Thursday, February 24, 2011

Booking Through Thursday - Something Old, Something New

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading.

This week's question is:

All other things being equal – do you prefer used books? Or new books? (The physical specimen, that is, not the title.) Does your preference differentiate between a standard kind of used book, and a pristine, leather-bound copy?

I was going to say that my ideal personal library consists of nothing but new books, but then I realised that if they were to remain that way, I could never read them. The thing is that once a book is read, it is no longer new. Even though I try to be very careful when handling my books, they inevitably end up looking less new after a while.

I buy a lot of used books or get them through BookMooch, BookCrossing or the library, and I think it is a wonderful way of saving money as well as the environment. I am somewhat selective when buying used books though; if it is in really bad condition, like partly illegible or pages are falling out (or if it smells of cigarette smoke – major turn-off for me), I will of course pass. But some general signs of wear and tear don't bother me at all. The only exception is a favourite book; if I know I want to keep it forever, I will buy a new hardcover simply because it will last longer.

5 comments:

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Good thoughts! I like the variety of old and new, but have special feelings about them...

Here's MY BTT POST

Lisa (Lisa's World of Books) said...

Great thoughts! Ideally all of mine woudl be new as well!
http://bookskidsanimalsandmore.blogspot.com/2011/02/booking-through-thursday_24.html

Sally said...

A lot of my books look new even though I have read them. I don't do it on purpose I think I am just a very careful reader.
Sally.

Amused said...

Good point about once you read them then they'd be used! I really don't mind if mine are used as long as they are 'gently used'!

Anonymous said...

Fairly clean and with good contents, that's important: http://mostraum.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/booking-through-thursday-something-old-something-new/

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