Testing to make sure we’re getting through!
Dropping in some content here:
(original post here: https://bookriot.com/2018/06/30/the-books-we-refuse-to-lend/)
One of the most beautiful things amongst book lovers is their joy of sharing; those who love reading find satisfaction in passing along the stories which changed our lives and touched us deeply, there is solace in meeting someone who is willing to read the tales that have moved us. We love libraries, we think they are one of the greatest ideas humans have come up with. It is not a surprise that we enjoy, and even encourage, lending books.
Yet, there are exceptions to this rule. Books we hold so dear that we refuse to even let them out of our sight. Here are a few examples of books our contributors refuse to lend, and their – more than reasonable – excuses.
I have read this book a few times and I own two copies: one in English, that I bought at a flea market in London for £4, and another in my native language, Portuguese, which I bought second-hand for about €4. Now, I don’t mind lending the English version; it’s the Portuguese version that you won’t pry from my dead hands. The reason why I won’t lend this book is simple: it is to me what a bible is to some people, even if it’s not my favourite book: it has a wonderful hardcover, an edition I never saw anywhere else (not the usual movie cover, either, just Ralph Fiennes in the desert holding Herodotus), and it’s a book I find comforting to take with me on plane trips, or when I feel anxious for some reason. I would be pretty upset if I lost this specific book, so I prefer not to lend it to anyone.