Looking for the Best Online Deals on Books and Magazines

Barnes & Noble is the Web’s premier destination for books, magazines, music, DVDs, video games, and other related products and services. Who hasn’t heard of this store? It boasts of so many titles yet offers online customers an easy way of finding precisely the books they are looking for. With a fast and effective search engine that utilizes categories such as title, author, and keywords, users can browse books and sift through the store’s hundreds of categories in order to find a specific title. Not only that. With Barnes & Noble coupon codes, shoppers can enjoy great discounts, rebates, and bargain sales as they get into the joys of reading and learning.

Books A Million, meanwhile, is a superstore that has an expansive selection of books, magazines, bargain books, collective supplies, and extensive card and gift departments. It also has a shop –complete with pertinent references and writings– that caters specifically to Christian markets. The actual Books A Million stores also feature Joe Muggs Cafe, which serve a full line of coffee and espresso bar, complete with a selection of gourmet coffees, teas, desserts, and brewing supplies. Isn’t reading much more enjoyable with a hot cup of coffee to sip? With Books A Million coupon codes, one can also save on purchases made online, take advantage of clearance sales, and maybe even avail of free shipping for a minimum amount in purchases.

Another store that also offers good books and magazines online deals is Bigger Books. The store was originally developed to give voracious readers a way to find book titles quickly, and at deeply discounted prices. Be it new and used books, you’ll be sure to find the titles you’re looking for here. The store is also expanding into offering a wide selection of movies and music as well. Already with an offering of affordable items, Bigger Books still makes available Bigger Books coupon codes to help customer save money on quality new and used books and merchandise.

With these online deals coming from books and magazines retailers, all of us now have the opportunity to enrich our minds (and improve our vocabularies) through reading. Just as food feeds the body, reading feeds the mind. Luckily for us, the Internet has made book scouring easier, more convenient, and more affordable. The best part about it all is that we can have as much as we want without worrying about our weight, or getting sick, or becoming out of the financial loop.

Thank Heaven for Books and Online Discounts

I began reading at the tender age of two. Riding with my father in his car, I would look at the doors of buildings and the signs at the shops and attempt to decipher what those weird-looking letters meant. I mispronounced everything early on; my father would laugh at me. There was a sense of satisfaction whenever I uttered the words correctly – a satisfaction made even greater by a tender pat on the back, or rub of the head.

British scholar and apologist C.S. Lewis once said that “we read to know we are not alone." That appears to be the case with me. While I had formed my own circle of friends in school, in the neighborhood, or at summer camps, there was no company more agreeable to me than a book. There still isn’t. I have come to consider words and letters, thank heaven, as my best friends. It sounds terribly geeky, I know, but you have no idea what kind of thrill I get out of finishing thirty chapters in one sitting, or out of completing a purchase at Amazon or Barnes & Noble, with its impressive selection of online discounts.

Reading is also a way for me to build myself up; it’s my source of nourishment for the mind. It helps improve my vocabulary; it makes me a more discerning thinker; it guides me in the daily choices I have to make at work (I am an editor by profession; I work for a magazine by day and provide consultancy services to an ad agency on a freelance basis.) And of course reading books helps me gain knowledge that one would not normally find in the four corners of a classroom.

There is, however, one major problem that I have with this habit. In building a sort of personal library at home, I seem to have run out of space. Some of the clothes in my closet have even been displaced by stacks of Penguin Classics. Now I need to pay a visit to the furniture shop to select and buy a bookshelf – or bookshelves. I am also having trouble with organization; what is the best way to come up with a catalog? (Sadly, I cannot yet afford a librarian. Ha!)

And, if I wasn’t too frugal and scrupulous with finding the best and most affordable prices, I imagine that I would have spent a fortune on all of the two thousand titles that I now have. Yes, two thousand – most of which I acquired from used/ second-hand bookstores or from merchants’ online discounts, and all of which I treasure, like a friend that keeps me company.

A Brotherly Birthday Gift

I cannot contain my excitement. It must be from Johnny, my cousin who lives in New York City and works as a high school teacher there. We have been writing E-mails to each other for the past couple of months, and recently –since he’s a fellow bookworm– he decided to send over a box of secondhand novels and Granta magazines from when he was a university student (majoring in literature), as well as hot new paperbacks that he had purchased from Barnes & Noble.

“I bought the books on an impulse that was helped by knowing it wouldn’t cost much to send them to you," he said. (Whew! Thank god for free shipping.) “I hope that you’ll like the new Joseph O’Neill; you can thank me by reading and letting me know what you think of it."

Johnny has been very kind. This isn’t the first time that he has given literary presents, and I am certainly not the first person to receive them. I know that he used to spend a fortune on postage, sending books over to friends in countries outside of the U.S. – that is, until the United States Post Office, not too long ago, stopped all forms of international shipping other than by air. When he first learned of our similar interests, and then proposed the idea that he might, for my birthday, shop for books for me online, I felt rather embarrassed.

“I’d be very happy, but don’t do it if it’s going to be too expensive," I said, “or if it’s going to cost you too much trouble."

“Don’t worry, I know where to get good deals and discounts," Johnny replied. “I have bookmarked a number of websites that sell used and out of print titles at extremely cheap prices. Some of them even have this promo which entitles me to free shipping."

How could I have refused? How could I have said no? At this day and age when everything seems to be available online (and consumed online), a non-electronic book has become a rare commodity. Even rarer, when I have come to acquire it for free. I promised Johnny that whatever happens, I would never make myself several dollars richer by selling the titles that I didn’t like. I promised him that I would read everything he gives me. And maybe soon, it would be my turn to send over what I have perused. It’s a brotherly barter.

For now –a fine August afternoon to go out, with the weather all pleasant and summery– I am on my way to claim my box of books. On any other day I would have been scouring the used bookstores, or downloading classics online, or re-reading something from my humble library at home. But it’s my birthday, and my brother Johnny has just sent me a very special gift. Thank god for him – as well as for free shipping.