Books: Do you look for them when entering somebodies house for the first time ?

[Shosha1]

I must admit I do. I love to see what people are reading. It always gives me a sense of them.
Absence of books make me feel uneasy for some reason.
Which is absolutely stupid, as you wont find one in my house.
I cant hold a heavy book now as Lupus has affected my hands, so I read on a kindle, but most of my 500 odd books are on audible.
DH has all his on audible too.
We do have childrens ones for DGC tho.

I couldn’t have the room I spend most of my time in without my books in it.

@Starksforthewin I agree about the sterile and crushed grey sofa thing. My idea of hell. Not everyone's though, they're ever so popular right now (am a cleaner, many grey sofas out there)

My house is my house and your house is your house, I feel that books are clutter and it makes me uncomfortable in MY house to see rows of filled bookshelves. In YOUR house, fill your boots!

The OP was asking whether you look for books to learn a little about the person who your visiting, majority of responses have explained why there may be no books on display (eg, I don't like the clutter) and it not being indicative of how well read they are.

I personally find it a very interesting thread. As can be seen by my many replies (OK, I'll admit, I'm hiding in the bath while the kids watch the new Aladdin!)

Smellbellina That’s a really odd thing to say. How on earth would you know anyone’s house layout? Or what room they spend most time in? Or their lifestyle (eg with small children, often their books take priority for a short while)? Really peculiar judgement

That's interesting @IvinghoeBeacon - it may just be that I was brainwashed by the net and you came through unscathed!

Alternatively, more seriously, I found my childhood home very chaotic and the clutter everywhere (very loving, wonderful parents) drove me to distraction as a child. It must just be a "me" thing.

All my NC friends have books in bookcases downstairs. Read once or given to them. Just there because they look nice.

People that actually read have books in their bedrooms. I have many bookcases upstairs because it makes sense.

A well-stocked bookcase can be misleading. I remember being mightily impressed, even intimidated, by a new acquaintance's breadth of reading: everything from Plato to Plath.

Then one day she asked to help move the contents of one of her bookcases and it soon became apparent that none of them had ever been opened.

I didn't say a word.

Ooo I've just realised, I'm on another thread at the moment regarding whether people dress their beds. It appears a lot of people find that excess cushions and throws on beds are clutter!!!

I dress my bed. Only 2 cushions and a throw mind you, but I find that with the lack of bookcases I am allowed some clutter 😂

Don't mean to derail the thread, just realised I had disgraceful double standards 😂

I remember walking into my XPs house for the first time and thinking 'all the books must be in the bedroom.'

They weren't. There wasn't a book in the house and he didn't even know what a Kindle was. It should have been my first warning sign..

How odd to think that I don't read my books because they are upstairs.
The DCs books are in their bedrooms, shared books on the landing and my and DH's books live in the spare bedroom/study. Plus my bedroom utilises my grandparents preferred book storage system - teetering stacks on the floor. I don'[t need any of that downstairs.

I’ll have a look if I see any, and I think I’d notice if there aren’t any.
We have masses, upstairs and down, some shelves double stacked. I will fully admit that they need ‘weeding’, despite a bagful regularly going to the charity shop, but I’d never get rid of them all - there are far too many ‘keepers’.

I have quite a lot on my Kindle too, largely for reading in bed without having to put the light on (disturbs dh) or for taking on holiday - I can easily get through 4 or 5 in a week.

Must say I’m a bit 😱 at anyone who looks on books as ‘clutter’.

Aaah one of these threads happy sigh

I love reading about the competitive book hoarding that goes on on Mumsnet. To some people it doesn't matter what is on your bookshelves as long as you have them lining every wall of your house, simply groaning with thousands of books. Books must never be described as clutter, for they are more precious than anything. I love all this talk of people having libraries. And people still owning dictionaries/encyclopedias. Everyone else uses the internet.

Back in the real world, there are many ways to access books these days. All of mine are on kindle, bar about 20 of my favourites which are hardbacks and are in the loft. I got rid of all of the rest of my paper books and what a relief it was too. My small house is so much tidier (no bloody library room here ) Not to mention that all those trees being cut down to make books. The most recent figures i can find suggest that 30 million trees are cut down every year to provide books for the usa alone. I can only imagine the world wide figure. Whereas no doubt my Kindle had an environmental impact but I've had it for 4 years and it has 1500 books on it. That's a lot of paper I've saved.

I also realised that I do look at the books in my client's homes, to try and work out who they are/their personalities. But that's because I never (or very rarely) meet the person I clean for, so I make up their character based on photos and books.

I can't remember ever doing it when I'm a guest in someone's house. Although I probably will do now though!

Ok... so no competitive lack of clutter and arguments about planet saving then

Back in the real world most people aren’t actually judging each other on whether they have books in their house or not! I’m certainly not.

I have several Billy bookcases along a wall in the living room. And that's after I moved and had to donate a lot of my collection. My flat wouldn't feel my home without books. And I am interested in what other people read.

@MrsCastiel but someone COULD read them, that’s the point! I read so many things (many probably very inappropriate for my age but so mind and experience expanding for me) because I could just take them from a shelf in my house. If my DM didn’t just have them there, I wouldn’t have known what to seek to find them.

Can’t be doing with the competitive virtue signalling around books. I read all the time but I can’t say that it means much about my worth as a person - I’m a nasty raging misanthrope at times, books or no. Reading or having lots of books does not make you somehow a superior being; more than likely it just means that your parents liked to read and had the ability to take you to a library or buy you books.

In my field reference books are mostly outdated - information is readily accessible sisble online and you no longer have to sacrifice half a Scandinavian forest to disseminate it. The only books that I could not move to a virtual sphere are cookery books; for some reason I can’t get on with online recipes. A kindle is so much more convenient than a paper book - you can take many books absolutely everywhere, but then again I’ve never been a romantic about a physical book.

I read all the time but I can’t say that it means much about my worth as a person - I’m a nasty raging misanthrope at times, books or no.

Love this

I thought about getting rid of all the books but I kept them for the kids. I loved browsing as a kid and the bookshelves always seemed to be the embodiment of all that the world and life had to offer. My parents had eclectic tastes and lots of coffee table type books about countries, animals, history and gardening (those 2 didn’t I interest me, mind you), languages, art and cultures. I still love physical books and especially illustrated ones. Plus lots of National Geographic, OS maps, a Reader’s Digests, Scots Magazine and People’s Friend at my nan! Books were family, home, comfort.

People that actually read have books in their bedrooms? Lol don't be ridiculous. I have books in every room, the main bookcase being in my sitting room, they aren't for decoration because frankly I don't get many visitors. They are there because it's the biggest room in my house and has space for a larger bookcase.
If I didn't see books in your sitting room I wouldn't make an assumption about wether you read or not. How silly.

I wouldn’t say I judged people on their books, (or lack thereof!) but I LOVE having a good old nosy at what’s on people’s shelves. I also keep books for a long time, I’m a chronic re-reader!

No, I don't look for books in other people's houses, I am really not interested.

I agree that the internet is really useful, and I will certainly teach my kids how to use it in due course. But I’d like to facilitate that feeling of idly flicking through pages of a reference or arty type book and soaking up wee details, or getting a sense of the scope of a subject....

It’s certainly not either/or with Internet/ebooks and physical books. It’s well known that these things are all used differently under different circumstances by different people

God no! that would make me a massive twat.