine runs it, I just wondered what the store was like.

Book Nook in Blue Wave Marquinton in Marikina.

Was able to buy 3 hardbound books for 10 pesos each

Serious about Blue Nook? Mapadaan nga :D