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?
This is actually a complicated question. I get a lot of reading material from the library and I get quite a few ARCs. But I do buy books, and there are a number of reasons why I’ll do so. Sometimes I’ll start reading a book and fall in love with it so much that I know that I just have to own my own copy. For example, I checked out Deanna Raybourn’s Silent in the Grave from the library, but after reading just a few pages, I went out and bought my own copy. If I love an author’s previous work, I’ll go right out and buy the next book they’ve written. I also have a habit of buying a book based on its cover--Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night is one such book. Luckily for me, I liked it.
I don’t generally buy books online (I like to be able to feel and—yes—smell the book before I buy it), but sometimes if something is hard to find or not readily available in the US, I’ll go to Amazon or Amazon UK (an example of this is that I recently bought a couple of Elizabeth Chadwick novels online).
And sometimes, if I find myself waiting in a train station/ airport/ etc., I’ll go into a bookstore and browse around, even if I don’t really need to buy anything (usually when I take a trip I make sure I have enough reading material packed). In my current apartment in New York, I'd say I have about 200 bought books.
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?
This is actually a complicated question. I get a lot of reading material from the library and I get quite a few ARCs. But I do buy books, and there are a number of reasons why I’ll do so. Sometimes I’ll start reading a book and fall in love with it so much that I know that I just have to own my own copy. For example, I checked out Deanna Raybourn’s Silent in the Grave from the library, but after reading just a few pages, I went out and bought my own copy. If I love an author’s previous work, I’ll go right out and buy the next book they’ve written. I also have a habit of buying a book based on its cover--Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night is one such book. Luckily for me, I liked it.
I don’t generally buy books online (I like to be able to feel and—yes—smell the book before I buy it), but sometimes if something is hard to find or not readily available in the US, I’ll go to Amazon or Amazon UK (an example of this is that I recently bought a couple of Elizabeth Chadwick novels online).
And sometimes, if I find myself waiting in a train station/ airport/ etc., I’ll go into a bookstore and browse around, even if I don’t really need to buy anything (usually when I take a trip I make sure I have enough reading material packed). In my current apartment in New York, I'd say I have about 200 bought books.
Comments
Plus my Christmas list is at least one-half books.
It's not uncommon that I buy my own copies of books after I enjoyed reading the ARCs. :)
http://bookcritiques.blogspot.com/2008/11/booking-through-thursday.html