apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Image 8 = *twitch*

There are NO TITLES *twitch*

I do not understand wrapped books. Might as well wrap cereal boxes and put them on the shelf.

love #3

hate #8

makes me miss my books which are mostly in boxes in storage awaiting a house with space for books.

What are all these books good for? No one has the time to read so many books in a frequency higher than three years. So one might as well rent them in a library. In my opinion many people keep their books rather to do some sort of brag or boast. The only kind of books I have (about 30) are ones that consult me in certain areas. I must admit I did not consult them for 5 years becaus I find everything in the internet.

My husband and I are avid readers. He reads most e-books, so he doesn't have a ton of books. I, on the other hand, have kept most of my books. I love being able to go back and re-read. I buy used books 90% of the time (Amazon, Strand, etc.) and I like the fact that others have read the exact same books before I laid my hands on them. Did the previous reader(s) enjoy it or hated it?


It's the same reason why I love vintage clothing, accessories and furnishings.

http://www.donkeehouse.com

Sorry, BerlinDirk, but I have to disagree with you. I neither brag nor boast with my books. I have Cicero and Crusie and love both, but realize they are not valued the same by the outside world. The books I keep are those that mean something to me and/or I crave at midnight when I can't go to the library, or have reread so many times that I can open to a random page and be comforted by a familiar story (McKinley's "Beauty" is my favorite "comfort book"). I love to read and, unfortunately, read quite quickly so I have many books around because I don't know what I'll want after a long day at work. I do have some reference type books--animal behavior, Latin references, cookbooks, etc--but the bulk of my collection are books I reread and love and pull off the shelves regularly. If I haven't opened a book in a year I do get rid of it, when I moved I had to make it 6 months and I had to give the books to friends who would lend them at a moment's notice. My library is not very good and doesn't carry some of the books that are only ten years old. Fifty, yes, 2 yes, but from about 5-45 years my public library is quite sparse.

#3 is my favorite too!
It's always been a dream to have a library in my home, i always keep my books after reading them, hoping that one day it will happen...

I find it cheaper to buy books outright than to pay the library fines that inevitably pile up....

"What are all these books good for?"

In a week full of collections on this blog, why are books suddenly the things that have to have a "purpose" outside of themselves?

I love books. I love reading them, obviously, but I also like just having them. I like perusing the titles on my shelves, remembering the ones I've read, anticipating the ones I haven't read. And heck, I just like how a wall full of books looks. It's beautiful. I like wandering through book stores and libraries, not only to read, but simply because I enjoy the presence of books.

Oh, and they smell good, too.

I can't imagine only having 30 books. My books are my favorite possessions, bar none. I don't keep them to show off (though obviously some people do), I keep them because I enjoy having them.

Besides, it's like Nassim Nicholas Taleb says- "...a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones."

wow... #8 made me throw up a little.

I recently visited my aunt and uncle and this post reminds me of them very much. In addition to a few walls of books, they have shelves of books directly below the ceiling in most, if not every room and hallway. I loved it!

I find it comforting to be surrounded by the words that have impacted or touched my life. Like b4thanylcm, I get a yen to read a particular text or passage at random times and so I like having books around. My library card is frequently used as well, but it can't completely replace my own, personal library.

well said Rex! I love my books and dream of having a library one day.

I have to agree with b4thanylcm; I have a lot of good memories tied to almost each and every one of my books, sometimes even to the specific copy that I own. For instance my copy of Jane Eyre is the very same one that I first read when I was 14. I've read it countless times since then. Besides, sometimes the library is closed, or I don't feel like going. Sometimes I want this or that book NOW.

I like having a variety of alternate worlds at my disposal, right in my home.

Also--I LOVE McKinley's "Beauty"! Its been a favorite for years and years. The first time I read it it was actually a library book. When I found myself taking it out for the third time I figured it was time for my own copy. I've picked it up many times since!

I am a loner with books. How could I possibly have them just to show off? Show off to whom?

@BerlinDirk: Maybe this is true for you, but not for everyone. I'm an academic and I consult my books frequently. Some of them are also difficult to find even in university libraries. I also annotate and underline in my books, which turns them into quick reference tools--not something I could do with a library book.

I also wonder how having a large book collection could possibly offend anyone. If you assume that people who own a lot of books are somehow showing off (what are they bragging about anyway? Their intellect? Their curiosity? Their love of books?), then the problem is not them, but you.

Nothing makes me happier than going to someone's house or flat for the first time and seeing it brimming with books. If anything, its great for looking through while they finish dinner or go to the washroom as well as as a converstion starter.

Enmnm, me, too! I was charged $60 for forgetting to return two videos to my local library last summer when I left for vacation. Note that I DID return them, just a couple weeks late. Both videos are Amazon for less than $10 each. Our local library has lost my support.

I'm an academic as well and keep my books for research purposes and, in the case of classics, find it easier to find particular passages in the copy of the book that I'm familiar with. Not only that, but our local library would not carry many of the books that I read.

#8 is ridiculous. They obviously aren't reading those.

I have more than thirty books in individual SUBJECTS I read more than every year. Do I need some sort of log-sheet in order to document them as useful/entertaining rather than pretentious?

What about families, are different people allowed DIFFERENT 30 book quotas or must families be restricted to the 30 book total lest someone see that Goodnight Moon and Green Eggs and Ham has pushed the family over the line and into the land of Unacceptably Bragging Somehow?

