Books: Purchase or Borrow?

I never borrow books.Nothing will replace that particular book smell and feeling as you open a new book.

Well considering how much we love to read, we don't buy books as much as borrowing them.. In fact one time my daughter had so many books, I wondered about how many she would be allowed to take out, the Librarian said 100. I was like uh oh, my daughter just might take you up on that someday..lol So you can imagine the costs involved if we bought every book we like, we would probably be in serious debt.

When we are still on school days yes our parents really invest money for our text book and school needs..

i usually never buy a book, unless its something i really have to read now. i go to garage sales, and the library,.. friends exchange them with me. same with movies.. not really worth all that money to purchase.

I have always been a reader. My parents read and my oldest daughter and her husband read alot too. The rest of my family doesn't care to read. Right now I am trying to get my list of books I want to get. I used to buy books at Barnes and Noble but they are too expensive so I have gone to getting them at HalfPriced books.

I swap books at paperbackswap.com. I love it. You only pay when you send one of your books off. And I can get rid of books I've already read to get some new ones that are on my wish list. IF you have books you want to get rid of it's a great thing. There are several other sites that do the same thing, but for now I just do this one site. I know bookmooch.com is another one.

I borrow a lot more than I buy, and I buy used a lot more than I buy new. But I still buy new books when it's something special or a reference of some sort. Growing up we had books and books... I don't have as many, but I still have two bookshelves full and a stack here and there.

which books?when we are in our school days my mother believe that we need to buy our own books yearly, it is until now there in my mother's house,but when it come to commercial book,like romance, novel etc.. we have to bought it for ourself because i believe we have to buy for our own luxury atleast..sometimes borrow is good.

I prefer to purchase the books I read.

I grow up seeing books around. My mom seems implanted in us reading. She always tells us to read books coz it will knowledge. Before she buys books from time to time when she got spare money for it. I usually borrow books from the school library before while I was still studying. But now that I'm working. I'm buying books; since sad to say our city library here isn't adequate enough with variety of books. We can't borrow books from private schools unless we are students there. So it leaves no choice but buy some books online.

Well, there are a lot of great programs online that allow you to trade books for free. I prefer to do that, or buy used. It saves money. I'd buy them all if I could afford to, but it would just be way too pricey. I'll buy the beat up books on amazon and half.com -- I don't care what the cover looks like, as long as its legible!

If the books is important for our life and it's very meaningful, just buy the book. But if it's not too important, just borrow. not every book we will re read, right ?

I will tend to read a book from the library first, as an introduction to an author. If I fall in love, I tend to end up buying the series. My love of books began as a child also, and maybe what she needs are bookshelves lining her room for Christmas, with just one or two books. Then when she fills the shelves, she will have to learn to cull some to make space for the new ones. Good luck!

USED BOOK STORE for sure. They are the best. I also get a great amount of books from frenchies, if you have one in your area. They are the best and they sell theres for 25 cents to a dollar. Plus i make my 7 year old go through her books about once a month and donate them to her school library...just the ones she never really got into or didn't really enjoy. She has gotten into the fairy books recently and also my secret unicorn. Plus whatever grabbes her attention. Also at our local library they have a discard area...any old books they are getting rid of they sell for 10 cents....i don't know iif all libraries do it but it is wonderful. and they are good books. But used book stores are one of my favorite places to take my girls...you never know what kind of tresure they will find. book swavy

Welcome! Join the gang! I've always been a book buyer and now I do it for my son too. We have books all over the house. Fortunately I have the space. I have books from my childhood (my mom threatened to dispose of them if I didn't take them home) and we keep buyng books for our son. We also borrow from the library...but that goes back...so doesn't pose a problem. To top that, my son's school gives away books as awards or prizes and my son gets quite a few each year. He's got 15 this year! I prefer my own books too especially since I re-read them. If I boroow a book from the library and like it...I will definitely go out and get my own copy.

We used to buy books earlier then we found we had too many books and storing them became a big problem.Everytime I shifted house I gave the books to the local library.Finally when I moved into an apartment.Space became a constraint so I stopped buying them instead I borrow them from the library.If I feel like rereading them I can always take it again.

LOL I'm there :) Too many books, and like your daughter i do like to own them for the same reason - I often re-read them. Heck sometimes I have several of the same book, just in different languages LOL SOmetimes I do borrow books, but it's rare. I do buy second hand books often though. There is a second hand bookstore close to me, and believe me I probably keep that place going hehehehe

I love books if I could I will buy every book that has been writen. Before I got married I used to buy books at least 1 a week. Then when my son was born and I was often buying a book and than I would feel guilty because I could have done something better with the money (we didnt have lots of money). So I strarted going to the library a lot. Whe my son started to love books I used to take some from the library but I had to watch out that he didnt write in them or rip them. By now we were ok financialy so I started to buy him books he is now 4 (5 in april) and he has over 200 books I do get him books from second hand stores (charity) that way I am doing something for him (teaching him to love books), I am saving money and at the same time I am helping the charity. Also I have given away or sold many of my books that I didnt like that much because there was no point of them just siting there using space. Lately I have started buying new books.

Hi,there! I think what you said in the discussion is a problem.One can't own all the books. I do think some books we only need to read once.While some other books are really worth rereading and keeping.As we've got the libraries around us,we can go there first to take a look at the book that attract us and then decide whether it's good for us to buy and keep or not.If they're really so nice,then we buy them and keep them,sometimes we can read them again.It's really necessary to balance that.Maybe you can also talk with your kids about that and let them know the point:) Thanks for the discussion and have a nice day^_^

I definitely purchase and if its good reread probably a year down the line. I don't usually buy new books unless I really want the book, mine are mostly used.