Making Up For Monday: Book Lending

Hosted by An Avid Reader; A Wannabe Writer

Each week, I will have a book-related theme or game, or something fun to do that week. And you can play along! All you have to do is find the question for that week, go to your own blog, write a post that day based on that question, and link your post to this one using the link up tool at the bottom of the post.

This Week's Question

Do you lend books out and, if so, what are your rules to lending?

My Answer:

My stance on lending anything is that I only give out what I don't expect back — money, books, whatever. So, would I lend anyone one of my favorite books in paperback or hardback form? Not a chance! I'm not flexible on this. I don't care who you are — acquaintance, friend or family. I've got the same answer for anyone; I just smile real pretty and point toward the nearest library.

Might sound harsh, but like I said the library is a free resource everyone can take advantage of. Plus, you never get things back in the same condition you left them in. Finger smudges, weakened spines, dog-eared corners, etc etc. No reason to get mad at your friends for that.

Another reason I'm so stingy is that I've already lost a chunk of my personal library to a freak accident in a storage space I once had when a pipe burst. All my Harry Potter hardbacks, gone. My 10-book Pendragon series, gone. There were many others that went with them but those hurt the most. Now anything I really love doesn't leave my shelves unless I'm reading them.

The only physical books I'd ever lend are the ones I didn't like or lost interest in. When it comes to ebooks or audio books, however, I could careless. It's not like I'm actually giving out my copy.