I am a regular at my local library, so most of my reading material is 'borrowed'. When I do buy books I usually buy hardbounds, and books that are worth keeping and adding to my specialized collection. What about you?
[question posted by seamonkey]
responses and comments:
mostly i buy books so that i need not worry about returning it within the specific time limit. [sranuradha]
That's a reasonable worry. I try to mark it on the calender, especially since I'm not the only person in my house using the card. The librarians are really nice though, whenver we check out anything new, they change the due date on everything we have out. Gotta love computers! [seamonkey]
I mostly borrow from the library then if I really like a book ,i will look for it on amazon and buy it. We have a lot of charity shops in my town and they are a good place to find cheap books.I think about 3/4 of the books in this house are from charity shops. [mihimolly]
I love the Name of the Rose! Have you read Focault's Pendulum? It is also brilliant! [seamonkey]
I usually buy books, if someone recommends one I'll go to the book store before the library unless I have zero money. If someone loans me a book and I like it I will also go buy it to add to my collection. I am very careful about loaning out books though because over the years I've had 2 very valued to me and difficult to find books not be returned. [byfaithonly]
I'm a little gun shy of loaning out books as well. I only do so with people I consider trustworthy because I've been burned too many times over the years, and some of the books can't be replaced. [seamonkey]
I am terrible at returning books to the library so I have stopped using them. I normally go to a shop called Book World which sells that permanently reduced prices on the RRP. I used to work next door to one though so when I go in the the guy normally gives me 3 books for £10 or whatever. It is one of these shops that constantly say it is having a closing down sale adn then it closes for 2 days while it restocks and then opens again. My mum is also an avid reader so I get books off her too. I do hand out alot of books to people too as I havej a tiny bedroom and probably over 100 books. I sometimes donate them to charity afterwards. Check out that website at http://www.bbwbooks.co.uk *****oh no, how sad!!! I just went to their webside and they have went into liquidation so I imagine they will really b e closing down. I better get myself in there and buy very book I have ever thought of as they really are the cheapest in my city. [killahclaire]
Just be careful of the condensation :-) [seamonkey]
I do both but I borrow more. My library knows me so well they call me the 'Cardless One'. I don't even bother to bring the card in with me. [drakan291]
I think you know they really like you when they waive the late fees. We have something akin to the Librarian Mafia here in town and it's in your best interest to stay on their good side! [seamonkey]
I'm more likely to buy books myself. I'm very hard on my books and I would hate to return a borrowed book in a condition that isn't as good as it was when it was lent to me. Because I am so rough with my books (throwing them in book bags and such) I will often buy used books. A few folded pages are fine by me as long as it's in good condition otherwise. [krebstar5]
I'm rough on books, too. That's why I try to get hardbounds when I do buy them because they stand half a chance of surviving. [seamonkey]
I would sometimes just borrow so as not to spend money anymore. But I'd often just buy so I won't have to remind myself on returning back the books I've borrowed =) It's nice also to have a collection of your own, it's one of my hobbies. [gegegelay]
I like collecting books as well. It's just such a pain to have to pack them all up wjen you moved. I've brought mine (although I did donate quite a few before we moved) halfway around the world, so I have probably spent more on freight then I paid for them originally! [seamonkey]
I usually buy books. I only borrow books from libraries when they're too expensive or not on sale. [sofia29]
Sounds like a good policy. If I could afford it I'd probably do much the same. [seamonkey]
I am not a collector of book and I do not read very much, thus I usually borrow book from the library, but in the past few years, I did not goes to the library very often, I tend to read more on the internet. [ganwn071]
That's an option I didn't even think to mention. I also like ebooks. Good point, thanks! [seamonkey]
I love to have books. I usually buy my books second hand, paperback always. If it is an educational book that I need I will buy it brand new. If it is a book that I have been absolutely DYING to read and it just came out I will borrow it from the library in hardcover and then buy it later as a paperback. [kakemafarm]
I d that too, the 'try before you buy'. I usually buy them if I think I will read them again and again over the years, if I want to pass them on to my kids, or if it's reference material. [seamonkey]
