Book Lending

 

A friend who was over for dinner recently said, as he was leaving, "Next time I'm here I'm going to check out your books".  Now, this is a person who does a lot of reading but his words struck horror into my heart.

I don't like lending books, I have never liked lending books.  I have had bad experiences in the past with people borrowing books and not returning them, or returning them damaged.  Books have been an important and major part of my life since I first went to the library as a child.

I don't know why some people think that books on your shelf are somehow free to be borrowed at their whim.  People don't borrow pictures off your walls, or tchotchkes off your surfaces, or clothes from your closet or (generally) dishes from your kitchen.  Or, in the old days, LPs and CDs.  Why is that they think they have some right to grab your books?

Where does this attitude come from that you are somehow obligated to lend your books?

I estimate that I used to have well over two thousand books in my home.  When I embraced minimalism it was very hard but I gradually cut that down to around fifty books.  That kind of culling should  clearly indicate just how precious those books that I selected to keep are to me.

I know I can just refuse to lend them but I don't want to alienate my friend.   I don't have that many friends left.  I can't afford to lose one.

So I find myself reorganizing my shelves, picking out the books that mean the most to me and hiding them in drawers.  I have even gone down to the junk/exchange room in the basement of my building and picked out books that it would seem likely that I would own and put them on my shelves to replace the books I have removed.

I like seeing my special books on my shelf, just as I like seeing the few pictures and ornaments I have displayed.  Now I feel like I have to hide my books away to protect them.