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Lending books

G

glenda

New Member
I don't know about everyone else, but I just love it when someone looks through my bookshelves and takes a book home to read. I am always saying to family and friends, 'I have a great book I know you will love'.

It is especially good to loan my books out when it is something I really enjoyed; my mum recently borrowed Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassain, but unfortunately didn't see the magic in it that I did:(

I like that my books look like they have been read, it's almost like they have a story to tell about the people who have read them. That is why I like second hand book shops so much, there is as much history in who read the books as in what the books contain.

Is anyone else a constant lender of books??
 
I'm not a great lender of books at all. I don't know many people who seem to be as interested as me in reading. Also I like to keep my books in good condition and hate them having their spines broken and the pages becoming dog-eared.

That's not to say I wont lend a book if somebody finds one interesting. I just politely ask them to be careful with it.
 
Glenda, I can understand what you mean about books having a sort of history of their own (the places they've been, etc.). I used to find the same guy's name in books that looked interesting to me, and thought of seeing it as a sort of seal of approval.
However, having said that, I have to tell you that I neither lend nor borrow books under any circumstances. If someone tells me they are looking for a book, I will go buy it for them before lending out my copy.
 
I'm with funes on this one. Lending is a risky proposition even when it is paired with returning. Return in the same condition is a nearly never in my experience.
 
I have lent and lost many many books. I don't mind a bit. I love losing them to someone else and then I get to go buy new copies! Sometimes I get a book or 2 back. It's all good. I have certain books that I usually have more than one copy of so I can give them away.

One day I'll have my own library or used book store.

~Witch
 
While working as a hairdresser for 10 years, I did not have to buy a single book. Clients and I would just trade out boxes with each other. And only ones that either really loved. It was a cardinal sin to put a book you just could not get through or just plain hated in the boxes. Now that I stay at home I haunt used books stores. I find it a pleasure to share books!
 
I used to loan books to other people, but now I won't.

I am not being mean, but we had people who never gave books back to us, and then swear till they were balck and blue that they did. We were unable to replace some of them, and I miss them greatly.

My books are one of my biggest treasures (apart from my mam and daughter) and I just can't part with them.

Cheers, Vicky
 
I could never let someone else handle my books! Even the ones I don't like, they still have to be in perfect condition. My friends and my parents don't understand why you shouldn't bend a book.
 
Sure I'll lend anyone my books but I expect to get them back when I ask (as long as they've finished). If I don't, without a valid excuse, I simply won't lend anything to that person again.
 
I have no problwm lending books out, although am reluctant if it is one of my nice hardback special edition ones unless it is to someone whom I know takes great care of them.

Softbacks, and some hardbacks, I will happily lend out and in most cases don't bother to ask for them back but request the person I lend it to just passes it onto someone else who may enjoy it. I did this with the latest Harry Potter and I know of four people who have read my copy, but god knows where it is now.

Mxx
 
The last time I lend a book, the friend never read it and lost it. I no longer lend my books.

I keep all my books. The sad part is that I have a mountain of books, in boxes; in my closet.
 
I do love books, but there are some that just aren't worth keeping because I either won't read them again or will want to buy them in a nice edition. Once I have read them I would much prefer that others enjoy it, and then pass it onto others who would also enjoy it, than it sit on my bookshelf and never get touched.

I found out today I will be getting the mammoth Harry Potter back, as everyone who wants to read it that I know already has it. That will sit on my shelf unread and will eventually be given away to a willing recipient in years to come. I can't see me reading it in the near future and will probably buy the special edition hardback with signature and gold leaf pages to go with the other Potters.

Mxx
 
Murphyz - I hope you don't think I'm being funny here, but I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that you bought HP5 with no intention of reading it? Why?! And are you rich? ;) Are you going to buy the posh edition as some kind of investment?:confused:

Have you read the other Harry Potters? I had a glance at your online reading group and I noticed that they seemed to have a bit of a downer on HP (fair enough, each to their own - I like them anyway).

On the subject of lending books, I don't! Yes it's selfish, but I'm very fussy about how I look after my books, and I've found out that other people aren't. Saying that though, I will lend books to my mum and brother, as they know exactly what I'm like and what sort of mood I'd be in if they were damaged! :)
 
Being the owner of a large selection of fantasy and science fiction I no longer lend books out haven't for quite awhile now. Nothing I hate more then seeing a book come back with doodles drawn over the pages, a broken spine or whole pages that were folded in half because people didn't have the decency to use a bookmark. If I lend someone a book now it's because I'm giving it away and in that case it was either a book I didn't enjoy or a book I plan to replace.
 
In response to Halo :

I bought Harry Potter 5 on day of release and read it straight away, then I gave it to a friend to read, hoping she would pass it on to others to read instead of giving it back to me. Fact is, I have read the book and can't see when I will next read it, so it would sit on my shelf for ages.
Yes, I have read all of the Potter books, and purchased the special 'Children in Need' books that were released (these looked at Quidditch and at the 'Mystical Creatures' - not sure if they were a UK only release). I bought the special edition of Harry Potter 4, which cost £25, and would like to get all of the others in those editions (I own them all, but 1-3 are in paperback). I buy these not for the investment but because I love books that look nice, such as the 'Everyman's Library' editions of Classics that I also collect.

I find lot of people do have a downer on Potter, which is a shame as I feel that they are worth reading. It's just some people don't understand that I can look at the work as being rubbish but enjoyable, so enjoyable I could spend £125 on a set of 5 books, but rubbish enough for me to say there are much better childrens books out there that I would suggest instead of Potter, most of which seem to influence Rowling (The White Horse, Mallory Towers, Hardy Boys, Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, St Custards, David Copperfield, Cinderella, and many others) - yet I really do like the Potter series. It seems some people feel you either hate it, or love it so much you can't say anything bad about it.

Hope this clears things up a little, and, please, feel free to submit your views on the cow and chicken forum. I, for one, would like to see more of a debate going as to why people like/hate it.

Mxx
 
I lend to my mum, best mate and collegue from work who are passionate to read books. They gave it back to me when they are finished books.
 
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