I can't read fast enough for the library (I would have to renew at LEAST once), so I buy my books. But I buy them at thrift stores and used book sales or on half.com used. I used to not believe in getting rid of books, but I think I'm going to have to start listing some of mine on half.com! [kattghoti]
Absolutely. I've only ever been disappointed once by a thrift store book! [kattghoti]
I love reading books. I have my own collection of books that are special to me in some way. These are often novels that I loved reading. I have travel books too. However these can get out of date. I buy these for trips and get rid of them when they get too old. Apart form travel books I don't buy new books very often unless it is just something I will want to keep in my book collection forever. I don't mind if books have a hord or a soft cover. I go to my local library every week. They let each person borrow up to 20 books. I feel this is a wonderful way of reading without buying lots of books. [maximax8]
Wow! Twenty books! I think our cut off is 12, but as 3 of us in the family have cards, we just swap cards if we're over the limit. [seamonkey]
i used to hang out at powerbooks a lot because they allowed you to read the books even if you didn't plan to buy them, mainly because I didn't have money. But i'd buy my books if i could afford them. [beachaddict]
I'd go completely crazy buying books if money were no option. I pass a bookstore every single day at least 4 times a day, on foot, so the temptation is always there! [seamonkey]
You have hit upon one of my major vices, seamonkey. Books. Not just reading mind you, but books. I love to walk around in a bookstore or library. It is akin to a sacred moment for me. I have bought so many books and, like you, moved them with me wherever I go. This can be quite the bother, plus it's hard work to pack them and move them. A couple of moves ago, I spent hours upon hours sifting through my books, and finally settled on 1,700 to give away. This was a painful process for me. I prefer to buy books. I like to keep them around like old friends. Some of them are closer to me than others. They make great reference material, and it's wonderful to have them on hand when I want to look up a quote or story. I also like to make notes in many of my books, and borrowing prevents this. Of course, there are some books I wouldn't write in, but others that I just can't help myself. With the beginning of this new year, I resolved to try to borrow books, instead of buying them. I used to buy several books a week. The internet hasn't helped! But I am pleased to say that I have only bought a handful of books this year, and am utilizing my poor library as much as I can. The library usually has to order books for me, but they are very good about that. [Transdisc]
O aren't we the wicked one. You tease. [Transdisc]
I use to only buy books, and I use to spend quite a bit of money on them. I realized after a couple of moves,lugging those heavy boxes around that I don't need to own every book I read. Now that my library lets you reserve books online & pick them up right at the desk it's so easy to use the library. I pick out a few books at a time that interest me, and when I really love one,I purchase it at the bookstore and add it to my collection. [eden32]
I had to do a big clearing out also when we moved from the US to Europe. I agree,no way do I need every one, but I have a few I would never part with. [seamonkey]
I usually only buy reference books because those are the ones you can always go back to. As for just regular books, I usually check those out from the local library. I usually only read a book once anyway so, why hold on to it?? I enjoy reading as much as the next person, but my condo can only hold so much stuff! :) [racheld]
If it's something I'm pretty sure will only be read once then the library is the best option for me, too. I also like the 'new books' section. Our librarians have pretty good taste and i can usually find something good there. [seamonkey]
We used to buy books, but since we are on a limited budget right now, we mostly just borrow them from the library. Books we bought were usually ones that we read over and over again. [cutepenguin]
Those ones you mention are the ones I owuld never get rid of, no matter how many times I move or how heavy they are to lug around. I intend to pass them on to my kids. Some are even passed on to me from my granddad. [seamonkey]
I haven't been to a library in years! Haha...it's not that I don't like them, but I usually like to own and collect books, so I usually buy a book that I want to read. I am a sucker for bookstores, and I love going shopping for books! [jojopuff]
I'm a big sucker for books stores, too. I love the 3 for the price of one areas and things like that. I always endup spending way more then I should so sometimes it is best just to stay out all together! [seamonkey]
