Last Sunday Salon Angus, from Book Rhapsody, talked
about borrowing and before that I talked about book sales and how a book is not
a sacred thing, although it should be taken care off. In general, the topic of
passing around books was in the air. Right now the library of my institute is
giving away a bunch of old books and I scored this beauty:
Isn't it beautiful? is very old, and you can see the work and love that was put on this book :).
However, today my Google alert gave me a link to a beautiful story about really giving away your books. I've never done this you see, I've never really donated a book, and the reasons are exactly the same a lot of people have for not lending books: you want to know that this book that gave you so much is going to be well taken care of; that someone is going to read it, bring the story back to life again.
The closest I've been to giving away books was when I
moved out of my country; for obvious reasons I could not just keep all of my
books, so I gave them to people in my family, to friends. I sold a couple of
text books (calculus and the sort) but even then, I had to keep one of my
Biochemistry books with me, I just had to.
I've been the lucky one, the one on the other side,
getting people giving me books, either intentionally or not. Once I was walking
on the street and there was a box full of books to give away, no one was taking
care of them, they were there for the grab. I could've taken the whole box, but
at the same time I told myself, you are not interested in all of this books,
you should just choose some and let someone else have the rest.
I did think about having a little free library in
front of my house; I loved the idea of sharing some of the books I already read
and that I know won't be read again. But you have to remember that I am still
an student, there is a reason why when I buy books is at the library sale at 1
dollar each. But believe me, once I have an actual paycheck, this is one of the
"giving back" things that I am going to do.
Other than that it has been a nice week, I managed to post 2 reviews: The Guinea Pig Diaries and The Mystery of the Tanias. Both books that I read during this years Read-a-Thon.
I have a keeper shelf and I lend from it but don't give yet. I do enjoy giving my review books away though. Love the post!
ReplyDeleteLori/Dollycas
http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/
I haven't got any review books other than the Early Reviewers ones, so I haven't passed them around yet. Thank you very much for your comment :)
DeleteI have donated books to my neighborhood library, and have started giving away ARCs in a Bookshelf Clearing event. My books exceed my shelf availability!
ReplyDeleteHere's MY SUNDAY SALON POST
I want to do that too, donate to the local library. So far I'm lucky I still have enough space in my bookshelf :)
DeleteI donate books quite often, whether to charity shops or to neighbourhood book sharing schemes. This is partly about my own limited storage space, but also because I think books should be read, so if I think I won't read a book again, even if I enjoyed it the first time, I give it away.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! I totally agree that books should be read as much as possible, which is why I try to pass them around amongst friends.
DeleteWhat a beautiful book there. I tend to keep most since I reread a lot, but if I dont care for them I send them off as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you ^-^ I really like it, although is just for watching as is super heavy and I'm afraid moving it too much will unbound the poor thing. I rarely re-read a book but sometimes I keep a certain book until I know I will see the person I think will enjoy it the most.
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