This week’s question: -LibraryThing’s Recently Added feature: do you look at it? Do you use it for ideas? Is there something listed there now that looks interesting to you? What have you added to your LT library recently?
I look at it sometimes just to see what’s been added, but I don’t really pay much attention to it. Generally the books are so random that it’s not entirely worth the time to figure out what they all are, but it’s nice to see what others are reading or adding to their TBR piles. It awes me that people are adding books to LT every minute that I’m looking, every day.
I haven’t added anything to my LT library recently. To be honest I’m a little afraid of my TBR piles and occasionally I try to pretend they don’t exist, although right now it’s more a matter of digging the books out of all our packed stuff from camping. I have I think five books to add – The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham, The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas, The Making of the Middle Ages by R. W. Southern, The Queen’s Man by Sharon Kay Penman, Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell, and The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick. Okay, that’s six, and now I’ve taken them out so I will diligently put them into LT.
My fiance and his mother have both decided that I should stop buying books and use the library. They know I’m not going to listen to them. The library is well and good, but I really prefer to own my books. I love to have them, look at them, and know I can reread them even if I never actually do. Besides, I’ve never been to a library that had all the books I wanted to read and though I can request books for purchase, I’m sure they’d stop after dealing with me for a month or two. On top of that, I always want to own the books I like that I’ve read from the library, so I still buy them when I can. We may not have space in our house for anything else, but having so many books makes me happier. And since I never pay more than $4 (£2) for a book unless it’s a recent release that I must have, I don’t think this is too much of a problem.
What do you think?
I do use my local library and agree with you that I want to own most of the books that I borrow. I’m really glad though to use the library because it means that I can have a look at books before deciding whether I really want to buy them.
I do try and go to the library also. The problem I always have is the darn books all come at the same time and you only have 2 weeks to read them. Hubby keeps telling me I’m going to drive us straight to the poor house with my book buying but I haven’t stopped yet.
Enjoyed this post. I so agree with your sentiments re. owning one’s own books, knowing you can re-read them, even if you never do. I enjoy looking at my shelves of books, thinking about what I might read next, always having books available that I wanted enough to purchase them. As far as the expense is concerned, as my daughter says, this is my hobby. Look how much others spend on playing golf, being a season-ticket holder to sporting events, etc.
I like to own books I really enjoyed because I’ll stick little post-its on passages I really enjoyed so I can go back later and read them again. Our library is no good for new releases, but I do like to go and get books that I probably would’ve never given a chance otherwise. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to keep reading, and if I really like it, I can always buy my own copy.
I agree with the other Kathy. The problem with the library is the time constraints it puts on you for getting your book read.
I try to use the library as much as possible, but I’d say only about 1 in 5 books I read is from the library. I usually end up checking out a bunch of books and returning most of them unread.
I know how you feel about owning the books. I am kind of funny about the library too. I have a thing about reading books other people have touched. Can we say phobia? But I am also very particular about my own book (no bent corners, no leaving a book open facedown) and I hate reading books that others have done those things too.
I love going to the library. It’s very freeing for me. I don’t have to decide – is the cover blurb good enough for me to warrant paying $25 for this? Or should I wait to read it for another year and a half when it will come down to $15? I can try out a completely new genre that I think might interest me, but I’m wary of trying at full-price.
But I always put my favorites from my library reading on my to-buy list anyway, and I don’t really stop buying books either…