A READER'S CONFESSION 101: Book Borrowing

One of the major issues of a bookworm is book borrowing. Whether it's your friends who borrow books from you, or it is you who borrows books from them. And since this is my confession, I'm gonna share with you (yeah, whoever happens to stumble on my blog and reads my first post) my opinion, view, stand, or whatsoever about it.

THEM borrowing from YOU.

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I've read a lot of posts from bookworms asking their fellow bookworms if they are comfortable lending their books to their friends. Some say yes so they can fangirl/fanboy together and to spread "bookwormness". Others say no because they love their books so much they can't stand the thought of not seeing them for even a minute (okay, that is so overrated). And there are those who said that it depends on who is borrowing. If he or she is a certified bookworm and knows how to take care of a book and give it back on time, then yes. But if he or she is, you know, careless, then 'no' or they would just give them a digital copy of the book.

Well, for me, I do lend my books to friends. I mean, they want to read so who am I to stop them from doing so? But still, whenever I let other people, even closest of the closest friend of mine, borrow my book, I can't help but  feel anxious. Because, come on, I have no idea how they are reading the book. If creases are already visible on the spine or if there are torn or crumpled pages, I wouldn't know. It feels like every time they are to return my books, I'm always in for a surprise. I know I am being paranoid but you can't blame me. Books are precious to me. And yet, I can't say no to them. You can call it courtesy or preserving friendship. Because I know my friends will feel bad if they find out that I am being selfish with my books, and then, it is I who will also feel bad. No, scratch that. I will feel terrible. Because I am a human being with a very sensitive conscience (don't know if it's a good thing or not). So yea, bottom line?

I let them borrow my books but I am, and will, never be comfortable with it.

YOU borrowing from THEM.

 

{Photo Source:http://media4.onsugar.com/files/2012/04/14/3/192/1922441/aa1256c47fc88497_1.xxxlarge_1.jpg }

I am not rich. I am still a student who gets her budget for books from her allowance. So yeah, that only means that I am in no capacity to buy every single book that I want to read. Which would lead to "one" (iykwim) of the most practical solution, book borrowing. In this case, its me borrowing from someone. 

My friends offer their books for me to lend. It's sometimes like a partial swap since they are also borrowing books from me. When I was in high school, when I was still a baby in this reading hobby, I borrow a lot. My allowance is so small and I am not that wise in money spending so I don't get to buy a lot of books. But there's a downside there you know. Sometimes I get so attached to a book that I borrowed that I wanna reread them again so badly but I can't because I already returned it. So I told myself, no, I can't let myself experience that again. Then I pledge not to borrow books as much as I can. Anyway, I'm already in college so my allowance 'matured a bit' and I am a little wiser on my spending so maybe I can afford buying my own copy. And there's the magic called 'ebooks'. I know most of them are not so legal but I resort to them in my most desperate times (which also means the time when I'm the poorest). I feel guilty whenever I'm reading in ebook, but, uggh, temptations are everywhere. Though I'm still proud to say that my physical books (the one with the real paper pages, just to elaborate) are way way way way more than my ebooks. 

Hence! (I've been off-topic, I know, but I just need to say that, or type, for that matter), 

I do not borrow books from other people. Because that is torture (for me though), and I am no masochist.

Anddd that is me wrapping my confession up. Share yours on the comment box and let's have a chat!

-M ♥