The books I keep are books I like to read. If I don't want to read it (or reread it, as is most often the case) I don't keep it. The fact that the books look great on bookshelves is just a bonus.

People are certainly becoming less literate. Rachel Grad took a ***peak*** at a new book. WallFlowerPower says "people send textuals (sic) on ***there*** pads." Does anybody proofread any more?

The books I keep on the shelf are books that I want to collect, vintage or just plain old books, and art books. Most of my library is in storage and I haven't purchased many new books because I just don't have space.

You can love books without loving their constant presence on the shelf. It's important to make the distinction.

I have a Nook Color for every day reading (public library FTW!).

@WallFlowerPower - are you being facetious? I hope people aren't burning books, stacking books for seating, or using them for table wedges...

I keep books in my home to start conversations with guests- they're great for making meaningful connections, and also peak the interest of almost any type of visitor. A wide variety of favorites ensures this.

Secondly, it's also great to loan books to friends. When your books are out and visible, people are more likely to ask to borrow something, and then, when you get it back, you get to talk about your favorite things with them! It's a win/win.

@Pi - I couldn't tell if she was being sincere either... I like the idea of using books in other ways around the house. I know that I have used many a book as a coaster/laptop desk, etc. Not sure about the burning thing though. I don't actually have a big issue with this in principle (it's your book do what you want with it), but it seems like a book wouldn't provide much fuel or last very long!

@Lucy - Oh I know, I've used books as coasters when I couldn't find one, but sticking a book under a table to keep it from wobbling or stacking encyclopedias to be a seat just seems...odd. I mean, there's making do and then there's just using books in ways that aren't really as effective or polite as just fixing the wobbly table or making sure you have enough seats for your guests.

I have an e-reader that I like a lot and believe that e-readers and books can peacefully co-exist.

I revere books and could never throw one away or use it in a craft.

A generational thing, no doubt...

Hubs and I are both writers. I've also taught, so we keep them for reading/reference more than decor.

I'm an e-reader convert. I only buy the real deal for my favourites, reference material, or art books. If I just want a fun novel to read, I don't need it to gather a lifetime of dust on a shelf afterward. I'll also sometimes buy a book if it's cheaper than the kindle version, but that doesn't happen too often.

I keep books because I love to read. I also like the way they look on nice bookshelves.

WallFlowerPower that made me laugh so hard... and then when I read the posts about doubt concerning your intent I really cried. Thank you for those fabulous moments on a dreary Monday afternoon...

There is a distinct gender bias in this article. Of of the 6 writers, only one is a woman--& she is 1/2 of a married couple.

I can't seem to make the switch to e-books. Probably because there's no real advantage for me to do so. I can buy a used copy of a physical book for less than it costs to buy an e-book. If it's not something I want to own, I can borrow it from my library. If it's not at my library, I can almost invariably get it through interlibrary loans. It's just not worth it for me to buy an e-reader.

Plus, for me, reading is a very sensory experience. It's not just about reading the words, it's about feeling the pages in my hands smelling the old leather... Perhaps I'd feel differently if, say, I traveled a lot and didn't have room to pack a lot of books. But in the meantime I'll stick with my beautiful old books stored on the built-in bookcases in my den. :-)

@Steph82 - I take public transportation to work, so the morning and evening commutes are perfect time to read. The problem is, flipping a page while holding onto a subway pole is nearly impossible, not to mention how hard it is to carry a large hardback with you (and a lunch, and a pair of shoes, and work stuff). For me, it was about practicality. I just can't carry a 1,000 page book on the subway. It's heavy and impossible to hold with one hand.

I love books and have many, many fond childhood memories of reading with a flashlight under my covers and collecting a pile of books at the end of my bed in college...but I started to resent having so many when I kept moving and had more boxes of books than I had for clothes. I donated a large amount of them and have saved so much space and money since I stopped buying a lot of books.

I'm not going to get rid of the thousands of books I have lying around the house, and I still buy some books in paper, but it is so nice to carry around 100+ books on my kindle (or access them on my ipad or my Droid) and know I've always got a book to read. But the biggest plus has been discovering the great sites out there for free ebooks, and being able to download a whole bunch of free books.

I think that $1 scan-and-trash PDF service is a great invention for computer books and travel guides, which have no 'shelf life' as a rule. And I read quite a bit on my iphone with the Kindle app while I'm out running around (waiting around). So the technology has a place.

Otherwise, give me a real book any day. In our teeny house, I've ruthlessly 'curated' our books over and over so we just have our treasures. I sure don't think of them as decor, though - I personally find it tasteless when magazines discuss how to buy books or collections of books for the sake of appearance.

My daughter has a ton of books, a whole other tier not discussed here. I make space for her books a priority over all our other 'stuff'. We're 'decorating' with those ones, whether we want to our not!

I keep books for reference and nostalgia. I love to re-read a favorite book... sometimes I just pull a favorite off the shelf and read a chapter to relax... re-visiting To Kill A Mockingbird is like catching up with a friend... and re-reading Mr. Darcy's proposal to Elizabeth Bennet is a substitution for never having received my own proposal (not one that I took seriously anyway.

and for the record... interest may be piqued but is rarely peaked.

I keep books at home to read, to lend and to look at. Also, in a small apartment with a long shared wall, I use them as soundproofing.

I'm a librarian so I have a LOT of books, mostly for rereading and lending. That said, ever since I started work in my first library I have stopped buying them. Anything I could possibly want to read is available within a few days and it saves me a trip to Ikea for *another* bookshelf.

I like owning the books I've read. I will most likely never read them again but it reminds me of what I've been into over the years. I also own a good amount of books I bought and couldn't get through, ie. "The People's History of the United States". It's just sitting there but someday I will get through it!

