Making Up for Monday: Duplicates

Game hosted by An Avid Reader; A Wannabe Writer.

Rules of the game: Each week there will be a book-related theme or game, or something fun to do that week. And you can play along! All you have to do is find the question for that week, go to your own blog, write a post that day based on that question, and link your post to ours, using the link-up tool at the bottom of the original post.

This week's question is "Do you or would you own more than one copy of a book?"

Short answer: Umm... Duh!

Long answer: ... Well, where should I start with this? I guess the best example is my all-time favorite, Le Petit Prince/ The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

I fell in love with this book in secondary school, when we studied fragments from it in French class. Later, I really wanted to have a copy, but I had no money, so I photocopied the book from the library, tied the pages together, added a book cover, and made my own. (Don't shoot! I realize this may be illegal, but I really wanted to have this book.) Again later, when I did have the money, I bought it: a version in Romanian, one in English, and one in French. Of course, now I also have a PDF copy and an ePub, just in case, for each version. If I do the math, I currently own 10 copies of Le Petit Prince (counting the one that I put together myself). At the moment, I'm considering buying the audiobook, as well.

Another example is J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, though it doesn't come close to the previously mentioned one. I own a copy in Romanian, one in English, a simplified version for learners of English, and of course, PDFs and ePubs - a total of 7 copies.

The list can go on. I did the same for all the books that I love. I am a book hoarder, and I'm proud of it. If I love a book, it's not enough for me to just read it; I have to own it. In as many forms as possible. You know, just in case.