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've got a Kindle voyage. With every day use the battery lasts weeks and the screen is made in such a way that there is no glare at all, even when reading in bright sunshine. Plus, it's backlit so i can read in bed without turning a light on and disturbing my husband.

It's not the same as reading on a tablet. Years ago the original kindles did give a little bit of glare but the modern kindle screens are just like reading on a page - with the added bonus that you can make the text as big or small as you like. The paperwhite is a good one to try for a reasonable price.

I hate book cases full of books. I think a lot of people display them out of intellectual snobbery. I love my kindle. It's more environmentally friendly I can read trash and heavier literature privately without being judged.

When did virtue become attributed to reading and books? It's similar to those people who don't watch or have a television, some morality is attached to the idea.

Does reading rather than viewing make someone a better person?

When I read physical copies I loved to pass them on. I always asked people to them pass them on to someone else. Books sat on a shelf are barely read. I miss being able to pass a book on.

Books sat on a shelf are barely read

They’re like old friends waiting to be revisited

I read on average 450 books a year so plenty of time for new and re-reads!

Does reading rather than viewing make someone a better person?

Im not sure about the viewing as I have a television also. I have more in common with someone who reads than someone who resolutely doesn’t. It isn’t about their value as a person, it’s about wanting my circle to enjoy similar things. I don’t think that’s unusual whether the interest is reading, sport etc etc

'I have more in common with someone who reads than someone who resolutely doesn’t. It isn’t about their value as a person.'

That I can understand! There is sometimes an undercurrent of virtue or morality attributed to reading and books that would never be attributed to watching television and I just wonder where it comes from.

Those who own lots of books, ask yourselves If you are proud of your collection

I don't know......

For me I think its knowledge, knowledge of the books themselves but also knowledge of them being there. So a good story I want to revisit is just a simple trip the pluck it off a shelf or out of a box.

I think it was my own personal Google before Google existed, if that makes any sense?

So for example I recently decided to build a herb garden again. I can remember bits and bob, but the fact I could go and pull 10+ books on herbs, herb gardening, herbalist books, culinary herbs, properties and folk law of herbs, how to make tinctures and essentials oils out of herbs, straight out of a box. Some how makes me feel happy. I knew which books I wanted to look for first because I knew the content of each book.

Same with fiction I'll read any type and will go months sometimes years not reading anything, but then I'll get the urge to read X again, so I go get it. happy days

So it's not really being proud of my collection it's just knowing I have it for when I want it.

I love Google for the same reason. I can find an answer to a question immediately, I can find studies, research papers, and peer reviews within a few clicks.

My XFIL has no books on display. He once asked why I had story books for DS (then 3yo) and DD (then 2yo), and didn’t I feel that stories were intellectually lazy and a waste of brain space. I judged.

A well maintained garden, by someone who knows their stuff is much more impressive to me.

It’s not really a specific “collection” of books so not necessarily something to be proud of! Some books are useful, some are beautiful, some are fun or relaxing ways to pass the time etc

The point is that they are for me (or my husband)

IvinghoeBeacon you put it in a much shorter better way then me

You don't see my books on display the same as you don't see my fancy knickers out on display. You don't need to see them.

I am always fascinated by other people’s book shelves. We have hundreds of books - loads of art books in one room. Then there are cookery books, dictionaries, etc. Upstairs I have two book cases in our room and another large one in the spare room. These contain books recently read but really enjoyed. Then there are a few books I would never lend to anyone as they are too precious. For example War and Peace in three volumes bought for me when I was thirteen. Those volumes made this wonderful book accessible to me. Then there is Little Women bought when I was about ten and illustrated etc. I feel so sad when I encounter people who have never read a book. My mission when I was teaching young children was to not only teach reading but the love of it. The daily story was to me the most important happening of the day.

Those of you who have hundreds /thousands of books, on display, in the loft ... what do you expect will happen to them after you die?

FredericcaPotter
What a bizarre question. have you been into style and beauty and ask the posters who collect shoes and handbags what will happen when they die?

