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.

Sea lettuce - Not keen on Conrad all, so maybe you’re right! Is there the same division with Austen/Bronte, do you think?

DH’s aunt has a beautiful set of bookcases filled with a number of first editions or leather bound hard back copies of ‘impressive’ books

Maybe she has those on her bookshelf because she finds it visually appealing herself? Not to impress guests.

@Smellbellina

Thanks for your permission, it means so much.

You're welcome. Not that it matters, most people who come to my house have a bit more imagination than you.

I get irrationally irritated by people who show off their large book collection like it's a mark of their intellectual superiority.
My parents had a collection of about 15000 books, they were a mill stone. As a result, I always give my read books to charity and never keep them. I don't feel the need to show off about what I have read.

I don't like clutter so no. I am interested in what hand wash they have though

@Geraniumblue, not in my experience — I’m certainly an equal Bronte and Austen lover, though Villette is my favourite novel of all time.

@sealettuce

Yes, of course. And I absolutely judge anyone who thinks that books are clutter, who doesn’t comprehend the concept of rereading, thinks that books should only be consumed on a Kindle or immediately donated the second you’ve turned the final page, or thinks that having bookshelves of ‘highbrow literature’ suggests an intellectual inferiority complex.

What's wrong with reading on a kindle?

@Novembernickname, it says so much about a certain kind of lower-middle class philistinism that you would even assume that having visible books = ‘showing off about what you’ve read’.

@Seabiscuit - I am an Austen lover all the way- my copy of Persuasion has had to be replaced several times! Maybe I need to revisit the Brontes though- I’ve not read them for years.

I was contemplating buying a Madeleine tin for the lockdown- but it seems a bit extravagant for just one sort of cake!

Nothing at all wrong with a Kindle, @cybercontroller — if you notice I said ‘someone who thinks you should read ONLY on a Kindle’ — but there’s a regular attitude on these threads that the only correct way to read is on a Kindle so that you’re not ‘showing off’ your reading by having books flaunting themselves on a shelf.

Make them, @Geraniumblue! Nigella Lawson has a lovely (if deeply unProustian) recipe for rosewater madeleines.

Okay, what's wrong with reading only on a kindle? I read almost exclusively on a kindle these days, why should I be judged for that?

I’ve already explained twice, @cybercontroller. There’s nothing wrong with it, unless you’re the kind of person who views having actual paper books as crazed intellectual showoffery. And who shows up regularly on these threads to say so.

@cybercontroller - you don’t get anything extra from a physical book at all? Not the appearance or the feel of it, or the way it sits on the bookcase?

@SeaLettuce - rosewater madeleines- I might just have to try them, they sound so delicately romantic!

I misread the title as
Bodies: Do you look for the when entering somebodies House for the first time?

*@cybercontroller - you don’t get anything extra from a physical book at all? Not the appearance or the feel of it, or the way it sits on the bookcase? *

Not really. Nothing that overrides the convenience of ebooks or how they're more easy to hold.

It's the first thing I look for in someone's house!

Sealettuce
Sorry what has class got yo do with it?
A philistine is a person whose anti-intellectual social attitude undervalues and despises art and beauty, spirituality and intellect.

I think you read more into my opinion about showing off than was actually in my post. I prize above all spirituality and intellect and I find those who are the most spiritual and intellectual are the ones who are most self aware and who understand why they do what they do.

I’m slightly appalled at some of the judgements in here.

I agree. The downstairs bookshelves are full of recipe books and reference books/pub guides. One of the bedrooms has a couple of large bookcases that contain all of our books, then DD has a bookshelf in her bedroom containing all of her books.

I am pretty ruthless about not keeping books I won't read again, but I do keep non fiction/reference books and classics. Our house is simply not big enough. 99% of my reading is now on my kindle because I just find it a lot easier to hold a kindle rather than destroying the spine of a book. Also, I can read in bed at night and not keep DH awake.

So, anyone wanting to look at my book collection will be disappointed.

I don't understand why some people feel morally superior because they won't read ebooks.

I don’t look for books in other people’s houses, but if there are books I gravitate towards them (the books and the people). Through work I used to have to do a lot of socializing in people’s homes, and I find books the most fascinating insight into who they might be. (As others have noted, could be totally wrong. But the temptation to imagination based on their shelves is essentially the same invitation to imagining as opening a book, so I don’t know that reality itself is terribly important. A bookshelf is a treasure trove whether you open a book or not.
I did have the same issue as another poster at one point. Working on gender and masculinity you end up with some fairly fruity titles. Most of which my dh turned round so that only the pages were visible when it became clear that the youngest child could read. And possibly so could her friends.
We have way too many books. In six rooms. Multiple shelves. Lots double stacked (in the dining room actually double stacked horizontally and vertically. It’s bizarrely eclectic but I love them all. In theory the classics (including the ones I bought at jumble sales as a child) are in the dining room, along with my undergrad stuff. It also attracts recent purchases once finished (no actual shelf space so they just get stacked on the edge) or ones we’ve borrowed. The ones in bedrooms are the kids books and our ‘current’ holdings. The landing has all the post-grad stuff (including resources for at least three unwritten theses lol). The living room has travel (first hand accounts as well as mountaineering/ guide books) and some resource books. Oh and whatever I bring home from work. The kitchen obv has cook books, but thinking about it, some of the more domestic/ resource/ traditional housekeeping stuff is elsewhere because it was being used in different places. (That’s actually the 7th room. I forgot the kitchen book shelves.)
People who come to the house and get an eyeful of my shelves would back away nervously, I suppose. It’s a sort of visual representation of the swirl of everythingness that is trapped in my head. I don’t think any conclusions could be drawn except ‘wtf’.
I once spent an idyllic summer in a library re-shelving every single book. It was absolutely the best, to get to hold each one (some obviously hadn’t been touched for years), give it a little bit of attention, feel all my neurones fire, and give it some space. And I got paid for it!
We don’t have many current titles - we usually read those and pass them on. We only keep stuff that has been important to us in some way. And when I say us, I mean me.
I still haven’t forgiven the removal man who stole a box of children’s books 19 years ago.

Cringe at this OP!

Who the hell walks into a house looking for books?! how pretentious of you. You walk into a house to speak to someone. Focus your intention on them, not their things.

FWIW you won’t see a book when you walk into my house. They’re all lining the walls of all our bedrooms.

I agree @ChandlerIsTheBestFriend

This thread is really bizarre.

Some of you must live in big houses to accommodate all those books. I must admit that I would find ceiling to floor lined walls in my living room very claustrophobic.

What’s wrong with displaying books by colour?

Orange penguins look great together!

I don't usually think about it, but if books are very visible I may take notice of them.