Hands up if you are driven a bit crazy when you know you have a book and cannot find it in your library where it SHOULD be. Is it YOU? Did I lend it to you? And you never returned it? (Of course I can buy it again, though this one is out of print, so has to be used, and I WILL do that, but…)
Yes. Lost a book very dear to me and ended up calling an ex to see if she had it. She reminded me when she gave it back. 2 mins later I found it behind a row of books. Coulda done without the conversation just before though lol
Ouch!
Start with your family. I loaned books to my two daughters who now claim they don’t have them. Very suspicious.
It's probably in that cupboard, behind that other book with that thing on top. You know.
Nobody knows where my copy of a Clash of Kings has gotten too. Nobody is never ever borrowing a book again. Now I just got to work out who Nobody is and whether that double negative just vetoed my statement
If you buy it, you will find your original copy. Murphy's Law #62
I know!
I lend out my books with the expectation that they'll never come back to me. If they do, it's a pleasant surprise. If they don't, well, hopefully they liked it as much as I must have. This doesn't apply to my "special" books, of course, just normal paperbacks/hardbacks.
If I have it, I'll lend it to you!
Years ago, I lent out my copy of Goblet of Fire to my mom's friend, who later apologized profusely because she couldn't find it anywhere. A year later, she cleaned out her enormous purse and found the 4-lb tome at the bottom!
Yep. Happened with my paperback copy of Nine Princes in Amber. But if I’m honest, that’s why I bought the paperback in the first place. The 1st edition hardcover stays home.
Twice when I've bought a secondhand book to replace one that's disappeared, I've found my own copy before the replacement arrived in the post.
I left a copy of The Fionavar Tapestry in the seat pocket of a plane. It was a paperback copy, but it was a gift, and the copy I replaced it with doesn't have the same feeling when I hold it.