Really? The books will be destroyed by the changing temperatures and the humidity.

I don't necessarily want bookshelves in my bathroom, but I love the look of #5. I would like to make a build-in for my guest bathroom to hold towels and things like that. We just ripped out a poorly constructed faux build-in during demo.

Can't get on board with this one.

@Cactina, Agreed.

Very hygienic photo #3!
How to have people pick up books without washing their hands....

recalls the hilarious seinfeld bookstore episode in which george takes a book into the bookstore bathroom and it's flagged as unhygienic & he's forced to purchase it.

If I saw a bookcase with books in it..i'd think, wow, the owner must have some serious digestive problem or a constipation.

@timmy jr.
Thanks!
Now I understand the rationale behind the idea shown in the photo. ;0)

#3 is wallpaper, which is pretty funny.

Sanitary reasons + ick factor = whyyyy!!?!????

I can't see how you could stomach having a shelf full of books in your bathroom...in any area of it.

Blech, no. All I could think about if I saw these in someone's house would be an image of them pooing and reading.

Hmm... I've often wondered if I should get rid of the magazines in my bathroom, for fear that they would put unsavory images in my guests head. Judging from people's responses. Yes, I should move them.

Darn, because the bathroom is a relaxing place to read a magazine.

There is nothing wrong with a few magazines or books in a bathroom. A whole library is another thing. As a busy mom of 2, the bathroom is my 'room of my own' and it's the only 'quiet' place in my home for me to read a magazine without interference.

get in, do you biz, get out. reading the bathroom is weird and gross.

Feels more like a bathroom in the library. Who wants all those germs on their reading material. Hygiene, people, hygiene.

@crayfish - Yeah, that bugs me too. It's like way TMI. I always get weirded out when I see full magazine racks in the House Tours bathrooms. Why are you broadcasting that to the whole Internet?

It would never occur to me to read during an under-five-minute trip to the bathroom, but one of my favorite things is taking a bubble bath with a book. Do you think it's possible for bathroom books to suggest tub-time relaxation, rather than digestive issues? Maybe if the shelf was close to the tub and interspersed with apothecary jars of bath salts...?

@timmy jr -- if you hadn't brought that up, I was definitely going to comment.
Also, within a month of my moving into my new house, the main backed up into my downstairs bathroom. Thank goodness I was able to remove the bag of books I had set on the floor out of the way before they got ruined but goodness only knows what the plumbers would have done if there had been a bookcase in there.... ICK ICK ICK!!!!! Never ever keep more than a handful of books in a bathroom.

I've never really got the whole unsanitary thing. What do you all think people are doing with books/magazines in the bathroom that makes it so gross? Because, to my knowledge, it works like this: sit on toilet with reading material, do your business, put said book or magazine back down on shelf, wipe, pull up pants, wash hands, leave bathroom with or without the reading material.

The book never gets touched with dirty hands. So it's more sanitary than the toilet handle or your pants. No one goes through a Silkwood-esque decontamination chamber on their way out of a bathroom. All those pants-touching germs are left free to wreak havoc on the outside world!!

ok, toilet + reading material we all agree is a combo we can live without.

I find it interesting that the Japanese have figured out aqueous coated books for reading while in the tub, but this has never caught on big in the US. I would love to read in the tub, but I know my book would get doused.

interim solution? DuraBooks. Wish there were more titles, but this would get you through a few baths.

http://www.durabooks.com/

"Melcher Media, Inc. has been issued the patent (no. 6,773,034) for the technology behind the method of producing waterproof books. Called DuraBooks™, the format utilizes revolutionary technology and is completely waterproof, highly durable, and upcyclable."

Well spotted, @Heather C! I thought they were actual books and thought, "Blech... who would want to touch those?" But book wallpaper is genius.

