Booking Through Thursday: Why Buy?
This weeks Booking Through Thursday asks: Why Buy?
If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?
I’m going to offer up a couple of pictures before I begin, that will help illustrate my first point, that just like Rob, I enjoy a book more if I own it.
Not, perhaps, the pictures you would expect to see, in a post about books, but stay with me!
I said earlier that I enjoy books more when I own them, and yes it is slightly irrational but that is just the way it is, and I’ve always been the same. So I included some cultural references to explain my point, the first Brit’s will understand more that anyone else I think, and the second I think everyone will get.
Fish and Chips, a British dietary stalwart for many many many years 
and there are generally two agreed things that improve the experience, Fridays and Newspaper, traditionally they are eaten as a treat on a Friday, and served wrapped in newspaper. Of course you can have them anyday you like and eat them off whatever you wish, but somehow on a Friday and wrapped in newspaper (if you can find somewhere that still does) is all the better.
And Coke? Well you can drink it out of a bog standard plastic bottle, but it is so much nicer out of a cold glass bottle, isn’t it?
So there you go, owning a book shouldn’t make it anymore enjoyable, but it does, so there! 
And owning books inevitably means buying them! Even with my bordering on addicted usage of Bookmooch 
I still find myself buying books just as often as I always have. Why? Well I enjoy wandering around bookshops (who doesn’t? I know!) and well if you spend any amount of serious time in a bookshop, you would need the self-control of a saint to resist the temptation! That cover; Those 3 for 1 deals; It’s half price! All very valid excuses in my opinion.
And the main reason? Well lets pick a recent release…
Can you imagine, reading The Graveyard Book, and having to hand it back?
*shudders*
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Got to admire you for thinking out of the box there Bart, both with your pictures and your explanation. And of course you’re absolutely spot on – book ownership does make the whole business of reading a lot more enjoyable!
Robert Burdock´s last blog post: Penguin’s ’setting up’ for Christmas (and saving you a stack of cash too)
Thanks, I’ve tried to explain this slightly irrational preference before, and the fish and chips analogy was the closest I could get!
That’s a good analogy. Now I’m questioning my opinion on borrowing.
Amy´s last blog post: BTT: Why do you buy, or borrow?
Now, you’ve gone and made me hungry! It’s dinner time here.
Sally´s last blog post: Booking Through Thursday – Why Buy?
Heh! Heh! Sorry!
Came over here to tell you I LOVED your “Book” Tiny Story at SSD. Shivery. Nice surprise to find an interesting blog too.
I just had this conversation with my husband a couple of days ago. The infamous Powell’s bookstore is across the street from my office, and my book budget far exceeds my yearly clothing budget. And my book purchases far exceed my yearly book budget. HA!
I can’t really explain why it’s so important for me to actually own many of the books I read. It’s not that I will necessarily re-read them, it’s more that I anticipate the possibility of enjoying them so much that I want to put the memory of the read on my bookcase. It’s a bit like a photo album I suppose.
You can look at thousands of pictures of the Grand Canyon, many of them bordering on works of art. And yet, if you visit, you must have your own picture as a rememberance. Yeah, like that.
Stacey´s last blog post: Reaper
*Waves* loved your story too! I can not believe I managed to win (jointly).
Glad you like my blog, just had a quick look at yours in-between procrastination and NaNo-ing! Looks great!
If I understand you correctly, it seems to come down to a nostalgia/tradition sort of thing? While I’m not huge on tradition, there are some I follow so I can respect that line of reasoning– even if I don’t buy into it (pardon the expression). Nice teaser on the BTT site to get us here, I might add!
John Mutford´s last blog post: You Are The Generation That Bought More Books, And You Get What You Deserve
Well, it’s not the nostalgia so much, as the slightly irrational opinion that feeds it, There is no reason I should enjoy a book I own more that one I borrow, but I do. Just the same as fish and chips out a newspaper shouldn’t taste any better than out of a carton, but they do. I suppose when it comes down to it, it’s all in the mind.
Glad you liked the teaser!
I understand that shudder! I can’t even thinking of parting with my Gaiman books!
gautami tripathy´s last blog post: Booking through buying
Which is why the risk of just reading borrowed books is just too much!
Hi Bart,
Now I want to buy some books AND have some fish and chips myself right afterward (it’s still Friday here for an hour and a half). Nice blog!
R-Lo´s last blog post: You Call That a Dog?
you are so right…and yes it is much better to drink out of glass
You pictures make me hungry!
bethany (B&b ex libris)´s last blog post: NaNoWriMo: HALFWAY THERE!!
Hee… Hee… I seem to be making everyone hungry!