Do you lend your books?

I borrowed a book and was asked for it back several months later.
Although I always intended to give it back, and did so immediately, I felt slightly miffed at being asked.
Completely illogical.

I do sometimes lend a book but not any I'd be sad to lose.

Only to family. In the past, I have loaned so many, some quite expensive that have been presents and never got them back. After asking once and being ignored or even asked why I wanted it back? I have stopped. When I know I no longer need a book it goes to the Charity Shop.DH has been caught out in the same way with some now out of print so he no longer has a set.

I rarely re-read fiction, so I use the scheme in two local villages where the bus shelters are full of books (and jigsaws) to swap. I pass them between family and friends, putting our initials inside the cover to keep track, after which they go back to the bus shelter.

I have been caught out lending people books which were never returned.
Nowadays, depending on the item, I give people what they want. Today I have received a thank you from a friend to whom I posted a reference book earlier this week.
kircubbin2000, I assume you mean “Still Life”. I hope you manage to find a copy.

Rarely and only to trustworthy friends, never otherwise.

I do buy quite a lot of new books, I also pick some up in charity shops. I have lost quite a few by loaning them out to people who at the time assured me they would return them. I now only lend them to those who I trust will return them, that’s not many I’m afraid.

I’m more than happy to pass books on if I’ve finished with them as I read a lot and don’t want to get snowed under but there are always some books I like to keep, especially any signed copies. I wouldn’t lend them out.

I read a lot, lend out a lot, frequently get them passed onto others by the person I lent them too and never see them again!

I don't lend books now. I used to but either never saw the book again (amid denials of borrowing the book in the first place) or it came back with corners folded down or the cover ripped "it's how you gave it me" so I just say I only have it on kindle if I'm asked!

No. I give lots away but if there's one I want to keep then it stays with me.

I haven’t lent any for a long time, but dh lent a favourite hefty paperback to someone from his French conv. group over a year ago - it’s still not back. He also lent a DVD box set of a novel by the same author - that’s not back yet either!

I take paperbacks that aren’t ‘keepers’ to charity shops. I never buy hardback fiction - too heavy to read in bed. I don’t buy the oversized PBs that often proliferate around Christmas time, either - also heavy for bedtime* reading.
*or feet-up-on-the-sofa reading.

I lend books which are not really important to me. No one is going to have my 3 volume edition of War and Peace given to me when I was 13. No one is going to have my Little Women given to me when I was about 9. No one is going to have my Richard Harris trilogy based on Cicero’s life and written by his secretary. So there! Buy your own.☹️

Yes, I love Louise Penny's books. I was on her circulation list but that seems to have petered out. The only problem was that the books had different titles in North America from here, so I wasn't always sure which books I'd read before.

I would rather give my books away than lend them and get them returned all battered.

I am careful when I read new books. So much so that you can't tell they have been read. I have always been like this. So, lending them out and getting them back in a sorry state is not worth it to me.

They are usually paperbacks that I have bought 2 for £7 at Asda or Tesco though.

I seriously need to have a clear out and give some to charity as I still keep so many books.

I rarely read a book again but I do keep books by specific authors that I like.