Books you are proud to have on display...

[Justcallmemissstupid]

I’ve bought a lovely new bookcase for the living room. But I’ve come to realise my taste in books isn’t something I’d like to display 😆 think Bridget Jones etc.
I’d like to fill up my bookcase but I’d also like to expand my reading. So can you give me some titles that wouldn’t make you cringe if visitors were to see them? 😬 and that are a good read also

@Fembot123

I read Wuthering Heights and didn’t like it 😂

I couldn't finish Wuthering Heights. Tedious crap.

The fact that you both read and own bookshelves is something you should be pleased about.
And give no fucks about being judged for.
I read almost anything ( can't do romances but that's just me) and have multiple bookshelves, one for schlock, one for sci-fi , one for non fiction, one for literary stuff and two that are full of a mixture because no room, and one full of all my childhood favourites.
Who cares? There are too many people that don't read anything at all and the number of homes that have absolutely zero books ( NOT counting cookbooks)present is depressing.

I don't have any fiction books at all because I read exclusively on Kindle (tried a real book a couple of years ago and didn't like it, felt weird to hold, couldn't get comfortable, couldn't read in the dark in bed) but we have lots of travel guides, maps, cookbook and reference books on our bookcase. I wouldn't buy new fiction unless you actively want to read something, could get expensive.

One thing you could do OP is ask around if anyone has any books they want rid of and see what turns up.

There's not a lot of demand for second hand books any more and charity shops aren't open so you could be doing people a favour.

I think it might help if you describe what you like or what you DON’T like in books to get recommendations OP. And whatever you like should go on your shelf :)
Magical realism - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, salman Rushdie, lyrical writing full of imagery - the god of small things, poisonwood bible, piranesi, light fun reads: bill Bryson, action oriented lee child, people/ chick lit liane moriarty, or more humorous Janet evanovich, proper chick lit - mayve binchy, serious chick lit Jodi Picoult, i is for Isobel, more literary - your Donna tarts, Hilary mantel, wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys?) thinking books - freakonomics, narconomics, the tipping point, Jared diamond worth a read despite the controversy, the brain that changes itself,
I think you need to help us out a bit!

I have a larg ecollection of books that I keep in my bedroom.
I am unable to put them out for display, some of my mother's visiting friends would be aghast.

Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with Bridget Jones.

Really though OP it depends what you like to read. Why slog your way through the classics people are suggesting if you don't get any enjoyment from it? And there is no point having a book on your shelf if you haven't read it or aren't planning to. Books aren't just for looking pretty! ;)

That said, if you do genuinely want to expand your reading, I'd suggest joining a book club. There's a great online one I have recently discovered called Rare Birds (google it). They are all about impactful novels with mostly female protagonists and authors. You get a choice of two books each month and then they have online discussions that you can join. I got subscriptions for my friends as Christmas presents and have had great feedback so far. Check them out!

I wouldn’t waste time worrying about anyone judging your bookshelves - the vast majority of people who like reading are just pleased to see books. Especially when a lot of houses don’t have any bookshelves at all, either because people don’t read, or they think of them as ‘clutter’. 😱

I do have a Kindle too, at least partly for very fat books that are too heavy to read in bed.

As for judging (one way or the other) ) when we went with dd and SiL to view the house they now live in, I saw Barchester Towers on the owner’s bedside table, and told dd he must be a good egg.

You may not find Wuthering Heights to your personal taste, but it certainly isn’t ‘crap’. Most people’s issue is that they expect it to be a romance between Heathcliff and Cathy, whereas it’s a Gothic novel of revenge and obsession.

A biography of Aneurin Bevan is prominent on mine (founder of the NHS).

OP, Bridget is a modern classic (Sophie Kinsella maybe not).

If you are still worried about how it looks, take the dust jackets off the hardbacks.

My SIL is an avid reader and in the guest room she has a whole bookcase of books she's read and enjoyed for others to choose from. I love it! I never take a book and always choose something from there. Often something I'd never buy for myself and I usually end up borrowing it to finish. They're not all to my taste but why would I judge? A book is a book.

The first time my now husband visited my flat after our third date, he had a nosy at my bookshelves. He later said that he knew I was ‘the one’ when he saw books on historical torture methods 😂

@MilkMoon

You may not find Wuthering Heights to your personal taste, but it certainly isn’t ‘crap’. Most people’s issue is that they expect it to be a romance between Heathcliff and Cathy, whereas it’s a Gothic novel of revenge and obsession.

