Booking Through Thursday

I’ve asked, in the past, about whether you more often buy your books, or get them from libraries. What I want to know today, is, WHY BUY?

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?

Although I’m hoping to use the library a bit more in the future, I am a book buyer. I buy a lot of craft books so I have them to constantly refer to. The only time I wouldn’t buy a craft book is when I can borrow it from a friend or there is only one thing in the book that I want to make.

Overall, my preference is to buy because I like the idea of having the books on hand to read at my own leisure and my own pace. And I hope one day to have a library in my house. I feel that if I borrow a book I have to read it right then within the time period of the loan and sometimes I like a book, but just don’t feel like reading it then. If I don’t buy it, it’s likely I’ll forget about it in the future. I’m too busy at the moment to borrow a book and then have to return in – even if I can re-check it, the risk is there that someone else is waiting for it. My library only gives me two weeks to read a book. I guess I’m at the mercy of my “feelings” when it comes to books (actually I’m like that with food too!) in that I have to “feel like” reading something.