my friend let me borrow a book of his. a hardback copy of catch 22. i immensely enjoyed it and thanked him for letting me borrow it wheni gave it back. but after i handed it to him he started looking in the book and began to flip out because i had bent a few of the top corners of pages to use a bookmarks. also there was a small black dot (i think i put a dot on it with a sharpie i was using on accident) at the bottom of the first page.

the bitch is barely speaking to me right now and told me i would no longer be able to borrow anything of his. am i wrong and do people actually care THAT much about the appearances of books? to me a book has personality much like any other sentimental possesion. i don't mind if a spine is bent or pages had been used to mark your place. this gives a book life and character, IMO.

am i cuhrazy?

I make it a habit not to bend other peoples pages, though I might very well bend my own.

I take care of some books more than others.
My faves are in excellent condition so i'd be pissed if someone was careless with them.
I suggest you make amends and buy him a new one.

you mean dvd's right? yeah i wouldn't let my friend bend my dvds

he hasn't even read catch 22 yet. he just fucking buys books tomake it look like he owns a ton. his favorite is harry potter.

harry potter blows

i am so careful not to mess up books i read, that even when im finished its hard to tell that its been read.

Unless he agreed to you dogearing the pages, you shouldn't have.

If I was that worried about a book, I certainly wouldn't lend it to anyone. If you want to make it up with your mate, then buy him a new one and remember to never borrow a book from him again.

Once my girlfriend was reading one of my books in the bath and she managed to get the entire thing soaking wet. It is now six times bigger than it used to be but let's face it, it's just a book and I can always buy another one. On the other hand, if it had been a rare first edition...

same here.

I had OCD when I was a kid and I used to wash my hands before reading so I wouldn't get the book dirty.

i treat all the books i borrow with great care, but i tear the shit out of mine. I take really really good care of my cds/dvds/games though.

I love cracking the spines of books. It gives me a little tingle.

Why would anyone own books? Library people. Stop wasting your money

no, you're not crazy, but...

Here's the thing- I own a lot of books. It's something I enjoy even though going to a library or whatever wouldn't be that difficult, but I have a lot of books that I have- for lack of a better word- an 'emotional' attachment to and don't want to see get ruined- either by me or by someone who I lend it to - If I'd lent you a book I cared about, and you'd turned down the pages or got marks on it I'd probably not lend you another one simply because I'd feel like- this person doesn't care as much about these books as I do and I'd rather not have them do that to other books I own.

This opinion also comes from my own stupidity since I've lent out a good number of books in the past to friends of mine and have never gotten them back- that sets up an even worse situation because now, here's this friend of mine, who I like, and yet I'm fairly pissed off because I lent them a book like two months ago, and not only have they not given back to me, but they don't even make an effort to tell me they're still reading it or anything to make me feel like they haven't taken the book and thrown it in the trash for all I know.

And I get treated like I'm nuts when I actually work up my nerve to ask them if they've finished reading it... It's a difficult situation because you don't want to lose a friend over a dumb book, but you don't want to extend yourself and be made a fool of either.

Books are like albums to me- they mean something to me and I often want to lend them out so someone else can have the benefit of that experience themselves. It's just difficult when you realize that specific book or whatever doesn't mean as much to your friend and they don't even know they're not being very polite in their lack of returning it.

I now try and look after anything I've borrowed and return it in the same condition it was given to me, that way, no one whinges. I bent someone's pages once... they weren't a happy camper either.

The key to this is not to borrow books, if its that good just go and buy it

I only own a few fiction books. The library does great for me for fiction. But since I'm going to be teaching history, I like to buy historical books, so even after I read them, I'll have them for reference. And I only buy the ones on clearance lol. Or used from amazon or half.com.

This is ridiculous. A book is no less readable if the condition is a little worn. Unless the pages are torn or it is otherwise destroyed, OR if it's a priceless first edition or something i see this as pointless whining. A CD or DVD can be made unusable by a scratch so greater care should be expected with those.

If a friend pulled that shit on me i'd tell him to go fuck himself and buy his whining ass a beer at the bar.

I take a shit on page 123 of every book I read. makes the story a whole lot more interesting for the next person who reads it