I grew up an only child, so books were always my best friends. I read non-stop since I was 5 until I had my first baby at 29. After that something happened to me and I couldn’t devote my time to books, some little people always needed me. When I had some free time in the evenings I cared for my 100 orchids, watched Game of Thrones, and read People magazine. Finally, when my kids reached a ripe age of 7 and 9, I discovered books again!

This break from books is something I never though I will have, since literature was my life, literally, as I was studying literature and language in Vilnius University. And yet I took a long break. I guess I read more by age 29 than some people read in a life time.

Being classically educated, I never really liked modern self-help or psychology books. I was history, memoir, non-fiction, novel, and detective kind of gal. My love of books came from my dad, who has two giant walls covered in books at home in Europe. My library in the US is so much smaller, but I am determined to build it up.

I will never go for electronic books. I have to have a real paper book in hand and always will. This, however, poses a bit of a problem – paperback books are so expensive! Building a library was beginning to look bleak until I discovered Abebooks.com, where I can buy used books from all over the world for a few dollars.

As we live in the age of COVID-19, book stores and libraries are often closed, and so are many Goodwill locations, so the best way to get books is online. But don’t get me started about the prices of them on Amazon and similar places! My kids started reading more during quarantine as well and Abebooks.com has been good for their needs as well, and affordably so.

Abebooks.com might not have the newest books and you won’t find every book ever written there, but you will find a lot. I have recently discovered a list of 40 books that every educated person should read and decided that all of them will be great for my library. There are plenty of lists like that, but this one had many authors that I knew I read before or was certain I will like to read for the first time.

Out of my 40 books, I found about 30 on Abebooks.com for a total of $130. Can you imagine – 30 books for $130! This averages to just $4.33 per book. Some books were even less at $2.99, while some were up to $10. Anybody can sell books on Abebooks.com marketplace for just $25 per month, so the availability of many titles is very wide. I always read about the condition of the book before purchasing and every time books were better than expected. The only problem is slow shipping, which can sometimes take 3 weeks, but another alternative is to go to Amazon and pay $20 or more per book. I rarely need books urgently, so 2-3 weeks shipping is just fine with me. If I am lucky to order from a local book store I can receive books in just a few days.

See Abebooks Discounts:

• up to 60% OFF Books, Art and Collectibles
• Up To 60% OFF AbeBooks Bookseller Sales
• Free Worldwide Shipping on Select Books

These are some of the reads from my list:

• The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa – $4.03 + $3.00 shipping
• Rebecca by Du Maurier , Daphne – $2.59 + $3.49 shipping
• Midnight’s Children by Rushdie Salman – $2.99 + $3.00 shipping
• Lord of Flies by William Golding – $2.50 + $2.00 shipping
• The Catcher in the Rye – $4.52, free shipping
• Dracula by Bram Stoker – $3.61, free shipping

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – $4.48, free shipping

• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy – $4.94, free shipping
• Secret History by Donna Tartt – $10.70, free shipping
• Frankenstein – $3.60, free shipping
• The Code of Woosters by Wodehouse – $5.29, free shipping
• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler – $5.88, free shipping
• The Great Gatsby – $4.15, free shipping
• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray – $3.80, free shipping

This is just a little more than half of what I ordered, I won’t go over the entire list, but you get the idea. Most books ship for free and come in bundles if you happen to order from the same used book store. In my opinion there is nothing not to love about Abebooks.com. I am planning to find many more lists of the best books in the world and will be visiting Abebooks all the time.