I picked Caring type: read and keep them with utmost care. If I'm going to buy books of course I'll read them, and take care of them. Keep them on a nice bookshelf and everything.

Average, they're nothing special,
especially school books..

I... I'm probably a book hoarder, but I almost always manage to read them. I only have like... 8 I haven't gotten around to yet.

Crazy type. The ones I buy are the ones I reread until they start losing a page or two. I try to care for them... :'(

I go to the library to find new reads and then buy and crazy-keep the ones that really interest me, so I don't really keep that many around.

I chose caring type, but library type also works. And maybe crazy type too. I do try to take care of my books but they inevitably get a little worn after the millionth time or so. I would consider myself a pretty avid reader and I both borrow and buy a lot. Recently, I've run out of bookshelf space so there are stacks and stacks of books on my bedroom floor. I'm always tripping over them to get to the door.

i wouldn't say keep them with utmost care, but I do keep them from getting wet.

I'm several types actually: Hoarder, Caring, Electronic

I have thousands of ebooks/books that I won't even get to read in this lifetime. I always make sure that their metadata is complete and that they are all in their proper folders/shelfs.

Definitely library. Our tax dollars are funding this, so might as well make the most of it.

Chose the E-reader one. Most of my books are ebooks. But with physical books, I'm a hoarder (read through most of them once, and reread only favorites or if they're manga).

I picked Caring type, but I suppose Library type also applies, there was a time when I used to borrow up to five books a week when I was in school. I have some e-books but don't really get around to reading those, it's much harder to resist a real flesh and blood book.

I also have alot of hand-me-down books from my grandfather's collection, don't know what category that comes under

Mostly E-books. I got used to them, much more convenient. Not to mention, I don't have to twist and turn to find the right comfortable position to burn through a series. But, if I find a series or a book I absolutely love, I would buy them, and they'd stay in their pristine conditions just for the sake of my OCD. Once they get old and crumbled and whatever... well... yea, they get pretty forgotten and discarded. But in general I care for my books.

Don't go to library anymore, mainly cause the stupid policy said that our city doesn't have a library of it's own, and despite somewhat considered to be part of another city practically just next door, tax doesn't cover that library's fees. I say, fk them. Ah but, I occasionally rent mangas. I'm not allowed, so only if I can find time to sneak outside and have confidence I'd be able to sneak out again to return them. And only when I have a manga I want to read but can't find it online. Sometimes find new mangas while I'm there though. Besides... they only got those rental stores in Taiwan, and I'm only here once every year or two. Buying nor renting is TOTALLY not an option outside Asia for mangas and Asian novels, way too expensive. As for English ones... I stopped reading them enough to say that there are none anymore tempting enough to make me spend $25 a book. Rather than those, I'd much prefer reading fan fictions of animes. Those amateur works are better than the pros I tell you, at least for the good ones. Well in any case, for those I do read, it's all electronically. Easier to manage.

So between Caring type & Electronic mostly.

Hoarder. I'm definitely a hoarder. I love books, and I do love reading them, but sometimes I forget I have hardly any time to sit down and read a book these days. So I go ahead and buy all these books I wanna read, forgetting that it'll probably be a few months to a year until I'll manage to get round to them

I do take good care of my books too. They might get a bit dusty, but they're still in good nick.

School books I was forced to buy: Don't give a damn.
Need a book to study: Library type

I don't buy many books for myself, but I take very good care of my light novels and some other books. So it really depends on the book itself.

I'm mostly the library type, especially since our library has e-books and you can just check them out at home, though if I really get into something, I usually buy just to have and show how much I love that book/series.

Library type. For school books, If I can't find them online or at the library, I buy a real copy.
As for pleasure reading, I would buy them, but I don't have much money, only the necessary to get by and for the books at school that the teachers ask me to buy. Although I have many e-books but I usually don't read them.... so I guess I'm a e-hoarder type. Lol. XD

E-Books, man!

E-Books have been a life saver for me. I live in a town where reading is an endangered hobby. I had finished reading all the books in the local library which interested me by the time I was 12-13 years old. Most of the book stores here (here as in about a 100 km away from my town) sell only the mainstream stuff, and buying books I like costs a fortune since they are imported. E-Book was the easiest and most effective way to get around this problem. I love my Kindle <3

But, the books that I do have (100 or so. Used to have more before my dad decided to give them all away to charity) are well worn and have all been read at least twice or thrice. So they are all pretty battered. E-Books might probably be the best option for me

I love books but now I've transformed into a bit of a hoader type. When I finish my studies I can finally start reading for pleasure again. For some reason I find it hard to read for pleasure while studying. It was easier back in university, but when doing a professional qualification, then it's no joke.

I do use an e-reader though so that's helped a lot in terms of storage.

Electronic or library.

Storage space is extremely expensive where I live. From my calculations (average book price is 7$, rental price is 30$/1m^2 per month, you can store 100 books on 1m^2), if I don't re-read every book every 21 months or less, it is actually cheaper to buy them anew.

