Hi all Happy August!
In case anyone needs a reminder or is new to the Bookmark Chronicles, here are the rules: Every Monday I will post a This or That Challenge where we will choose between two characters or scenarios. On Friday we will see which scenario/character wins. Feel free to either comment your choice below or make your own post and link it back here! 
By no means do you have to feel obligated to do every single challenge, but I would love to hear all of your opinions! If you can only really talk about one scenario then go for it. Also, if you have any suggestions or would like to write a guest post about any of the This or That? topics please let me know!
50 questions already? Time is flying!
So you know how sometimes I say that the question I’m about to ask might make you angry? Well….this is one of those questions………Not sorry 😉
What’s worse:
Lending a book to a friend and having it returned damaged or not returned at all?
Assume the worst for the damage. It was a brand new book, you haven’t read it, they broke the spine and spilled a cup of coffee on it while it was open and it is soaked through.
I think that returning it damaged would be worse for me. If one of my friends accidentally ruined a book of mine I would expect A) That they buy me a new one or B) refer to option A because that’s the only way out.
Seriously, all of my friends (real friends) know how important my books are and wouldn’t dare damage a book and try to give it back because they know that I would either be pissed, heartbroken or both. And I wouldn’t mind if it was bought cheap/secondhand as long as it’s in good condition.
I don’t have many friends that read so if they kept a book I would hope that they really liked it and I’d be okay with it. I also probably just wouldn’t lend to someone who I wouldn’t think would give it back though. Most of the time when I don’t get books back it’s because I actually gave it away.
Also, as someone who really loves books and everyone knows that, I feel like damaging a book and trying to return it is kind of disrespectful because they know how upset I would be.
What about you? Which do you think is worse? Let me know!
~Rae
bookmarkchronicles 
I guess it depends on the damage, but I’d like them to return it damaged, explain the situation (what happened) and offer to replace it. I feel like it’d be worse to not have the book returned at all. Accidents happen, and I can’t imagine lending any of my books to someone who’d damage any of my property intentionally – and if any damage was done, I’d really hope they’d offer to buy a new one (I mean second hand or cheap, I don’t mind, like you said, but I hope you know what I mean by ‘new’).
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I’ve added a note about the damage. Assume the worst for the damage. It was a brand new book, you haven’t read it, they broke the spine and spilled a cup of coffee on it while it was open and it is soaked through.
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Oh, god, I’d never lend out a brand new book! Then I’d just want them to get me a new one.
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haha agreed! The only person I would give a brand new book to is my friend Bria. I trust no one else
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I would want an explanation for damage, but I would feel awful if the book wasn’t returned. That would make me incredibly sad!
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This one doesn’t make me angry, but I can’t speak for others, of course.
Personally, I wouldn’t lend a book to a friend – unless it’s one of the two I would trust, implicitly, because they understand what a book means to me – unless I had already read it. If I had already read it, chances are good that I’m not going to read it again anytime soon (years, if at all) so I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t return it. Honestly, I would probably be more upset if I lent them a book & they didn’t read it!
But returning it damaged… ouch. That’s the worst. The two girls I mentioned before wouldn’t do that, ever. They would apologize profusely & buy me a new copy (or a gently used copy, I’m not picky). Other friends… errrmmm… not so much. I don’t think any of them would try to “pull a fast one” & return it damaged without apologizing, at the very least, but, if they did… it could mean the end of a friendship depending on the person. That’s just a slap in the face, in my opinion, & it says they don’t care about me, nor what’s important to me.
I had a friend borrow a DVD & return it scratched to high heaven. She didn’t tell me. I told her about it & she apologized, half-heartedly from what I remember, & said she would replace it. She never did. We stopped talking… but that wasn’t the deciding factor. It definitely told me something about her that I already knew – she doesn’t care about anyone but herself (this person & I would talk for hours & the topic was always her, what was going on with her life, what concerns she had, etc. & she wouldn’t ask me how I was, nor would she allow the topic to be on me & my life for more than a few seconds… she always turned it back to herself).
So, to make a long story short (TOO LATE!), returning a book damaged, sans apology & offer to replace it. But it wouldn’t be a book I hadn’t read unless it was one of the two people (three if you count my Dad; I don’t though because, although he highlights books & I hate that, he wouldn’t do that as he’s a bibliophile too) I would trust with my life.
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