Why are his books in every charity shop in England?

>>8432500

I imagine for the same reason you see Stephen King books in every thrift store and used book store over here. He's read a lot, but a lot of people know he's not really worth treasuring so he's easy to get rid of.

I think some books were memes never destined to become classics.

Ian Rankin too

>>8432500
I read Surface Detail two years ago one of the oddest books I've ever read. It's all about alien species and their virtual afterlives and how a virtual war starts over the afterlives and then spills out into reality.His non sci fi is also supposed to be good I read Stonemouth by him that was decent.

>tfw work in a charity shop and get a discount
>tfw there's rarely ever any good books; it's shit like the OP and chicklit
>tfw we got some really good art history books in but the manager was selling them at an extortionate price; some were even £30 each

>>8432547

I've got some good books from charity shops over the years, collected Oscar Wilde, Goodbye to All That, vintage Penguin edition of Don Quixote, helps if you live in a studenty area though

File: PAY-Charity-shops-cant-flog-Fifty-Shades-of-Grey.jpg (48KB, 615x304px) Image search: [Google]

48KB, 615x304px

>>8432510
50 Shades of Grey wins this.

>>8432566
Would it be justified in this case for those books to be donated to an artist, who can tear them to shreds and form a collage gallery of the word snippets?

>>8432559
at least half of my books are from charity shops. it's an inefficient way to buy books but it's cheap, and I like hunting around for books - kind of retail therapy. Oxfam tend to have decent stock, British Heart Foundation sometimes too.

>>8432500

I see him a lot in US thrift shop as well, probably mostly the Culture novels. I was really excited about the series, so I started at the beginning with Consider Phlebas (which I bought at a thrift shop). I hated it like I've rarely hated anything I've read. By the time I had gotten around to reading it I had found a couple other titles--Player of Games and Use of Weapons probably--but they all went back to the thrift shop. Not touching him again, and that goes double for his stuff without the middle initial.

Reflection of whats most in circulation I spose.. M. Banks is the best of the charity shop fodder. Ten years ago it was James Ellroy and Carl Hiassen.

>>8432610
I've had this experience with a couple of his books...just horribly awfully unreadably self-indulgent shite. Did however finish Excession which is a truly great SF epic. Give it a go

>>8432586
I work for the British Heart Foundation but Oxfam always seems to have a much better selection of books. I hate it.

>tfw the standards are so low that I'm pretty much the coolest person there

>>8432620

I want to believe. One thing I will say is that the titles themselves just sound really good: Consider Phlebas, Excession, The Hydrogen Sonata. How bad could a book with such a title be, especially as popular as they seem to be? But Phlebas was such a bad, bad burn, and there's so much other good stuff to read, far more than I can get to in a lifetime as it is, for me to consider anything else by him for the foreseeable future.

Player of games is the best one, quick and easy read if you're mildly interested in science fiction. Go read Wasp Factory if you want to read Iain banks

>>8432614
Hiassen still shows up in mine pretty frequently, along with King, Gaiman and Agatha Christie. Never seen a Banks though - everything else is self-help, "inspirational", romance and cookbooks.

>>8432500

I can usually find some really good stuff in my charity shop in Newcastle but depends how hard you have to look, it's nothing but really awful crime thrillers, shitty romance novels and cook books most of the time but once or twice a month they generally have something different.

>Found Szerb's Love in a Bottle there once
That was a good day, immediately picked it up because Pushkin Press would no doubt go immediately.

>>8432610
>I hated it like I've rarely hated anything I've read
Huh, same here. I never drop books halfway through but I did for that. Funny thing is I liked The Wasp Factory, and I've also enjoyed a Culture short story.

>>8432673
In my town the Oxfam Bookshop easily has the best selection, but it's also more expensive than the other charity shops. £2.49, dammit!