I ended up with high shelving in my narrow bathroom, and no use for it other than to store books. I keep my inexpensive books there, on the higher shelves, out of the way of the sink and toilet. It's not for everyone, it's not ideal, and it's probably not forever. But I'm a librarian with TONS of books, and it'll be awhile before I can afford the built-in shelving I want in another space. Here's a pic of what I have going on (they've since been rearranged in the trendy by-color format). http://belbensbookblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/i-was-told-there-would-be-no-math.html

Grody.

Just like Shania Twain said: "You must be joking right!"

All these books need to be "Flagged". No thank you.

I don't see why everyone is so grossed out by this concept. I'm not one to linger in the bathroom, but I also wouldn't be bothered by seeing books in someone's bathroom either. I wouldn't assume that the books had waste on them. You think the Public Library sanitizes the books when they are returned? Or perhps that books are printed and assembled in an Itel-like clean room? Germs are everywhere. Get over it.

I meant Intel-like.

I will continue to resort to reading the back of shampoo bottles if I am in the bathroom for any length of time.

@purplepeanut

It's not a germ issue. Believe me, I'm very non-germphobic. I never even use anti-bacterial soap. Seeing a stack of books/magazines in someone's bathroom just tells me way more about their toilet habits than I would like to know. It's uncouth.

We both read in the bathtub (not at the same time). It's very relaxing. I use one of those bath racks with a book stand, and I dry my fingers on a face cloth before turning the pages. Never soaked a book.

Still don't see the use for bookshelves, because you never need more than ONE book. It's not like you get up, browse the shelves, and go "yes I think for the next three minutes I'll read five paragraphs from that book on the second shelf, and then I'll see what's next."

For the loo, I'm with the in-and-out team.

Sorry, No.

what's next, meals you can prepare in the bathroom?

I agree with those who said it just puts an image of a person sitting on the crapper and reading into the visitor's head. I don't want that image in my head.

This is an awful concept....how many of those faux antique volumes are meant to be read? It screams PRETENTIOUS.

i have a magazine rack next to my toilet, i never "linger" in the bathroom, and its really for my husband who has extreme tummy issues, so he is in there alot. i pick ups and flick through, but mainly just look at the pictures, or read the odd game review. have been known to play sudoku in the toilet too, get over it, its just poo, everyone does it. germs = good immune system.

#1 looks like a set and the matching books look like a decorative affectation. Fake.

#4 is the only one that looks like it is both about an authentic desire to read (in the tub) and a creative attempt to store the reading material conveniently and attractively.

This is as disgusting as shag carpeting in a bathroom. well almost...

I'm with Callaloo. I used to think bathroom reading was gross, until I married into a family with 8 children. Now I know the truth: it's not gross, it's just quiet. Also, as a mother of 4, I like to use any spare time I can get.

My boyfriend put a book in our bathroom called "What is Your Poo Telling You?" I think it's hilarious. You know everyone poops (another book, btw), and you might as well be able to laugh about it. I've never had a problem with bathroom reading...at the very least many people read while taking a bath. I'd seriously like to see a water-proof Kindle cover made for this purpose, but I digress...

A full library in the bathroom is another thing, and I agree with whomever said that the books will get messed up over time with the humidity, etc.

From Alexander Kira's The Bathroom (great book!):
People who experience shame or guilt in connection with elimination, particularly defecation, very often must take their minds off the act in order to defecate at all. Otherwise, tensions produced by guilt or ugliness associated with the act will prevent completion. One of the most common methods of accomplishing this is reading....It has been suggested by some psychologists that reading also serves as a symbolic way of replacing the material lost through defecation and helps to prolong the act of defecation and the consequent loss.

Say what!

Lovely! There are some beautiful bathrooms in there. I wish mine was bigger.

Gross. Just to let people know, reading on the toilet is not good for bowel movements. It actually slows you down and encourages you to push too hard.
If you are reading in the bathroom while taking a dump, you need to add more fibre to your diet.

Library in the bathroom...Lol
Original in its stupidity
What's next, a painting next to the furnace?