BTT - Why Buy?

** moved from drey's house **

I know it's not Thursday, but I've never done one of these, and was really intrigued by the question on last week's Booking Through Thursday:

I’ve asked, in the past, about whether you more often buy your books, or get them from libraries. What I want to know today, is, WHY BUY?
Even if you are a die-hard fan of the public library system, I’m betting you have at least ONE permanent resident of your bookshelves in your house. I’m betting that no real book-lover can go through life without owning at least one book. So … why that one? What made you buy the books that you actually own, even though your usual preference is to borrow and return them?
If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?

Continue...
I buy and borrow my books. I prefer buying, because I keep forgetting the deadline on my library books. Seriously though, I love the library for letting me try new authors. There's no commitment to a book if I don't like it. There's also no shelf-space hogged by a book that isn't going to stay. I've always felt bad about not liking a book, but it probably has more to do with having to admit that I made a bad choice. =P

I buy books to read and re-read. And re-read. And re-read. I've read The Name of the Wind three times. Cast in Shadow, probably around a half-dozen... A Game of Thrones, at least a dozen.

With books on my shelf, I can pick them up any time I want to, without waiting for the book to become available - if the library even has it, or running somewhere to pick it up, or remembering when it needs to go "home". With a selection of my own, I can run my fingers down the spines, feeling until they meet the book that fulfills the needs of the moment...

I will take this time to say that I am glad I'm privileged to be able to buy all the books I want. Not that I will, because it would take some explaining to the Mr... =)