I do both. I live in the country so if I get a book from the library I have to run all the way into town to get it or take it back. It's not really an inconvenience but sometimes I don't go to town for awhile. I like to have my own books too so if there's a good book that I really wanted to read I'll buy it. [dfinster]
There is something nice about having a decent collection of books. I find it really handy for my children as well to have lots of reference materials on hand when they are doing a report or project. They are always amazed that I usually have smething on their subject in question. [seamonkey]
Years ago I worked at our local public library. I learned then that if you wanted a very recent book, because of their buying practices, it could be from 3 to 6 months before it arrived. I can't wait that long! So, I buy my books. Most of them get passed around amoung friends that wouldn't buy it, but wait for the library. I don't feel that I'm cheating the library from too much business, since I only loan it to 2-6 friends. [ElicBxn]
I dubt the library minds too much. I'm sure they are just glad people are reading and enjoying books! [seamonkey]
i always buy my books as i feel something bad when i try to borrow books from others.if i get my book in the library then ill definetely go for that. [ralf_jay]
I usually buy my books, but now I am seriously interested in down-sizing, so I have been going to the library a lot. [shopgirl]
I've noticed that is the sentiment in a lot of the answers that I am getting: people like buying books. People like having lots of books, but people don't really have room to store all the books they collect over a life time. I guess for some of us, they really stack up! [seamonkey]
When I was younger I use to go to the local library often and check out books, but now I buy them and when I'm done with them I sell them on ebay. [alexsis]
I hadn't really even thought of selling them on ebay. I guess that's a little silly as I'd be happy enough to buy them used on ebay or Amazon. [seamonkey]
i buy and borrow books. I buy more often, and if I'm borrowing something really good, I generally end up buying a copy of it as well. [lacurandera]
I thnk it's nice to have copies of your favorites. I can gop 5 or 6 years without reading them and then sudenly I'll get an urge to reread something. It's also nice now that my son is a good enough reader I can pass on my old science fiction favorites that I first started collecting when I was about his age. [seamonkey]
I am not an avid reader but an occasional reader. I buy most of my books because I hate to remember due dates. I am also a clutz and spill liquids on a regular basis on books so I definetely do not like to borrow books from friends. [Grillmama]
A friend loaned me a book that she wanted back for her book collection and I was afraid to keep it. I mailed it back to her as soon as I could. [Grillmama]
I have to say that I only borrow books on principle because buying books in shops they are sooooo expensive, some paperback books set you back up to £7 sometimes more! Hardbacks are even more expensive. I do not have a big collection of books, mainly because I don't tend to read much but when I was at college I was always in the library borrowing books for coursework, buying them would have cost me a fortune. [wolfie34]
I think the price of paperbacks has gotten crazy. I well remember the price of books in college. I would always try to get second hand to defray some of the expenses. Hard to believe they can cost as much as they do! [seamonkey]
I do both. I purchase the ones that I will refer to again and again. I also love to borrow books from the library and to meet people there. I really enjoy giving books as gifts to children to encourage them to love and respect books. I give cook books as wedding gifts. I also buy used books and then pass them on. There are so many groups out there like nursing homes that appreciate paperbacks and magazines,too. [loujac3]
I like the social aspect of the library as well. I often see my sons friends down there and it's nice to see what they are reading or what they have to say for themselves. The librarians are also good at keeping a selection of new books where I can almost always find something very good. [seamonkey]
I only buy books which are affordable otherwise just borrow from your friends or local library. Buy books which can help in our daily life. Example: Book about first aid. [Zaphenath]
I think it's important to have a nice reference collection, too. As everyone in the house has different interests, it's getting fairly varied, from cooking, to archaeology to motorcycles! [seamonkey]
i buy books and i keep it include it for my collections.i just borrow books if i had no money to buy one. [mykykko]
Unfortunately for my wallet, I like to buy and keep books. My husband is a big believer in the library and I will get some there from time to time, but I hate returning them. One solution though is that I look for gently used copies at yard sales and book sales. Sometimes I get a great deal ! [cyclonewriter]
