School Shopping

What: Books for school
Cost: ~$70

Ah shopping for books. A necessary evil. Much like the past three years, I find myself once again in need of a large amount of novels for my various assortment of English classes; however, unlike the past three years, I refuse to be duped by Dubois Bookstore. A chain that dominates the textbook market at Kent State, University of Cincinnati and Miami University, it has continually raped me of my valuable dollars and cents everytime I trudge back to campus in September and January. I usually make a quick trip up to Oxford about a week before school starts--I detest the crowds during the first week, plus I like to get my hands on as many used copies as possible--but this year the high price of gas made the hour drive to and from potentially as expensive as the load I would drop at checkout.

So upon probing my roommate for the hidden secrets of textbook-buying (well, they're not so secret...I'm just oblivious and easily duped), I learned how to figure out which books are required for each and every class I am taking. Oddly enough, you find this invaluable nugget at the Dubois Web site. According to common sense, one would think professors would post this valuable information before classes start on their Blackboard sites. But alas, college (more often than not) is a nonsensical game of hoop jumping and profitering. So I found the list of books I needed and practically jumped with joy after the first read-through. The one journalism course I'm taking this semester was not listed on the site as having reserved any reading materials--a dubious plus at most. I will most likely walk in the first day and upon reading the syllabus, learn that I need to trek my way Uptown to Oxford's tiny copy shop and purchase a "course packet" that is wildly more expensive than any biology textbook in town. But I'm prepared for this. A real reason for joy lay in the fact that I own at least 5 of the novels on the list. It seems that the benefits of English-majoring for the past three years has paid off in a way.

In my last entry, I mentioned dropping some cash at the Ohio Bookstore. I purchased one book for "fun," however I also bought four others that were strictly school-related. Check. I also dropped into my local Half-Price to scour their selection and found one more on my required reading list. Check.

The last stop was Amazon. Several of the books I had to buy from individual sellers, leading me to believe that Dubois was probably enjoying a considerable mark-up due to the relative scarcity of several of the Virginia Woolf novels. Ordering on Amazon can be a tricky game, though. One needs to balance the relatively inexpensive prices from individual sellers (with such dubious condition descriptions as "used--but like new!") with the free shipping you receive if you order from Amazon and your order is more than $25. My order ended up being comprised of $46 from Amazon (sans shipping) and another $25ish from individual sellers (who had cheaper books...oftentimes ones Amazon didn't offer...but each carried at least $4 in shipping fees). It was a hefty order and I still need two more books (they're more literary in nature, rendering them harder to find online and upping the chances that I'm going to need a specific edition only found at Dubois); but overall it was completely worth it. I've spent too many semesters throwing away close to $300 in textbook costs. This year is going to be different.