To answer your question though. I don't know and don't care as I'll be dead.

I'm very well read and enjoy reading but I don't understand why people keep shelves of books once they've read them

I can be quite emotional about books. Don't know why but they remind me of the time in my life that I read them. Silly I know.

Those of you who have hundreds /thousands of books, on display, in the loft ... what do you expect will happen to them after you die?

I expect exactly the same as when my grandmas died - some will be kept, some will go to charity shops/be passed to friends, some will be sold. Either way they will bring joy to someone!

@FredericcaPotter, well my mother has got most of my dad’s books, but my siblings and I got to choose what we wanted too. Some were returned to the person he’d borrowed them from. The paperback “pulp fiction” went to charity shops.

Odd question though - what happens to any belongings after someone dies?

Can’t be doing with the competitive virtue signalling around books

I couldn’t agree more @MoltoAgitato. I agree with everything in your post.

a kindle has no soul, it has no scent, it has no place in my life

Sorry, but that does come across as a tad pretentious. If I want to read the latest Anne Cleeves crime thriller I am not the least bit interested in whether the medium I read it on has “soul”

I cannot read on kindle as it reminds me of computer screens which I look at all day at work and feels too clinical

You have obviously never even tried to read anything on a Paperwhite. It is nothing like a computer screen.

FredericcaPotter My cousins now have tis problem of disposing my late auntie’s books. A lot of them are science books and journals written in German that my late grandfather wrote in the first half of the 20th century. They are out of date and no-one wants them. My auntie had so much “stuff” that after everyone has taken what they want or need they are having to get a house clearance company in.

Interestingly, at every fund raiser our church does they sell fewer and fewer books. Hardly anyone buys books any more as more and more people prefer to use their kindle.

To reiterate and add balance. I prefer to read physical reference books, guide books and cookery books, and IMO nothing techy replaces a good old fashioned paper map. However, when it comes to fiction I prefer my kindle.

I am currently reading a paperback a friend lent me, and it is the most awkward thing because I don't want to crease the uncreased spine, so I am reading it half open.

My BIL is snobby about the lack of bookshelves we have in our house - we have five bookshelves, but like some PPs I prefer not to own too much "stuff". We have lived in five houses since we got married, and the house we are in now is not our forever house, so I really don't want to have to deal with too much baggage.

DD (19) prefers real books BTW.

You have obviously never even tried to read anything on a Paperwhite. It is nothing like a computer screen

For me it’s just yet another device. When I’m away from work I like to try and have some time away from devices.

Wow. There are some real arseholes on this thread. 😂

Display your books. Don't display your books. Read 'real' books, read ebooks. No one should really give a shiny shite what books another person does or does not have in their own home and if they do, they are a twat.

Anyone who doesn't think there's any kind of snobbery on this thread is mistaken IMO, it's there clear as day and it's embarrassing to see.

^^this

Books carry knowledge.

At university, we give essays and books to read, not documentaries to watch (or at least that was when I was studying and lecturing - until very recently). A book is our civilisation's preferred instrument of knowledge.

And of course you can read Nietsche's "The Antichrist" on Kindle with no loss of meaning, but there are books that are more than just text, and reading their words detached by the shell they carry them will bring some loss of meaning, sometimes considerable: think illustrated books, think Alice in Wonderland without Tenniel's illustration, for instance.

In some book the binding is a crucial part: have you seen Madieval/Renaissance Book of Hours? The important part was not only the text, the prayer, but the way it was written, and illustrated. The materiality of the book was an integral part of the text.

Undoubtedly, our relationship with the book with the advent of the internet is changing, and we have named to translate that great carriers of meaning into another form, but there is a vast history behind the book and the significance it has in human history. We need to respect that.

Think about the Bible - arguably one of the most important books for out civilisation (and I speak as an atheist) - it literally means 'The Book'.

I respect those who read.

named to translate = managed to translate (autocorrect fail)