Gransnet forums

Books/book club

OCD?

(41 Posts)
tubbygran Sat 31-Oct-15 14:15:55

Does anybody else wash library books? I always give them a wipe with a damp, soapy cloth...front, back and spine. Second-hand books too!
Today, I found a tomato seed stuck to the third page and I have found worse, yuk!
Is it just me?

Greyduster Sun 01-Nov-15 10:50:55

Actually, I never wiped books before I started getting books out for my grandson. Since then, I've always done it and it has now become a habit I am not willing to break. When he goes to the library with his mum, she doesn't think it's necessary to do the same.

Bellanonna Sun 01-Nov-15 10:54:57

Joined the library at 7 and have never thought about germs on books. Hopefully my immune system has benefited. If you thought about too many things you'd never use a swimming pool or share a jacuzzi and you'd spend your whole time feeling anxious.

shysal Sun 01-Nov-15 11:08:26

Never thought of doing it, although once I washed a whole library book by dropping it in the bath! I 'came clean' and paid for it.
I never worry about bacteria and am seldom ill. Some of you will be horrified that I picked some stray raspberries this morning and ate them in the garden straight away! I don't often wash bought fruit either.

Bellanonna Sun 01-Nov-15 11:38:02

Shysal, our biology teacher used to say that fruit picked from the tree/bush shouldn't be washed as the bloom is nutritious, so your garden raspberries will have been healthy as well as delicious. However, I always wash bought fruit as well as pick-your-own because of the pesticides.

rosesarered Sun 01-Nov-15 12:10:13

Library books sometimes look and feel sticky! you are going to be holding them a lot, so to clean them makes sense ( to me).smile

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 01-Nov-15 12:16:34

Shysal nothing horrifying about that. I pick blackberries from the hedgerow and eat it them on the spot. It's different.

rosesarered Sun 01-Nov-15 12:19:26

So do I.

Bellanonna Sun 01-Nov-15 12:29:53

Oh, me too, and my girls used to do lots of blackberrying along with their granny, who turned the picked booty into her very potent wine. The girls ate loads along the way and loved those excursions.

Bellanonna Sun 01-Nov-15 12:31:29

I m wondering whether the library book sanitisers also wipe the pages ? Surely if germs were lurking they'd be inside too ?

rosesarered Sun 01-Nov-15 12:33:34

No Bella that's a step too far! grin

Bellanonna Sun 01-Nov-15 12:37:46

Thank goodness !

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 01-Nov-15 12:41:08

Oh yes. Apparently the only way to sanitise a book is to bake it in a hot oven. (I don't go that far grin)

Bellanonna Sun 01-Nov-15 12:45:48

Library books have plastic covers so not a very good idea methinks !

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 01-Nov-15 12:47:12

grin True.

Matella Sun 01-Nov-15 16:18:46

I wipe library and charity shop books. I never ever touch magazines in doctors or hospital waiting rooms - and don't get me started on the Bombay Mix in the takeaway or nuts on the bar!