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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?

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!

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

grin True.

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 12:41:08

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 12:37:46

Thank goodness !

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

No Bella that's a step too far! grin

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 ?

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.

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

So do I.

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 12:10:13

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

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.

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 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.

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.

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 01-Nov-15 10:43:22

kitty it's the posh ones that are the worst. (Seriously)

jinglbellsfrocks Sun 01-Nov-15 10:42:02

When I used to get library books I always wiped the outer covers with disinfectant. I used to do it to my children's library books too. It is OCD. Although, of course, it seems very necessary to me.

My daughter wouldn't dream of wiping her library books. She gets loads of colds. Possibly unrelated.

kittylester Sun 01-Nov-15 08:52:11

I have never given anything one that any thought at all! I suspect one either worries about bugs or one doesn't! I don't - never have!

Though I was slightly horrified when I was in a JL loo once and saw a very elegant lady turn on a tap and hold just the tips of her fingers under the water and sort of brush them with the tips of the other hand! confused

Elrel Sun 01-Nov-15 02:57:21

Luckygirl, my family has been getting it wrong! Our granny used to say, quoting her granny, 'You'll EAT a peck of dirt before you die!' Oh dear!

Katek Sat 31-Oct-15 22:43:57

Carrying that idea through you would have to wipe paper money as well....!

Indinana Sat 31-Oct-15 18:10:16

Oh Ana I have to agree there! There is just something about someone else's hair [yukemoticon] thlshock

tubbygran Sat 31-Oct-15 18:02:49

So I conclude, slightly OCD, but I'm not the only one.thlwink

Ana Sat 31-Oct-15 17:40:24

The only thing I don't much like coming across in a library book/second-hand book is a hair! Easily got rid of usually, but if I'm reading in bed...thlshock

loopylou Sat 31-Oct-15 17:32:13

It's never crossed my mind either thlhmm, somehow I've survived!

Indinana Sat 31-Oct-15 17:24:31

It's honestly never occurred to me hmm. We touch all sorts of things that other people will have touched before us. If I sprayed/wiped library books I'd have to start wiping all the shop door handles, the bus grab handles, chip and pin readers, ATMs, the buttons at pelican crossings, lift buttons. The list is endless. So no, of course I don't wipe library books!