It’s a well-established fact that college students are strapped for time. Between classes, work, homework and that magical yet elusive thing called a social life, leisure time can be hard to come by. Many students long to escape from their responsibilities through travel. Unfortunately, money is as hard for college students to come by as time.
One cheap and easy way students can kick back is by reading fiction. Not textbooks, of course. Every student knows how expensive and stressful textbooks are. Novels and fictional books can also be kind of expensive, especially from retailers like Barnes and Noble. I love wandering around Barnes and Noble for hours as much as the next bookworm, but I don’t like the price of all those lovely books.
Several groups offer free or cheap books to students and non-students alike. Here is a list of a few of them:
Eborn Books of Ogden
With four locations from Provo to Ogden, Eborn Books of Ogden is located inside the Newgate Mall near the Quilted Bear. Eborn has everything from religious books to the “Divergent” and “Hunger Games” series. Eborn Books specializes in used books, making every book in their store more affordable for tight college budgets.
Bookateria
Bookateria is another great used bookstore in the Ogden area. In a small, unassuming storefront at 15th and Washington, Bookateria can be easily missed. Inside, however, the shelves are crammed floor to ceiling with only paperback books, which are cheaper than their hardcover counterparts. In addition, Bookateria will give customers store credit for their used paperbacks. Cleaning out the bookshelf just became a lot more appealing, knowing that it will make the reading list cheaper.
Stewart Library
While books at the Stewart library on Weber State University’s campus aren’t for sale, they are free for students to check out, and what’s better than free? Any student who has ever had to do research knows that the Stewart Library is a great resource for scholarly books and sources. However, few students know they also have a section for fiction, including young adult and children’s fiction. Ask any of the librarians; they’ll gladly direct you to their fiction section.
The English department’s “take a book, leave a book” shelf
Last semester the English department pulled together some of their favorite books and are now offering them to students for free, on the condition that students bring one of their favorite books and leave it for others to enjoy. In addition to fiction, there is an assortment of literary magazines and poetry books.