I'm asking because I'd hate to think someone would think I'm somehow showing off, like I would have bought a Lexus but really it was just so much more dramatic to roll up and be like "Bam! I have used books! You wish you were me, suckas!"

Yay b4thanylcm! I've got McKinley and Crusie too--right next to a bunch of classics, mysteries, and science-fiction. I reread my books and I have some for reference and inspiration. Some of the books bring back memories--I usually buy books as when I go on vacation. I just like books. :-)

If you are covering the title, it means you don't read the book. So gift it, donate it, sell it, or trash it.

Those who like to read have the time to do so. Those who like to play video games have the time to do so.

@JosieDaisy: I regularly carry around my worn old paperbacks to flaunt. Better than jewelry.

I can ruthlessly purge "stuff" and clothes from my life, but I love my books, and can't throw them away. They each have meaning for me, whether it was the Grimm Fairytales that my dad gave me when I was 5, to the VC Andrews that I secretly bought when I wasn't allowed to, and read as a pre-teen (every single one I could get my hands on!), to my university texts, treasured music scores, chick lit, classic lit... They all have meaning of some kind to me whether about the person that gave them to me, or where I was while reading a certain book, etc.

@JosieDaisy:

lol :-P

Showing off your book collection is half the fun, too! What better after-dinner entertainment than discussing the books that surround you?

In fact, my bf and I just moved in together-- two grad students-- and one of our major arguments was about whose books would go in the living room. He won, and now I secretly want to tell each of our visitors (as they ooh and ahh over his collection), "I have books too! I swear!"

Books are community-builders, and their presence--their heft and smell-- is comforting.

No doubt about it -- books add character and personality to a room. If books are blatantly not read (#8) or not easily accessible (#9), that also says something about the owners' character and personality ... All the others shown here are lovely, though #5 gets points subtracted for having pictures obstructing the books in places. The 'staircase bookcase' is especially handsome.

Thank you for this post! We just (today!) moved into this amazing house that has an equally amazing floor-to-ceiling bookcase in the living room. I needed the inspiration.

Now if I could just figure out where to put the TV...

If you're curious, here's a picture: http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c339/broomstickjockey/fortress/4.jpg

who needs a tv when you have a floor-to-ceiling wall filled with books? I have this tiny tv (to watch films based on a book I've read) that fits between the books in my floor-to-ceiling book wall.

In fairness to #8 I have a friend who is just a *tad* OCD. This different colored spines/titles drive him nuts. He spent an entire weekend covering his books in brown paper, then writing the title (in his perfect OCD handwriting) on the spine in medium brown ink. The result looks amazing - the browns blend together all you see from a distance is the ripple of the spines. But up close you can see all of the titles...and of course they are all organized alphabetically by author within each category. Did I mention he's OCD? But just a little bit.

My own books are far less organized. Roughly grouped by category and with a smaller separate shelf for the trashy paperbacks. :)

wait wait, there's: How come only his books are in the living room? I would think the collections could have been combined so some of your books could have been put in the living room too.

Modfan - I love this idea. Any way we could see pictures? - Lindsey

yes! @modfan i would like to see it too.

Wow what a great post and great comments! I adore books and bookshelves, I even have a coffeetable book called 'living with books' which I bought solely for the purpose of leafing through and drooling at the different shelving systems. All so pretty! In our current house we have an upstairs alcove which is lined with 3 Billy bookshelves and called our library, it looks fantastic. We're about to move into another house and the oppurtunities for MULTIPLE BOOKSHELVES IN EVERY ROOM is just too exciting.

#8 - have to agree with the other people who said it was awful. Even worse than the people who arrange books by spine colour - how can you find anything???? I guess they just have different priorities. But modfan I'd love to see your friend's book collection!

I prefer "At Home with Books" and "Living with Books" to "Decorating with Books". The difference begins with the titles!

@berlindirk - I do not understand the "showing off" and "what are those items for" types of argument. People live with things that bring them pleasure and comfort. For some people this is their TV. For others it's their art collection (Try "What are all those sculptures for? You can't even crack nuts with most of them!"). Some collect china or glass, yet other people like throw pillows. I don't have a single throw pillow or a TV in my house, yet I have hundreds and hundreds of books which spell home and haven for me, and which - yes - I read and reread, and loan out. Some of those books have traveled with me across three continents, were saved from floods and rescued from fallen libraries, gifted to me by mentors and lovers, acquired with money squirreled away over months.

And yes, I am very much looking forward to winter and reading my the roaring fire of my fireplace.

There is only one question to ask when decorating - are there enough bookcases!

I work in a library and have access to any book I want, but I still have piles and piles of books in my apartment. Children's books my mother read to me, the science fiction and fantasy books I bought as a teenager, classics and literature I read while getting an English degree, reference books. Most of them I've bought at Goodwills and the used book sales my library hosts. I do go through them and weed regularly. Every time I pick a book up, I can remember exactly how I got it and all the places I read it. I'd love to find an old library card catalog and catalog my collection. My point is, they're not sitting around to be decoration, I just can't toss my collection of Saddle Club and Star Wars novels!

Oh, good, everyone else has addressed the inevitable morally superior "How dare you own books!?!" post, so I can just say:

I love all of these except #8 (which looks to be the only real example of decorating with books rather than living with books). Number 10 is a bit cold, but you can see that the jumble of books on the bottom shelves are really used. And in fairness to #9, I bet it's not just inaccessible piles of books but a whole room of those spine bookshelves, and I think it looks amazing.

Oh, my kingdom for a bookcase ladder.

Pic #3 is amazing.