Tattered Covers ...

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I tend to be obsessive about "my" books and will only loan them to certain people for fear that others might somehow sully them (dog-ear pages, crack spines, etc.). Then I read an interview or written piece with J.K. Rowling where she talked about how she was happy when she'd do a publicity appearance and she'd see all of the kids with their well-worn and well-read copies of the Harry Potter books. And I started thinking about books that I've loved to the point where they're falling apart (kind of referenced on the "Can you re-read a book?" thread) and now I feel okay if I end-up tattering a book, but still get pissy if I lend a book to someone else and it's returned looking batty and bruised.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

My copy of Harriet the Spy that I've had since I was a kid is not only missing its front cover but also is torn in two. At some point I decided that since there was a "Book 1" and a "Book 2" in the book, that it clearly was meant to be two separate books, and so I separated them. When I got to "Book 3", which is very short, I reliazed that "book" probably just meant "superchapter" or something.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember years ago when my mother and I both read the paperback of Rebecca West's "The Birds Fall Down" and then I loaned it to someone else, and it was known ever after as "The Pages Fall Out."

― Carol Robinson (carrobin), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually can't read a book if I think there is a chance that the pages are going to fall out while I'm reading it. It unnerves me for some reason. I have no problem with reading a well-worn, well-loved book, but it has to be intact and stay intact or I'll give it up. Am I crazy?

And as far as lending stuff out goes, I have one motto that I live by: Don't lend anything out that you can't afford to lose.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I tend to buy a copy for my friends rather than lend them my own because past experience tells me I won't get the books back. But I also have a friend who always ends up buying me a new copy because she's either lost it or spilled coffee all over the one I lent her. Which is fine. I just don't let her borrow anything that she can't easily replace.

― SJ Lefty, Saturday, 15 May 2004 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)

As long as they don't completely ruin it I find it charming -- then again every book I touch is immediately awash in coffee. It's like it comes out of my fingers.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Saturday, 15 May 2004 01:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate it when I lend a book to someone and they assume ownership. Why do I always feel guilty when I ask for its return?!
I also hate it when I lend a favourite book to someone who smokes cigarettes when they read it, forever infusing the pages with stale nicotine aroma!
Needless to say I have culled the list of ' people who I will lend books to' to about 3 people.

― kath (kath), Saturday, 15 May 2004 03:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I usually buy second hand books so I'm kinda used to worn out books but I only lend my books to desperate folks (as opposed to those who casually ask for a book) cuz I'm suffering from OCD and I have to carefully clean the book covers and sides whenever someone touches them.

― Fred (Fred), Saturday, 15 May 2004 09:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i get angry if someone abuses books that i've loaned, but i love the ones that i've worn out on my own or have been given to me in a much-used state. my favorites are the old scribner paperbacks that my dad gave me (fitzgerald, wolfe, wharton, hemingway), which are in appalling shape: dog-eared, broken-spined (tender as the night is, at this point, held together in sections with paperclips), spilled upon, scrawled with comments, or otherwise defaced (hemingway sports devil horns on the back of a farewell to arms, courtesy of my mother).

― lauren (laurenp), Saturday, 15 May 2004 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't tend to loan out books to people because I know I won't see them again. And I don't tend to borrow books from people because I know they won't give them back. But what I hate more is when other people I live with loan my books to people without asking me. This used to happen on occasion when I lived with my brothers. It happens less often now, mostly because Bloke loaned out our Rough Guide to Egypt to some people I never would have loaned it to, and we haven't seen it since. He got a rough guide to my temper, and the lesson was learned.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Sunday, 16 May 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

My friends know better than to ask me for a loan. They consider it a high mark in the trust department if I offer to loan them a book for a very short time, in my presence... I usually send people to the library or the used bookstore for a copy. I've lost too many good books...

I think the difference between one tattering up a book with book-love or book-lust and someone wantonly allowing one's book to be abused is just that, you care and they're clueless.

― yesabibliophile (yesabibliophile), Monday, 17 May 2004 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

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