Let’s Talk Bookish – To Borrow or To Buy?

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

May 6: How do you decide what books to borrow or buy? (Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Do you buy a lot of books? Do you borrow books from a library, or from friends? What do you look out for in books you buy? Are there any book genres you typically buy more of? Do the types of books that you buy differ from the types of books you typically borrow? Do you prefer to borrow or to buy books?

Welcome to another week here of LTB on DTRH! Today’s topic is certainly a good one, and I can’t wait to hear what all of you do. I figure money (and bookshelf space) are the main deterrents but how does one make the choice?

I buy a medium number of books. I think I used to buy more but recently I’d say I’ve been buying a lot less (since I got more acquainted with Libby). I still do try and buy books that look nice and that I know I like, but sometimes I also buy books that are on sale. Bookshelf space in mind, I definitely don’t mind purchasing a book while at a bookstore!

Nowadays I usually borrow off of Libby, or go to a library proper and borrow books off a shelf. The books I read I don’t often re-read, so I would quickly run out of space. However, library and borrowing is less commitment, if the book is that good, I can buy it! I have recently tried to do some book exchanges with friends, which has also been a nice way to introduce each other to good books.

Books I buy are usually something that I imagine would look good on my shelf, and that more importantly I would actually read and enjoy. Although I also think there’s something to be said about buying books for what looks good because that is where it would spend most of its time anyway. Agree or disagree?

I typically buy the most books of authors I want to support, or books I want to read right away without waiting in a long queue of holds in the library. Usually I just wait in the library for something I anticipate just in case it isn’t good, but for authors I support, I will usually go ahead and just buy the book if I happen to see it at the store.

I tend to buy and borrow the same kinds of books: mysteries and thrillers! Although those are definitely prone to being read only once. Still, I like to have a collection if possible. I will tend to judge books more by their cover if I do end up buying it and leaving it on my shelf though. Because I tend to read these kinds of books only once, I generally want to just borrow them (and buy it if it’s really good), rather than just buy it. Thrillers tend to be shorter too, so I can go through them fairly quickly. I think I’d run out of space way too quickly if I just bought every thriller I could get my hands on!

What do you all buy? Or is buying just out of fashion now? There’s something to be said about saving the environment and printing in general, but who can resist the lure of new books?! I know I can’t.

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