I was so happy when I was deemed old enough to bike to my town's library. It became nearly a ritual for me. Every Saturday I'd get my allowance (to buy lunch -- usually french fries or a hot fudge sunday), bike to the library, get as many books as I could jam in my backpack, and bike to the breakwater (my home town was on the Lake Huron shore). I'd sit and read by the lake until I had to be home for chores or dinner.

The need to immediately hug and pet the book and call it George is why I buy Lois McMaster Bujold and Connie Willis in hardcover. For everyone else, I can wait until the paperback. (I did buy The Weaver and the Factory Maid in hardcover because I was eager to read it and to run up the number of buyers.) Unlike Beverly, I'm able to transfer my affections from the library book to the shiny new paperback if I've fallen in love with the contents.

I don't know what I would have done without the library. I would have been out on the corner saying, "Do you have any spare change? If I get another dollar, I can buy a paperback."

I hate keeping most books. I've been known to leave garbage bags of them on the sidewalk.

Maybe I move too often, or have too few bookshelves. Libraries would work better if I were more timely, but yeah, borrowing rocks.

I keep all the picture books, and get rid of much of the novels.

Which reminds me ... I need to mail a couple to my mother.

MOST books in public libraries are bought new. People donate books to public libraries, and the libraries sell them. Yes, sometimes people sneeze into the books, or use pizza as a bookmark (this happened to a book in my University library) but often you will find books you'd swear had never been read. Sometimes they haven't. And for out of print books, the library's the thing.

Heretically for a buffista, I almost never buy books I haven't read already. I don't need to own books unless I plan to reread them.

I've been known to leave garbage bags of them on the sidewalk.

I was going to shriek, but then I realized I've actually done that myself. I had too many bad books from my book-of-the-month club phase, and not enough shelves. Now I have enough shelf space that I can buy books without having to get rid of any, for a while, anyway. I'm not a big book buyer.

I don't need to own books unless I plan to reread them.

Exactly why I give so many away.

But without a convenient library routine, I keep buying.

However, between msbelle (I owe her a shipment too) and Kat, maybe I could avoid setting myself up with late fees.

I like to own books. The size of my apartment and of my paycheck keep me going back to the library. Given unlimited funds and bookcases, I would go to my favorite bookstore and buy about every third book. Then I would take them home. Then I would rub my hands over them and cackle.

What?

I mean, I've liked a lot of books this year, but not in that "My precious...shiny. Want!" way that makes them hard to take back. I am glad half had "A Year On The Killing Streets" though cause I read it five times.

Mistaken Zygote Theory

amyparker, please to explain?

I lurve the library. It's where all of the scripts live. Much cheaper than ordering from Samuel French and Dramatist's.

I've been known to leave garbage bags of them on the sidewalk.

I trade mine in at used bookstores. Helps pay for my book addiction. Also, I donate the rest to libraries..hehe!