A friend told me recently that she loves to borrow my books because it’s interesting to see what I have marked in them. She especially loves my question marks in the margins!
One hazard of lending a marked book, however, is that if it is lost, you can (usually) replace the book, but not the notes. Fortunately, the folks to whom I have lent books have been good about returning them.
I actually keep duplicates of a couple of favorite titles to lend so that I can keep my treasured marked copies!
I always tell friends to keep my books as long as they need them, and I’ll let them know if I need them back at a particular time. I’ve only had to “recall” books a few times.
I lend out so many books (it’s one way I rationalize the size of my home library ) that I keep a running list on the computer of books I have lent. I have columns for date, name of person, and name of book(s). I add an x before the title when the book is returned.
If you lend a lot of books to friends, this is a simple way to keep up with them. Often I’ll look for a book on my shelf, then remember I lent it to someone, but I usually can’t remember to whom without the aid of my handy list.
I also keep a list of books I borrow from friends.
Hope you can use this idea!
Mary Jo
I also loan my books freely and often and have no qualms about recalling an overdue title that has been away from home for many, many moons. Though neither of us would be so harsh as to utter the following, I thought you might enjoy this:
Curse on book thieves
from the monastery of San Pedro, Barcelona, Spain
For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not,
this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him.
Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted.
Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy,
and let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution.
Let bookworms gnaw his entrails … and when at last he goeth to his last punishment,
let the flames of hell consume him for ever.
Pretty stiff, eh?
Most collections of quotes about books include such maledictions against thieves or long-term “borrowers,” but this is by far the most extreme I’ve seen! The last line takes it way too far, of course, but the inclusion of bookworms is a fitting touch.
Mary Jo