- Image via Wikipedia
Given my passion (or obsession) with books, you can imagine my very extensive book collection (home library). It’s pretty much 50/50. Half the books have been read, the other half are on what is known as the “TBR” pile. The ‘To Be Read’ pile, went from one shelf, to 1.5 bookcases in little more than a year.
I am always collecting and I’m always reading. I’ve actually narrowed down my purchases and now limit myself to 5 new books per month. I also receive at least one new book per month from the bookstore. This is free of charge, all they ask is that I read and post a review.
I like this deal, because I always review my books anyways and this gives me the opportunity to read a book by an author I’ve never heard of in a genre I’m not fluent in. It’s good to spice things up, if you ask me.
Given all the time and money I spend on books, you can understand why I take care of my precious collectibles. I rarely loan out my books because I get anxiety over it. If you have my book too long, I start to panic that something isn’t right.
When someone asks me if they can borrow a book, I almost always say yes but I have a speech prepared.
Here are my rules:
1. You do not crack the spine. I fully understand that you crack spines to open books, but when I say “do not crack the spine” I mean fold it over, the way you would a magazine. Books are not meant to be folded completely over that way. Figure out how to hold your book like your grade 2 teacher did when she’d show the class all the pretty pictures, or use two hands.
2. You do not fold the pages. No dog ears. You get a book mark, or you remember the page. You also do not leave the book spread open, face down on a hard surface. Please refer to rule #1 for the reasoning.
3. If the book comes back to me in a lesser shape then it went out to you, you will replace it brand new, same edition, no questions asked. So, when you bring the book on a cruise with you and leave it by the pool and it gets wet, you cannot say “I was on a cruise, these things happen.” Do you hear me, mom? That’s specifically to you. You almost lost your book-borrowing priveledges with that stunt. You’re lucky the love is unconditional, I tell you what.
People always laugh when I give my rules but by the end of the speech, they know I’m dead serious. Most people opt out of borrowing the book at that time, and I’m fully ok with that. Less anxiety for me.
The way I see it, rule #3 is enough and it counts the other two. But for people who aren’t as passionate about books, you need to give them all three rules. You wouldn’t borrow clothing and return it with holes or stains, would you?
Think about it this way.
I loan you $10. If you give me back $8.50, I’m going to ask for the balance. If I don’t want change, I might just say “wait until you have $10” then pay me back.
It’s the same. Pretend my book is $10. Give me back $10. ‘Nuff said.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3bdac463-9299-40cc-8bf7-c481da1a8b56)