😂😂😂 I didn’t expect it to be a romance, I expected it to be engaging which I didn’t find it to be.

If you’d genuinely like to read some classics that aren’t too over-long or heavy going, OP, may I suggest Cranford (Elizabeth Gaskell), Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen), and The Warden, followed by Barchester Towers (Anthony Trollope). All of which have comedy elements too.

Ditto Three Men In A Boat (Jerome K. Jerome) which I find hilarious at each re read.

A less ancient classic, set in pre WW2 Oxford, is Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym, described by great fan Jilly Cooper as a cross between Jane Austen and Mrs Gaskell. It’s a short novel, a period piece now, and very funny.

@AmazingBouncingFerret

He later said that he knew I was ‘the one’ when he saw books on historical torture methods 😂

Ah, Wuthering Heights. I will never forget my husband's confused face when he cam upon the phrase "liver coloured bitch pointer"

He thought it was something along Attwood lines. I had to confess it meant a hound!

I would much rather walk into a home and see a bookcase of well thumbed and loved books, than walk into a home where there are zero books on display, except for those Chanel and Tom Ford coffee table books that a lot of the Insta hunz have.

I love looking at people's bookshelves and am always after recommendations.

Why do you need to display them? Who are you trying to impress?

It's not a case of displaying them, it's a way of storing them. If you pack them away, you won't read them or you will forget that they are there.

When I get my new bookcase, I will be filling it with my hardback first editions of Patricia Cornwell, Martina Cole and Lee Child. They are not my favourite authors as such, but the books themselves are precious to me because my late husband would buy them for me every year when they were published. They are not a highbrow collection but they are a special collection for me. I do not care whether anyone would consider it unsophisticated.

@Bluntness100

Why do you need to display them? Who are you trying to impress?

Yes, I think 'display' is a slightly odd choice of words, and suggests the way you're coming at this is from the POV of 'bookcase as interior design element, upon whose contents I expect to be judged by visitors', rather than books just being something that are in your house because you read them.

We have thousands and thousands of books, the majority as yet boxed after a recent house move, because we haven't been able to build the bookcases we need yet, but there will as in our last house eventually be floor to ceiling bookshelves along one wall of each of the living rooms, our bedroom and the spare room, and both our studies. But the only criteria as to which books go where will be (a) where we use them and (b) valuable editions don't go in a room where they will get sun-faded. I don't really get the concept of 'display'. Books are just there, like the walls. And they include anything from Knit Yourself The Wombles to Thomas Mann.

Yes I don’t understand display either. And then to buy books you don’t even read to try to impress some imaginary guest baffles me, who are these people coming to your home to look at your bookshelves and judge you?

My books are in cupboards, prob thirty dotted about the house openly in various locations. They are books that are read, everything from the viz’s Rogers profanisaurous to Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography to George Orwell to some First World War books of my husbands.

@Fembot123

I read Wuthering Heights and didn’t like it 😂

Wuthering Heights is just too much wuthering for me.

Anyone who wishes to judge me on my bookshelves will be subject to a long discussion on the merits of various books. On the four bookshelves I can see from here they vary between:
Very Hungry Caterpillar
Rainbow fairies (although I did think we'd got rid of them, obviously I missed some)
Enid Blyton
Malcolm Saville
Craft books
Dh's Chemistry up to doctorate books
WWII factual books (thanks ds)

If I was getting rid of any it would be the Chemistry books, because I doubt they'll ever be used again!

@Bluntness100

Yes I don’t understand display either. And then to buy books you don’t even read to try to impress some imaginary guest baffles me, who are these people coming to your home to look at your bookshelves and judge you?

My books are in cupboards, prob thirty dotted about the house openly in various locations. They are books that are read, everything from the viz’s Rogers profanisaurous to Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography to George Orwell to some First World War books of my husbands.

But why not bookcases? I want my books where I can see them. I assume most people do too and that’s how the bookcase got its name!

Eh, sorry, I think you missed the point, no one was saying you shouldn’t have bookshelves, the topic being discussed was displaying books for others. So buying different books because you felt yours wasn’t good enough to be “displayed”