Conversations is a fortnightly discussion hosted by Geraldine @ Corralling Books and Joan @ Fiddler Blue. Head on over to their blogs for all the information on these posts! This week's topic is the do's and dont's of borrowing books.
I actually don't usually have a lot of people borrow my books because not a lot of people close to me like to read. Ironically however, recently my cousin asked me to borrow some of my favourite YA's because she wanted to get more into reading, and I swear that brought a tear to my eye. Now while i obviously didn't bombard her with any rules on how to take care of my books, I'm pretty trustworthy of her, I guess if I WERE to give my books to someone not as trustworthy, these would be the rules I would want them to follow:
1. DO take them outside. I wouldn't want anyone to feel scared to take my books outside, read them in public, etc. so as long as they're obviously not reading them in a swamp or something, I would want them to read where they feel comfortable.
2. DON'T read them in the bath. Oh god now this scares the crap out of me. Not only the possibility of dropping it in the bath but just perhaps the wet fingerprints on the pages. Please, have some common sense that water and paper do not mix.
3. DO ask me if someone else I know saw you with the book and would like to borrow it afterwards. I'd like to keep track of where my book is, and I'd have no problem with someone else borrowing the book afterwards, but not behind my back.
4. DON'T dog-ear the pages to track your page. What kind of animal does this?! If you don't have a bookmark, cut a piece of paper, use a 5-dollar bill I don't care! But don't fold over the pages.
5. DO be honest with me. If an accident did happen, don't try and cover it up. I'd be more understanding if you were upfront than getting a sneaky surprise when I open up the book later.
These are pretty much the only rules I would really want anyone to follow when reading my books. But really, as long as you can trust the person, I definitely wouldn't be one to hand them over a set of rules. After all, I wouldn't want to scare them away from reading, I would want them to feel welcomed and comfortable.
Do you have any rules for borrowing your books?
Emily @ Paperback Princess
