Booking Through Thursday: Why Buy?
Filed Under (Booking Through Thursday) by Morbid Romantic on Nov 13, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
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All the ETC: 
Even if you are a die-hard fan of the public library system, I’m betting you have at least ONE permanent resident of your bookshelves in your house. I’m betting that no real book-lover can go through life without owning at least one book. So … why that one? What made you buy the books that you actually own, even though your usual preference is to borrow and return them?
If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?
I buy books because I want them. It makes me proud to see a shelf full of my favorite books. I love the way that book shelves look, colorfully lined in alphabetical or size order. It’s like chaos and order all rolled up into one. I can’t imagine living in a home without a book shelf and without ample books to read when bored.
True, I could save a lot of money by going to the library, but then the books wouldn’t be mine. I want hard, owned copies of my favorite books so that I can pick them up and read them whenever the whim hits. Sometimes I sit in bed and think to myself, “I’d love to read that chapter again.” If I have the book, it’s a simple matter of getting up, pulling the book out and flipping to the correct page. If I don’t have the book because I’ve returned it to the library, all I can do is long and go without. There’s something really special and comforting about an old favorite, a book you’ve had for years, with a broken spine and dog-eared pages. When you look at a book like that, you know you’ve had a lot of good late nights together with many more to come.
Another reason to buy books is to support the author. If it’s a favorite, give back to the person who wrote it by purchasing it. I want good authors to get proper credit for the excellent things that they write.
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I totally agree with you, although my public library has vastly improved (and finally realized how to properly utilize their funding), they of course won’t always have the latest books, and if they do, they will generally be taken out already, especially if they are popular.
I feel the same way, and I don’t know how I’ll bear to part with some of my books, it pains me to think about it. Though i have made the mistake of buying some books that are simply trash, but there’s only maybe 2 or 3 of those.
Also, when you borrow from a public library you lose the sense of comfort, as you mentioned, after all who really wants to read through a book that has pizza stains all over and a few hideous scribbles here and there :hissyfit: ?
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I usually buy books because I can’t find my library card. Or I borrow them from friends. It really depends on the book. If it’s just some quick summer read type thing (like Shopoholic) then of course library, but if it’s something I’m likely to read again (like Harry Potter) then I buy it.
Andreas last blog post… Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!