h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

By "historical" I don't mean well used, dogeared family heirlooms but instead I mean bookmarks that give your book a historical meaning in the context of your life.

Being an avid reader I always have a book on the go and it will travel with me at all times. Planes, trains, buses you name it, it'll be there. As with all said forms of transport a ticket is a necessity.

There's little point in putting your ticket in a wallet or bag so I use mine as a bookmark which makes it not only easy to show any conductor sorts who maybe on the prowl but also it gives the book a historical context in my life.

When I finish the book, because the book marks are of little sentimentality, they tend to stay in the books. Not only does this tell me that I have read the book (especially if the bookmark is at the back of the book) but also it tells me when it was I read it. Another added bonus is that they provide any subsequent readers with a bookmark should they not have anything suitable to hand (although they'd have to have stolen the book from me as I'm not a great lender or borrower of books!)

I have also used old train or bus tickets as bookmarks. It can be a lot of fun to open a book and think, 'Gosh, is it really that long since I last read this?'

I agree about not lending books, though. I'm convinced that whoever said 'Neither a borrower nor a lender be' was referring to books.

It's amazing ... the more people I tell that I never lend/borrow books, the more people I find who are exactly the same!

My theory is that a bookshelf is like a one off piece of art ... no two are ever alike and they are decoration that people will look at in much the same way as they'd look at a painting. If you had one a Monet on the wall, you wouldn't lend anyone one of the waterlilies!

Having said that, I've learnt from experience and the argument that "you've read it, why keep it" just doesn't hold water!

I've met people who can't understand why I have so many books. (The only rooms in our house that don't have bookshelves are the bathroom - no space, so I put my book in the airing cupboard - and the kitchen.) I've often been asked, 'If you want to read a book more than once, why not join your local library?' They don't seem to appreciate the obvious answers: The library isn't open every day. When it *is*open, it isn't open all day. And there's no guarantee that the book I want will be available *when* I want it!

We're absolute book freaks at our house. Books everywhere! We just can't live without them.

I inherited, among many other things, my Mother's books. These are lovely old-fashioned volumes, wonderful stories. After I recovered from the loss of Mom, I set out to read, and in many cases, re-read these wonderful old books. I found notes I wrote in high school, a poem we'd memorized in grade 7, flowers I'd pressed for some long-forgotten reason. The most interesting, though, were bookmarks Mom had used in the 1930's and 1940's - advertisements, club newsletters, recital programs (Mom was a singer). It gave me some insites into Mom's life before and during the war. There was even a note from a friend in the apartment building she'd lived in thanking her for lending a book!

I must agree on not lending books, but with a slightly different reason/consequense.

Most books that I lent (before deciding on stopping) never came back.
A borrowed book is a lost book.
If it eventually came back, it is torn, stained, etc. In 30 years, I only had one friend who borrowed a book from me, read it beyond recognition, and bought it new to give it back to me ! An exception.

But there are some books that, although interesting, informative, pleasant, etc., you are quite sure you'll never read again (this applies well, among others, to detective novels). Then I'd rather offer it to whoever I believe would enjoy it, rather that letting it go, and hoping for it to come back.
An doing so, I imagine I start a string of readers who will enjoy the story and pass it on.
For a few books, I remember reading them, the offering them to friends, then feeling like reading them and bought them a second time... to let them go again to another friend ! But no regrets.

I must agree on not lending books, but with a slightly different reason/consequense.

Most books that I lent (before deciding on stopping) never came back.
A borrowed book is a lost book.
If it eventually came back, it is torn, stained, etc. In 30 years, I only had one friend who borrowed a book from me, read it beyond recognition, and bought it new to give it back to me ! An exception.

But there are some books that, although interesting, informative, pleasant, etc., you are quite sure you'll never read again (this applies well, among others, to detective novels). Then I'd rather offer it to whoever I believe would enjoy it, rather that letting it go, and hoping for it to come back.
An doing so, I imagine I start a string of readers who will enjoy the story and pass it on.
For a few books, I remember reading them, the offering them to friends, then feeling like reading them and bought them a second time... to let them go again to another friend ! But no regrets.

If I have a book that I'll never read again, I usually give it to a charity shop. That way somebody else will have the pleasure of reading the book and the charity will benefit, even if only by a few pennies.

You see, I don't agree. There are various books I will never read again - War and Peace for example - yet I cling on to it more as a badge than anything else.

It's a bit like the width badge your mum sews onto you swimming trunks when you're learning to swim. It shows people that you've achieved the task and also (in the case of W & P) you never know when it might come in useful to fend off intruders or provide access to an attic space ...

Books I feel other people would enjoy I will give to them as presents but new, not second hand ... it would like I was pimping out my books if they were to return with the marks of someone elses fingers on them ... can you imagine!?

Unfortunately, we live in a small house and there are limits to how many bookshelves we can have. Something has to give, somewhere. If I want new books, some old ones have to go to make room for the new ones. At the moment I have *some* free space for new books, so it will be a while before the next 'purge'. I don't *like* getting rid of books - my dream is to have a house with a 'library' of books, wall to wall, floor to ceiling. But until that day comes, I will have to continue to be ruthless. At least by giving books to charity, somebody else benefits.