We're on the same 'page', cyclonewriter. I have gotten so many bargains over the years in used books. I especially like the hard covers because yuou get them for pennies compared to their original asking price. [seamonkey]
I usually borrow my books. When I finish reading them, I don't usually read them again, so there is no point in buying the book. But, if there are limited copies of books in the library, so I end up buying the book sometimes. [Kelvin838]
i usually buy books that interest me and worth keeping but sometimes i can see books that can caught my attention so i tend to borrow the said books either from the library or from my friends. [gutzkieyel]
I have found out about quite a few good books thanks to friends. I am currently waiting on a friend to finish a book abou all the things the Chinese invented centuries before anyone else, and their sea merchant practices. I wish he would hurry up with it because it sounds fascinating and it is a subject I know very little about. [seamonkey]
honestly i dont really read books unless for a report or some other purpose i usally use my computer for most of research but if not i go to the library Low [lowyder]
yes if i have to or i want to learn something. [axe_effect002]
It depends on teh cost of the book. If its very expensive, i read it from my library. But if its cheap cuase its second hand i buy it. I dont spend oa lot on a single book cause i love reading a just one book wont be enough. I have cupboard s full of books at home. [melody1011]
i also like to read books, and also borrow books from university library. just like you, when i buy books, i like to buy the hardbounds, that only happen when the book is my favorite. [chenxiaoyue_713]
Yeah, it's really a shame how expensive they are, especially the reference books. I could easily drop a grand in a book shop if I could afford it. [seamonkey]
if i have a spare money, i buy good books but if i dont have I just go to the library and borrow some. Its nice to know also that most of the libraries now are continously acquiring new books, so whenever I see some new titles to be release, i immediately go to the library and search if they already have the book. [ellanick]
i'm bad, i do not buy neither do i borrow nor do i read books. the most amount of reading i do is reading the newspapers and online articles. i've limited myself to only do book reading regarding my schoolwork and textbooks. otherwise, my pc is my companion. i know it's pretty bad, but i still do have the reading habit. i guess it doesn't matter where you read, as long as you're reading? [sriramani]
You sound like one of those people who will read advertisements posted on waiting room walls or public places. I do that too if there's nothing else to read. I just find my eyes drawn to the written word, no matter what it is. [seamonkey]
I like to buy books, local library so far from my house, i never go to that library yet!I like to buy some short essay's book! I like to collect book! Sorry my english not good! [7800809]
I like to collect books as well, and luckily I have both options available as the library and the book shop are only about twenty feet apart, and five minutes away on foot. Both are very tempting! [seamonkey]
my friends knew how i love reading books...that's why they freely lend me their books...i dont get to buy lots of books even if i want to coz i dont have much money [cuteyasoi17]
well my father was a litrature teacher and we had and still have alote of books in our house i also did go and take books from a library when i was a child and bought new ones at the store now i do not read much:( but i do tend to barow books from my friends and they are barrowing books from me. [liranlgo]
thank you and it wonderful hearing that books are so important to you that you are building a library stock of your own:) [liranlgo]
i never borrow books from my friends or library. i always buy the books but i don't buy books very often but when i see any book which is of my interest then i buy the book [mitsubishi]
I'm afraid I'm a little too voracious in my reading to get away with that, and to top it off I've created reading monsters in my own kids. They arew also becoming big collectors! [seamonkey]
I go alot to the library and borrow books, I only buy books if I know that I'm going to read them. For ex the Harry Porrter series and the Lord of the rings books [ProfSlughorn]
Those are certainly good options for the 'keepers' section! There are some really nice illustrated options out there for LOTR, too. [seamonkey]
i buy my books. i usually do not have time to borrow books and we do not have a public library here in our place where we can borrow books. [chiyosan]
