Buying Books vs Going to the Library
Non-committed readers (that’s what I’m going to call the people who are going to the library, at least in my country) are always looking at me like I’m the craziest person who has ever lived when I tell them I prefer to buy books than going to the library.
Questions that usually follow are along the lines of don’t you like used books or do you read those books only once or do you re-read them and wouldn’t it be better to spend all that money on stuff you might actually need, etc.
Now let me give you my actual reasons for buying books, besides them looking damn good on my shelves and making me feel better every time I glance at them.
I don’t go to the library, because I like taking my sweet time reading a book. Sometimes I’d read it in a day, sometimes in a week and other times I’d need a whole month. If I’d go to the library, I’d feel pressured to finish in a deadline they gave me to return a book. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against that deadline otherwise people would probably keep borrowed books at home indefinitely. It just isn’t my cup of tea.
Second reason is that I prefer to read books in the language they were written, which is usually English, but our library mostly has books that have been translated into Slovenian language. The books they do have in English are hundred years old and not interesting to me at all.
Third reason is that even if I would read books in Slovenian, which sometimes I do, some books don’t even get translated. For example, I never would have read Throne of Glass or any other book by Sarah J. Maas or Jennifer L. Armentrout. Now that I think about it, I don’t think even Rick Riordan’s books are translated into Slovenian. So now you see how much I would miss out on if I’d go to the library. They don’t have those books there in English or in Slovenian language. Even if I would wait for them to be translated, it would take ages and I would miss on so many good books in the meantime. Besides, I am reading faster in English than I do in Slovenian, which is interesting considering that Slovenian is my first language.
When I was a kid, I was going to the library. I’ve been there every day, most of the day. I’ve read most of the books on my level and then there weren’t any books for me to read, at least the ones that I liked. After that I stopped going to the library and stopped reading all together, until I bought my first book in 2012 – The Hunger Games series. Same goes for THG series, when I started reading it, books weren’t translated yet, and they were unable to obtain in a library.
If I haven’t bought those books that day, I probably would never start reading again. I’d be a completely different person. Books are a part of me and I don’t regret it one bit for buying so many of them.
To answer another question that I get from non-committed readers, yes, I do re-read books. Sometimes not even whole books but only scenes I liked. A lot of times I open a book I’ve read on impulse and end up re-reading it completely. Some books have been read only once, while others are barely keeping its pages together for being used so much.
Just so I won’t get any angry comments or something, I would like to further define the term non-committed readers. For me, those are the people who open a book or two once a year, usually during summer vacations. If I’d be like that, I wouldn’t buy books as well and I’d be considering it a waste of time and money, but since I am not like that and try to read at least 5 books a month, well … I think you can see the difference yourself.
Another thing, I don’t mind if a book is used. I go into bookstores that sell used books all the time, so I don’t have any kind of complex of having to be the first person to open a copy of a certain book. I just really don’t like to be pressured to finish it in a predetermined amount of time.
Finishing sentence about the dilemma in the title would go something like this:
Buying books is a definite must for me, at least when reading in my own free time is concerned. But when I have to read something for school, or need some special book to help me write an essay or a project, then I am going to go to the library. No way, I’d be reading those books more than once, so I wouldn’t even consider buying them.
What about you? Are you a library person or a book hoarder?
Post by Anya Blackhart-Clark
If you have any suggestions on blog posts or any questions at all, let me know. You can contact me on Instagram (anyablackhartclark) or send me an e-mail (anyablackhartclark@gmail.com).