I'm with @vintage birthday...I have a Kindle now but I still love paper books. I usually buy paper for my favorite authors and read quick and light stuff on the ereader.

Oh I love my books and could never switch to an e-reader. (famous last words?) Ever since I saw 'When Harry Met Sally' all those years ago, and he mentioned "Write your name in your books! When you get divorced, you'll fight over the damn books!" I've written my name, when & where I bought or received it, number of times I've read it, the date and then I leave an index card in the back with my review of it. It's pretty special to filp through my books, it's like travelling back through special times in my life. Not sure I could ever give them up-. My studio apartment disagrees.

@MRowza - do you do that with every book or just the ones you really like? I just flat out stopped buying books because I had absolutely no desire to have them lying around. And I have absolutely no emotional attachment to the latest John Grisham paperback so I'd rather not own it or have it lying around.

Given the limited opportunities that we Apartment Therapy visitors are given to discuss the topic of books as decor, this conversation is particularly welcome.

John Waters says, "if you go hoe with someone, and they don't have books, don't fu*k them." that being said, when I met my husband I let him borrow my copy of "Drinking Smoking and Screwing." I had to get it back SOMEHOW, and we are married ten years. We have TONS of books together!

darn HOME

My husband and I are screenwriters, and we go back to our favorite books again and again for stylistic reasons. If I'm writing a comedy, I'll pull out J.D. Salinger, Fran Leibowitz, Dorothy Parker, etc., to get a comic "voice" in my head. If I think I'm being too wordy, I'll pull out Hemingway to get into a minimalist mode. I don't "re-read" my books per se, but I re-read bits of them all the every day. As much as I love my public library, it's just not the same.

Oops, there I go proving the illiteracy argument -- tried to change "all the time" to "every day" and got a jumble of both.

Unpacking my books after a move is like running into old friends in a new city.

@Lisa (Montreal), you have a dream job! :)

The book worm gene set in for me pretty early. I cannot imagine a home lacking books. Real ones. However, as space is limited I am more choosy now than when I was younger and could care less what my room looked like... I tend to buy dead tree books either as gifts or because I know I want a copy to keep for myself. The ones I keep tend to be in my 4 star and up range... they are great to have on hand for a rainy weekend and I can loan them out to spread the joy. :)

Steph82 wrote: "... for me, reading is a very sensory experience. It's not just about reading the words, it's about feeling the pages in my hands smelling the old leather ... "

Steph, I completely agree ... My BA is in English (somehow made the leap over to medicine and psychology ... ), and I took numerous classes on how books are more than juust words. Every text - but, especially the old ones - are carefully thought out and carry immense amounts of meaning ... the font, the illustrations, even the way the pages are numbered. Books are tactile, auditory, visual, and olfactory events -- with E-books, you get the story, but not the experience.

I'm a PhD student now, and have moved - since age 17 to now (age 23) - over 17 times, in-and-out of dorms, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. Most of my books - about 700 right now - are at my parent's house; I always bring two or three favourites with me, though - at the end of each academic year - somehow manage to amass dozens of new treasures. (The worst was when I worked at a University bookstore - free books everywhere!) ... I love everything: the classics, the new novels. Even textbooks that are out-of-date ... they tell an amazing story of the design of eras past, and it's always interesting to see how our knowledge has changed (not always progressed) over the past decades ...

Though, I admit, my favourite are vintage "How-To" books ... I have an absolutely FANTASTIC guide to speaking "Modern Greek" (c. 1856), and a superb "How to Write Letters" book from 1876. Vintage cook books that say "stoke the fire until very hot." Old grade-school song books filled with "popular melodies" that we've never even heard of today ...

... 700 books as it stands now. My future house is going to have to have a library!

I keep my books because they contain some of my very best friends.

Books are not decor. But you've got to put them somewhere! Surround yourself with them, not color-coordinated or curated to evoke some kind of personal brand. But because they are ideas and stories, and we need to be a more literate, patient society that can index important passages by going over to the shelf!

I've always been more of a non-fiction reader than a fiction reader. With that said, I got rid of a lot of useful reference material during a major purge of my belongings a few years ago, and it felt damn good. I still miss a few of those books on occasion, but as far as information goes, so much of it is available online that I can do without. Sure, there's the tactile feeling of holding a real book, but with space being a valuable commodity, I chose to do without most of them.

I did keep a few dozen books, almost enough to fill a small bookshelf, and I'm still acquiring new books on occasion.

I still have a few thousand vinyl records sitting in storage. I've managed to get rid of some of them, but can't bring myself to part with most of what remains, but I will eventually. Most of these records I have already digitized, so even if my records were in my home, I probably wouldn't play them very often. MP3s are just so much more convenient. Say what you will about audio quality, which I can truly appreciate. But for me, convenience wins, as does minimizing my belongings.

Soon enough, photo albums, CDs, records, tapes, and books will be a thing of the past for mainstream folks.

@Steph82; applauds

if its not worth keeping around then its not worth buying. people need to support their local librarys more often.

@Pi - You're an excellent example of someone for whom e-books make perfect sense. I'm not against them as a whole, but the expense of an e-reader isn't worth the benefit for me (I drive 10 minutes to work. I think local law enforcement would frown on my reading during my commute!). For you, on the other handle, it's a worthwhile investment, as it enables you to read in a situation where it would otherwise be impossible/impractical.

@Enialedam - Yeah, English degrees!! I got one by accident - majored in business, minored in English lit for fun. Took so many extra lit classes that it turned into a second degree. Then I got a Masters in library science. Working at a library rocks. :-)

@sberry - Agreed!! It's a shame, even though usage and circulation is up across the country due to a crappy economy, it's that same crappy economy that has resulted in so many budget cuts. *sigh*