While I was waiting for my computer to link to the internet - which seems to take longer and longer each day! - I found myself browsing through my recent copy of Writers' Forum magazine. For the second time I came across a small feature on books donated to charity shops. This was the top ten of Oxfam's most donated books:
1 Dan Brown
2 John Grisham
3 Ian Rankin
4 Danielle Steel
5 Helen Fielding
6 Stephen king
7 JK Rowling
8 Catherine Cookson
9 Patricia Cornwell
10 Mills & Boon
I was quite suprised to say the least. I know not all of these authors may be our own personal favourites, but none the less they are all, without exception, popular writers. Now I don't know about you, but when I buy a book I love, I want to re-read it and re-read it and re-read it 'til the words have practically faded from the pages. There is no way I would hand over these books to a charity shop (I can just about part with them short term to let a friend read them, and then the said friend has to be a very very close friend indeed). The only time I would give a book away is if it were really badly written or had no story line to catch my attention.
But perhaps I'm a sad case...
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7 comments:
I always hang on to my favorites. But King and Rowling would be the only two from that list I'd cling to. Maybe it's an issue of how many copies of Dan Brown are circulating out there...I think the same holds true for used music stores.
Aaron ~ I agree, and Stephen King is my all time favourite writer, I would never part with any of his books. Not that anyone would want my copies; I read them until they actually fall to pieces in my hands!
I was wandering through the used books at Value Village (that raises money for charity) and noticed a lot of Steele, Grisham, and King there (and Koontz, I might add). So there does seem to be a lot of people willing to part with their favourites. They have to be really special for me to hang on to them.
I'm a collector. I wouldn't part with a book unless it sucked, horribly, lol. I figure tangible books will be a novelty if ebooks keep gaining popularity. So I'm doing my best to keep the bookworms fed, lol.
I love books and I will not part with them. They have each their own (hi)story for me, besides the one inside their covers. I know where I bought them and when. They are dear friends, to be handled with utmost care. It makes me sick to see how some people basically destroy their binding when they open them, and I would not lend a book to anyone who I didn't trust to handle it properly.
Am I a "sad" case?... :-)
I can give books up freely with not trouble at all, if it's all for charity then so be it...:-)
What I can't do is part with is hardback books. Paperbacks read them pass them on. Hardback never! I've been known to buy them just to save them from spending their lives unwanted in a dusty corner of a charity shop or carboot sale. I would love to see me book printed as a hardback. I would weep with joy and hold it to my chest with pride. Some of my hardbacks are unread because I have bought the paperback to read so I won't have to worry about sticking it in my bag to read it at work. Hardbacks are King in the world of books to me.
Alan ~ I am abit of a bookaholic...just can't give them away...and I'm sure they breed in my house!
Kat ~ my sentiments exactly! :)
Vesper ~ I do have a confession. I am one of those awful people who bend the spine right back until it cracks on any book I read. That's probably why I have to buy so many: all my friends have got wise to me and won't lend me theirs!!
Jarmara ~ I'm with you there. I love hardbooks, would much rather buy them over paperbacks. They last longer and look so much better on the book shelf. And yes, I would just love to own a hardback written by me! One day....
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