Not silly at all, most people start there!

Actually, some folks see books as beautiful objects all on their own. My neighbor has a whole shelf of fancy leather-bound classics just for the way they look in her living room. She gets joy from owning them, like art, even if she reads a paperback copy instead.

But idk, maybe it's not that deep and people are just overthinking it.

Seriously, I felt the exact same way once it happened to me.

Ryan_scott36's point about being upfront but friendly really hit home for me. I had a neighbor who kept asking for coffee creamer, and I finally said my grocery bill was getting too high to share. I told her plainly that if she needed it regularly, we could split the cost next time she went shopping. That actually made her pause and she never asked again, which was a HUGE relief. Being direct saved my budget and we still get along fine.