blackmarketblood asked: Hi, do you even go to the library? Because you only post pictures of books you've bought and I find it quite weird not going to library. If don't, why? :)
Anyways, I love your tumblr! It's one of my favourites :)

This is probably one of the questions I get most frequently. I answer it every couple of months or so.

Firstly — and this should need no justification — I enjoy owning the books I love.

Secondly, and most importantly, there are no good libraries (for fiction written in English) in Bahrain. My secondary school (high school) had one, but once I graduated, obviously I couldn’t continue using it. Besides, even though we had a decent library, it wasn’t amazing, so I bought books. They very often were expensive and I’d end up using my entire allowance. I didn’t care — it was the only way I could read. 

Thirdly, the vast majority of the books I buy nowadays are either from secondhand shops, Amazon or The Book People. I think that secondhand bookshops and independent stores should be supported just as much as libraries should be, and I support them wholeheartedly. Amazon because it’s cheaper, obviously, and useful for obscure books. The Book People do great set collections. Buying seven books for £7.99 is an amazing ass deal, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t take up on it when I can.

Finally, I do go to the library in London (I’ve posted pictures of the library, sitting outside it, books borrowed from it, etc — as recently as a month ago) when I’m there, and I go to the library in my university town, too. I think libraries should be supported, and I definitely encourage people to use them.

But I’m the kind of person who wants to own and leaf through the books, I want to have a huge library when I grow up, and starting now seems like a great plan to me. 

And thank you so much for the compliment :)

darkiknowwell asked: Do you buy all of your books, or do you rent from the library as well? What is the ratio? What do you think the future for libraries is going to be like? Ever thought of becoming a librarian?

I buy almost all of my books. I love love libraries, but unfortunately in Bahrain (where I am from), libraries with extensive collections (with books in English) simply don’t exist. Books here are sold at inflated prices, because they have to be shipped over, so reading is an expensive pass-time. 

When I moved to the UK for university (two years ago), I continued buying books because that’s what I know. The books are cheaper, even when bought at full cover price, and I use Amazon often. I do borrow books from the library, but my town is a small one that is filled withe secondhand bookshops, and people generally use secondhand bookshops like most people use libraries.

I sincerely hope the future for libraries is sound, but I’m not so sure. With governments cutting everyone’s budgets, libraries are one of the first to suffer, which is absolutely ridiculous. I think for libraries to successfully survive they will have to diversify, although I have no idea in what ways. That said, though, people will always want to read (hopefully!) and some people will always be unable to afford books/have the space to store an endless amount. 

I thought of becoming a librarian once, but to be honest, never very seriously. It’s definitely a job that I respect, but I have always been completely enamored with writing, and with psychology, and I want to become a psychologist in order to help people.