I never go the library anymore, because I'm just too bad at remembering when things are due. Once my son is older I'm sure I'll want to go though because they have "story time" and such. I buy a lot of books, but I tend to buy them secondhand unless I'm just so excited about a book coming out that I have to buy it right away. If I do realize after I buy something that I don't really like it enough to keep it on hand, then I'll just take it back to the secondhand book store for store credit to buy more books. Or give it away. I'm pretty big on books as a source of comfort, so I have a lot of books that I've read a hundred times becuase they are comforting to me, or I find new things each time I read them. [lecanis]
I'm so curious, seamonkey. What is your specialized collection? [Transdisc]
My collection started out as Science Fiction, which my oldest is now growing into. They rend to be series books and I try to get them all. Then I started getting into biographies, mostly of monarchs from the middle ages, which expanded to include other well know personalities from the renaissance period. My latest, which has been ongoing for about five years is collecting wartime diaries, mainly of Holocaust survivors, or women in occupied territories. I find them fascinating. [seamonkey]
I used to buy if the books are interesting and are within the range of my budget else i wil try to get from library and read them. I maintain collection of all my important books in my home. [sunilkonda]
There's a charge at my local library for borrowing books and as I read so many of them, it would cost me a fortune to borrow them. I usually get them for Christmas and birthday presents from my family and then we swap them around. I don't collect them as they would take up too much space. If nobody wants them after I have finished reading them, I usually post them on a website that my daughter has set up for recycling. Somebody is always glad to take them off my hands. [Tir_Na_nOg]
Our library isn't that good here, so I buy all my books pretty much. I like audiobooks, so that's expensive too. I finally found out that classics are free though (well, some of them that are available). So now I use LibriVox to get free audiobooks. [Pigglies]
Buying and borrowing books is such a waste of time. Ebooks is my first choice. "Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content." [edelweiss]
I like ebooks, too. I only wish the reader I have, which is one of the old Sony Clies, had a removable internal battery. Every time I change the regular batteries I have to reinstall and reset everything, which is a pain. I need to get a new one. [seamonkey]
I am borrowing books from my sister at the moment which are in the Anne of Green Gables series of books. Other than that I have not borrowed books for years. I do have a library membership for the local library but I have not used it for years. I will buy books which interest me from amazon or even ebay as they are usually cheaper than buying from a book shop. I do enjoy reading and actually have several books which I have started to read but have not finished or some that I have simply dipped into every now and then. [organiclady35]
I do not really like to read books and I seldom buy books. When I need to find some reference ,I will go to the library to borrow them, I do not want to keep something that I am going to read later as my bedroom is too small to store them up. If I want to read new books.I can even go to the bookstore to read them for free..lol. [easy888]
I miss being able to do that at Border's Books. It was a nice way to spend a lunch break. [seamonkey]
i usually buy book even the second hand ones for it is just the same with the new one, its just that it is used and the other is not. the price is lower compared to the brand new but the knowledge inside is as is. there's nothing more to second hand books it is just cheap and affordable. :) [mskzalameda]
I do both? I buy books that I can't seem to borrow from other people I know and I borrow books from others every time I want that book and they have it so that I don't have to buy a copy of it. hehe. I haven't really borrowed something from the library for such a long time, I just borrow from friends, classmates, and relatives. [toffeenut]
I tend to borrow books from the library. It's easier, as you can just pick anything that looks good, and if you don't like it you don't have to bother finishing it, you can just return it. Occasionally I come across a book that's so good that I'd like to re-read it. I usually then buy a copy (because I know I'll keep re-reading it). Sometimes, when I'm browsing in bookshops I'm tempted to impulse buy - but less so now that they've removed the comfy chairs from some bookshops. [snowflake5]
I read a lot so I normally borrow them. If I buy them all, goodness, I will need a lot of money AND space to put them. You can't find me without a book. I will finish my borrowed books, then go back to the library and "exchange" for several others. [lordwarwizard]
I buy my books. I have a whole collection of dean koontz and Stephen king books. [Shaun72]