Before I got a kindle paperwhite, I always borrow books in the library. Now I borrow ebooks in the library and buy some. In the distant future, I'd love to have a home with a library, but moving out every so often, that will have to wait. I still like to hold a book, it's a different feeling.

Caring type, most definitely. I take good care of my books and usually reread them fairly often. That's why I try to buy hardback, because almost all my paperbacks eventually start to look dingy. I often find myself caught between my love for books and wanting to keep them in the best condition for as long as possible, and my love for reading and wanting to share good books with any of my friends and family who are interested in them. The problem lies in that most people don't seem to go by the policy of if it's borrowed treat it better than you'd treat anything of your own. I can't tell you how many times I've lent friends a book that was in good condition and gotten it back with tons of the pages bent, the cover torn or noticeably creased, and smudges on pages. There are few things that piss me off more than someone not respecting me enough to take care of my things. I can understand the small, occasional ding, because accidents do happen, but don't borrow my book and treat it like it's something to be abused.

I used to be more of a library type but since I don't go to the library much anymore
I've become more of a buyer who is the caring type (I'm crazy about keeping my books in as best condition I could with what limited resources I have).
Though I'm also the hoarder type since recently I bought a bunch and haven't had the time to read a lot of them.

I'm just hoping to have my own little library some day =)

a mix of caring and hoarding: I buy a lot of books and I love to read them. while reading them I treat them with utmost care but once I am done I just put them in some corner somewhere. or ask someone to switch with me so I can get a new book

I'm a mix of the Hoarder type, the caring type, and the crazy type.

+Hoarder: I do tend to buy a lot of novels and books, I usually read my manga right away (unless if I'm missing the volume before it.) However, even though I buy novels (by my favorite authors, of course.) I don't always read them right away, my lack of utter motivation is part of it. I do plan on reading them, eventually, tho'. And when I actually get around to reading a book, and don't like it, I tend to donate them to the library, for example, "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern, that book was literally calling out to me, bought it, read it, was extremely dissatisfied with it (I could actually make a long rant about that, but I'll refrain from doing so). I plan on donating it, eventually. /shot.

+Caring: I try to keep my books in the best condition, sometimes hard, because after reading or re-reading a manga, and the plastic lamentation on the cover starts to peel back (I'm looking at you, Full Moon volume 1, for starters.)

+Crazy: I re-read my books (manga more than novels tho'), A LOT. Such as Blood Lad, UDDUP, Yurara, Rasetsu, Time Stranger Kyoko (my favorite Tanemura series, just wish it was longer >.>...), Flame of Recca, and Sailor Moon for starters.
There's a ton more than that, tho'. /depends upon my mood.

I'm less of a Hoarder nowadays because it used to be pretty difficult to even walk through my room. A couple of years ago, if a friend came over, I'd have to sweep dozens of books and mangas off of my bed to make space for him/her to sleep. Plus I hate having to hurt my wallet over crap that's just plain crap, so I've learned to be careful with my purchases. I guess now I'd have to go with the "caring type" when it comes to books. Unless the book was given to me in bad condition (ie. that insufferably lousy Volume 2 of 20th Century Boys, courtesy of the ex), I get pretty OCD about keeping them in the most mint condition. Like, resorting to cracking them open wide enough to be able to read the words, but not so that it would crease the spine. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 has been with me for over a decade, and it still looks brand new, even though I've read it a handful of times. I actually think that that's pretty whack compared to reading until the copy gets dog-eared...

I buy most of the books that I read. If I borrow them, I usually do so from friends - most of the books that interest me aren't in my city's libraries, and if they are there is so few copies that it's hard to get a hold of them.
I read my books with the utmost care. Most of the books I bought ~10 years ago is still in mint condition.
I hate lending my books to others. They never hold them in as much a respect as I do. Usually get back to me damaged. (Spine damage or worse.)

I also buy most of my books in bulk - I look for best occasions (25-40% off for the whole assortment) and order 10-15 new books. I usually have 10-20 unread books on my shelves at all time. But I'll always read them at one point or another.

I guess that makes me a semi-hoarder/caring type.

I only re-read the best ones. And usually before the release of the next book in the series.

I'm an expert with judging a book by it's cover. Although if possible I will check reviews and such. In any case, I rarely every by a bad book, or at least a book I don't like. I also like to refer back to books I've read and also to re-read books.

For this reason I buy the books. I don't hoard though. I buy hard cover books, sometimes limited editions, sometimes used books if they're out of print. But always good quality books (for used, in good shape; for all, good binding and such). And I take good care of my books. So do I collect books? Perhaps so, but I don't buy faster than I read.

I chose the caring type since I thought it's the closest. But calling me the caring type just somehow seems so wrong...

I mainly read at the library. I love to read, but I don't feel the obsession to own all the books I read. At the same time, the books that I own, I take utmost care of them. I ultimately chose the library type though as the majority of the books I have read comes from the library.

To be fair, in terms of numbers there is over 1.5x as many people currently scanlating than there was back in 2005....