Library or owning?

[Lilyflower-x2]

I prefer to own my books, but I only buy books that I feel worth owning or a second reading. I also borrow library books for books I know I won't read again.

I also buy books that I will want to read more than once and pass on to my future generations.

[Bigwig1973]

I like to own books until it comes time to move. I do not have a lot of collections in general, so a book collection is nice. Right now, my collection mostly consists of college material. I used to have a lot more books, but as they were not "practical" to have and keep moving around, I decided to thin some of them out. If I ever figured that I would stay somewhere for a very long time, then I would probably collect. But, you have to draw the line somewhere. I thought it would be really nice to have a nice collection that looks very fancy, but that becomes problematic: it will look nice and organized and pretty, but the company is bound to not have some of the books I want to be in the collection, in the collection, which would be disappointing. Plus, my furnishings aren't that nice and so a nice book collection would probably just emphasize the not-so-fancy stuff I have. So, I decided, after much deliberation, to stick with however it was most reasonable. Visitors would walk in an be like, "Oh! She is like so together with her nicely-bound books organized within the nice oak barristers, which flank an old black futon loveseat, made of metal, not even wood, covered with white dog hair and pieces of cockleburs. Oh, how lovely!" Plus, my realization that there would be books the company wouldn't have and that that would cause internal aggravation - just too stressful. Minus the nicely bound books I actually had that set-up in my house at one time because I found a couch for my dog so then he didn't jump on the white couch after wading in the stinky water in the ditches with water consisting of "fertilizer", pesticides, and who knows what else. It worked very nicely.

[Fliesie01]

I have fond memories of the library, but I must agree, it just feels great to have your books, and read them at your own pace. Also collecting a series is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

[AlexisLib]

I have gone back and forth on this during different times of my life. I used to have to own because I read pretty slowly, or I'd want to refer to a book to see how the writer wrote something (as a writer myself). But now I am older and I have an expensive storage unit half-filled with books that I really need to get rid of. It feels like a heavy weight! And there are now digital books. But in these pandemic times I don't want to go to the library, so I am sticking to what I already have and focusing on buying (and borrowing) digital books. In the past I have used libraries a lot (I have a library degree too). I say to younger people--be careful how much stuff you buy because when you are older you may be living in a small apartment and have to spend money on storage and then you can't find stuff anyway, and now you have to spend time and energy (which you don't have as much as before) going through them and donating. Ugh.

[Essywa]

I can do both but I prefer borrowing from the library.

[Divya Tamilselvan]

I prefer owning books. We can get back to the book and re-read our favorite parts when we own books. And we can take our own time to read the book without thinking of the deadline.

[SmartReviewer77]

I do prefer having my own copy so I can read it whenever and wherever I want to.

[Salah bourouba]

I try to own my books the best I can.i would like to have a big library in my house someday

[Yin Hikari]

I prefer to read books that I own. I honestly can't borrow a book from the library since I'm terrible at it. Plus, seeing my bookshelf, which is brimming with them, is a lot of joy!

[Amna Khalid]

Owning.

[Rachael S 1]

I refuse to use a library. Libraries require you to return the books and I fail to do that every time.

[Adeope Oluwaseyi]

I prefer purchasing a book
I keep on reading a hundred times

[Primrose Mhlanga]

I think the library works better because once I own a book, I always feel like returning it once I finish reading because my bookshelf will need retouching.

[urrutiap]

Owning a book is much better where if you try to check out a book from the library you have a limited time like a week or week and half to try to read.

[sadya]

That is very little time to read, especially if you work full time. In the Netherlands, we have about 3 weeks time.