How do you feel about lending books out to friends or family?

There is nothing I like more than someone interested by my intense interest in the book I am reading. I find it an honor to be asked to borrow the book when I am done. But, it isn’t always so easy to part with a treasure. Lending books is much more difficult (at least emotionally) then borrowing books.

In middle school I was reading The Dollanganger Series by V.C. Andrews. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews was the first adult novel my mom recommended to me. My nose was so much stuck in the book that my friends in my English class started to notice. The books, then, started getting passed around. I believe I had about four friends reading the series at once, all books from me.

I don’t believe I got any of them back.

On the one hand, I am so grateful that I got everyone reading and we were able to bond over these intense novels. Even lending books out to multiple people and not getting them back, I still don’t regret doing so. However, it would have been nice to get my books back.

Luckily V.C. Andrews had been around for so long that her books were often in the used book store at the Library so I was able to buy them again for a mear 25cents each. I learned quite quickly to buy more than one copy, if able. You know, just in case someone wanted to borrow them.

Right now, I have just as many eBooks as I do physical books. I have sold a majority of my physical books to book stores simply for conserving space reasons. Unfortunately my husband doesn’t find books all over the house as endearing as I do so I compromise. He did, after all, buy me my eReader.

But now having so much eBooks, it seems that one cannot simply loan out their ebook to a friend. (I know you say that you can share Kindle to Kindle or maybe Nook to Nook) but it isn’t always that easy. Why can’t I loan out an ebook to a friend to read on her smart device, or the computer? It feels rather unfair, you know?

Plus, friends cannot “mess up” an eBook (as hard as they may try) and you are not in danger of losing it for good. The double standard for borrowing books between friends (physical vs. virtual) still bugs me. Isn’t there any easier way to loan out eBooks to friends that may not have a specific eReader?

Lending Books on ANY Device

Why is there not a universal application for ebook lending that would work on any electronic device capable of reading text? One could simply choose a book, send to a user with a specific time limit and voila. The user could no longer access their own book for a certain time period and it would disappear from the device of the borrower once expired.

Lending books has never been easier! No more ripped covers, dog-eared pages, or bent spines. You always get your book back and everyone is happy.

Why hasn’t this been DONE?

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