Combine this with your post about chairs in the bedroom and - voila! - you have a library (that also happens to be a bedroom).

I love books and I love books in the bedroom. These pictures are great. However, my wife is a germ-o-phone and it's rubbing off on me. I'm thinking mildewy books. Please don't let my iPad replace these books!

A feng shui expert once told me that books are like "tiny knives pointing at you" in the bedroom. I don't even believe in feng shui and yet I haven't been able to store books in my bedroom since!

Heather, maybe if you're storing the Monster Book of Monsters in there, it could get dangerous.

I want bedroom #2. I'm assuming that's what this comment is referencing, although some kind of indicator would be nice: "In this case, the bed just happens to be there, almost like an afterthought, or a place to pass out when you simply can't read anymore."

I'm getting hay fever just looking that these photos.

I sleep with a few hundred books, many from the 1930s. If I didn't have to, I wouldn't. The mildew smell is horrible and makes my room feel stuffy.

I love the first photo. Books in the bedroom is a great idea. Where else would you curl up to read, if not your bed? (okay, there are plenty of other places, but I'm just saying!)

OMG -- I could never, ever sleep if I stored books on shelves over my head. Earthquake country here, but that's only part of the reason. And as far as the "small knives" comment goes -- I live in a studio, and that's why I have frosted glass doors on my bookcases. Can't see the books. Otherwise, I would have trouble sleeping. I store my CDs in my walk-in closet because being able to see them from my bed has a negative affect on my sleep.

Fave library-bedrooms I'd love to live in: 5, 6, 9 and 10. #2 is way too dark for my taste - too much like a cave or dungeoun.

I used to sleep with my books all around me in my bed. Stories were my security blanket -- but I have to say, in physical form, they're a little less comfortable to sleep with than a blanket (not like knives, but very much like, say, large box graters), which must be why I discontinued the practice after a few years.

But I still like having them in the room with me. Not all of them, all the time, but the ones I'm reading now, the poetry books, the Shakespeare, and anything else I might want to read in the middle of the night during those horrible wakeful hours when one becomes hyper-aware of one's own mortality.

I think books in a bedroom give it a warm feel however the only thing in my bedroom is the bed, closet, soft lighting, and a chair so I can put my shoes on in the morning. No music, no tv, no books.
My jewlery is in another room by the bathroom but again, I do think it gives off a warm, cozy feeling.

Where are all these mildewing books coming from? I have over 1,000 books. Two of them (hand-me-downs from my grandfather) used to have a mildew smell, until I left them out in the sunshine for a few days.

Books don't have to be dusty, either. I vacuum mine when I vacuum the room--using the furniture attachment on the vacuum.

I have bookcases in the bedroom because there isn't enough room for them in the rest of the apartment--which is already full of bookcases.

I love these pictures, I have ideas on how to rearrange my bedroom floating around now. Great post!

Wouldn't do it with my allergies. All that dust... no thanks!

It recently dawned on me that I need a bookcase in my bedroom--instead, I have piles of books and magazines on the floor and sometimes even in the bed. For some reason, I never thought of this before, but it makes sense since I often read in bed. Now I just need to find the space to add a bookcase.

The only reason I don't have books in my bedroom is that there's no room for additional furniture beyond the bed, two stools that function as night stands, and a wicker chair in the corner.

I do, however, have bookshelves in the living room, dining room, study, and spare bedroom, though!

@XARCADY

Mine come from antique shops, so who knows where they came from. I keep silica packets (from shoes) on top of the books and that helps a little.

Sigh* I am an unashamed dreamer and so will always love picture two.. but I can hear the words of my unashamed realist partner ringing in my ears of 'that's a death trap' :)!

Can't imagine my bedroom without books. Books just make it so warm and cosy! But, i woun't really have an overwhelming amount of them. A well balanced look would be what I would vote for.

I have two small bookshelves in the bedroom - mainly for the books that are too personal to be kept in the public parts of my home. You know, totally dog-eared copies of crappy genre fantasy (WAY too much David Eddings), books that I loved as a child (Dr. Seuss, anyone?), and a couple books with more, ahem, adult themes (ahem).

These pictures are inspiring me to maybe move some of the rest of my collection into the bedroom too.

Love my books and keep many of them in my bedroom. But I'd MUCH prefer to keep them elsewhere due to issues with allergies.

We have a couple of bookcases in the bedroom, with much loved books that we re-read, in addition to the books to be read piles. IT makes the room comfy and homely, especially since we also have a cozy chair to curl up in and read if you don't want to read in bed.

Most of these do look like real bedrooms for book lovers. Great ideas in these photos, I would leave hidden shelves empty (behind a mattress or sofa, etc) or use for storage (behind artwork). Photos 2, 4 & 8 seem too precarious to feel comfortable sleeping under. Photo 5 is elegant but I don't get the impression that person has actually read, or will read, any of those books. Arranging books by color (seen in a few AT posts), covering them uniformly, or layering objects in front of them is not my favorite look, it seems inauthentic. A library can be stylish, as most of these photos demonstrate, without sacrificing function for form.

I love this post! I have books in my bedroom, on my bedside table (a child's roll-top desk), under the table, in front of it.... At night, I can reach over, turn on my little teeny reading light (so I don't wake husband) and plow into a good read until I fall asleep. I switch them out when I've read everything.

Bedroom #2... YES, YES, YES!!!

RE: allergies, it's not just a matter of dust or mold/mildew. My allergist ordered me not to store books in my bedroom because old books were made with animal-based glue that can cause problems for people with severe animal allergies, such as I have.