When do you buy, and when do you borrow?

[Prairie_Girl]

I'm a library girl. Our financial situation right now is not great, and I just can't justify buying books. Though when I win gift certificates at work, they're always to a book store!

 

[Chixulub]

What goes into your decision about whether to buy a book or borrow it from the library?

I used to buy books like crazy. Which was crazier for the fact that I read a lot of pulp that I never re-read. Once I knew how a story came out, I wasn't going to re-read it.

Then I had kid, got a house in the 'burbs, etc., and I had to look at things more realistically. The library lets me borrow books and even movies for free. Why rent a video for three days when I can check it out for a week FREE?

Which doesn't mean I own no videos, though I'm pretty sure I could count them on one hand if I was John Dolan Vincent.

Books, I am way pickier about. I quit Stephen King around the time of 'Insomnia' and 'Delores Clairborne' (whichever was the latter). Quit Grisham at 'The Chamber.' I think the last Anne Rice I read was in 1992 or 1993.

But as I've gotten more serious about writing, I've found myself re-reading books as a way of studying them. I've bought books I had checked out of the library because I want to re-read them and sometimes make margin notes etc. These are books I love, friends really.

Another other thing that will steer me to buy are authors I have a good track record with. This is not fail-safe, I really wish I had my money back for Chuck Palahniuk's 'Haunted,' but I adore 'Survivor' so much that when my trade paperback (bought after reading a library copy) did not come home from a loan, I bought a hardback signed by the author. I'll probalby buy Craig Clevenger and Max Barry's next books just because I've delighted so in what they've done so far.

On the flip side, I think I only own two Elmore Leonard books, yet he's one of my favorite contemporary authors. But I can get all his stuff so easily from the library.

If a book has serious throw-weight, I'll buy it (if I'm convinced it's worth reading). A broadside like 'Mason & Dixon' or 'Underworld,' I might not finish before the library wants it back. Depends on how much reading time I have when I get it, but I'd never have made it through 'The Good Soldier Svejk' in three weeks.

Also, while I can get most anything through interlibrary loan using WorldCat, there are exceptions. Stephen Graham Jones' 'All the Beautiful Sinners' wasn't easy to get from the library, but Foozles had hardback remainders at $5, so I bought it.

A really long way to say I'm a bit fickle. Given unlimited budget and space, I'd buy everything I read just to support the artist. That, and I can't tell you how many times I've found treasures in my Dad's library, books he bought 40 years ago that I'd never heard of (and often that are out of print). So his Carol Bly, Eldridge Cleaver, Richard Brautigan, James Thurber, etc., make me wonder if my children will one day look at my book shelf and say, "What's this Lionel Shriver guy like?"

To which I'll have to tell them that 'Lionel' can be a girl's name too, and they are welcome to read it but please be sure it returns to my den...

 

[feyralla]

I never borrow books from the library, I lend from friends when I'm not very enthousiastic about a book, but usually I buy. I like the feeling of a new book!

 

[abecedarian]

The general rule of thumb for us is: use the library as much as possible; don't buy books we'll only read once(which covers most fiction); buy books for reference or more than once use.
We buy lots of books every year for school, and use the library for school material we only need for a week or two. I also use interlibrary loan to screen nonfiction titles that I might want to buy. I can't count the titles I've purchased after borrowing them.
And since rules are made to be broken, we occasionally splurge on new books just for fun. But we're very picky even on those occasions and still wind up coming home with nonfiction, and a list of fiction to check for with the library's computer system.

 

[chop_chop]

Usually depends on money. I love to buy books, but eating is more important. If I have money I will peruse a book store. If I don't, I'll go to the library. Mind you, if a book I really enjoyed or have been looking forward to reading for a while is on sale or in a used bookstore, I will usually buy it. I can't resist a bargain!

This is the same kind of thing that I do. If I know I am really going to enjoy a book - if it is something I have read before or by a trusted author - then I will buy it. But if it is something I am not too sure about I tend to use the library - then if I don't get on with it then I don't feel guilty about not finishing it!

 

[Twilite]

I buy 99% of books I read. 100% in the last couple of years when Ive been earning my own disposable income. But like the "Second Hand vs. Brand New" thread, now I think about it, it'd make a lot more sense to borrow books from the library. It doesn't have a great selection, but I'm sure there's plenty in there I like and they have a big network of libraries all over the country I can get them brought in from.
I guess I'm quite materialistic (I'm sure that'll change in the next few years) and like buying things and owning stuff for myself. I don't see much point in earning money to sit in the bank doing nothing, I'm a teen, I'm supposed to indulge! But with Uni and a car just around the corner, I won't have to worry about having surplus cash sitting in the bank I guess!

 

[claire29]

Ironically when I started working in my local library I then also started buying lots of books! Wanted to own as many as I could-especially the classics and my favourites. However, I've had to cut down though because i've only a small room so I'm running out of space. Bit of an addiction though so its really difficult not to buy now. Working in a library helps though!

 

[ions]

I buy when the deal is good. Whether that is used or clearance. I buy when I am after a specific printing or translation that I am unlikely to find used or in clearance. I borrow when I am not sure if I am going to like a book/author or not. I borrow when someone has the printing I am after.