Do you have a bookshelf with books on?!

[VerrryNice]

I used to have hundreds of books on shelves around the house and loved them. Then I moved house several times and put them in boxes and they got dusty and mouldy so I got rid of them. Then I started using a kindle a lot more.

Now I don’t have any books on display in the house at all. I pass them on to friends or charity and keep a few favourites at the back of a cupboard.

I watched a programme about homes in Wales yesterday and one couple had all their books organised and on display around the house and it looked fantastic and you could really get a sense of the kind of people they were. If you came to my house you would think I was a complete non-reader with no interest in much at all! I was wondering what the norm was these days.

We have books everywhere, but we are not the norm!

Yes. More than one bookshelf and in various rooms.

I have about 6 book cases (some are only 3 shelves tall) and a kindle.

I have one bookcase now and a rule of one in, one out. I feel my house is dressed with books in it.

We cut down are book collection quite a lot and we mostly use Kindles now, but we still have hundreds of books on several big bookcases around the house.

Yes, everywhere. I prefer a physical book and like the aesthetic of a full bookcase.
We do have to be very strict with ourselves about one in, one out, though.

I dont use a kindle and have bookcases wherever we can fit them in plus several hundred more books in the garage outside! (Just downsized and still sorting out!)

Not in the living room except a couple of IKEA cubes of children's books, but in the bedrooms, yes. And a few boxes in the loft. I'm all for thinning them out more, but DH finds that hard and I don't really mind.

Yes I do but I regularly cull and resort my books. I used to work in a charity shop and there is nothing worse than receiving boxes and boxes of really old (not vintage) books that no one ever wants. It's really quite sad as people think they are passing on much loved books but in reality there is very little demand for outdated cookery books, old Readers Digest, outdated text books and hardback novels from 80s (Len Deighton, Jackie Collins etc).

I had to sort my DF's books out after he died and although there were a few worth keeping but the majority had to go for pulping .

I've got three bookcases but they're just for decoration. Everything I read is on my Kindle or the library app on my phone. I can't remember the last time I pulled a book off the shelf to read. Even though about half the books in the bookcases are unread!

I have a few book cases and a kindle.

I like books but I used to have hundreds and ended up feeling suffocated by them. I like having a limited number now.

We have hundreds of books( parents were librarians, I've worked in a bookshop!) I'd think it a little sad if I went to someone's house and there were no books out, not in a judgy way, just that they were missing out on something that brings joy. Of course, they may use a kindle or use the library.

I've got a couple of Billy bookcases full. I'm a big reader though so always buy fiction books on Kindle otherwise it's an endless loop of going to the charity shop to offload books. The books on my shelves are art books, which I don't buy on kindle because of the pictures.

Yes, there are books and bookcases in just about every room in the house.

Multiple bookcases and one room pretty much devoted to them. Shelves are double stacked in places too but I simply can’t squeeze any more books in.

I do have a kindle app on my phone but that is for pulp fiction.

Yes in every room save the kitchen and bathroom. I am trying to cull some, but there are some worth money that I need to sell, not just give away. I've also got quite a few which aren't easily available because they're out of print, and the art exhibition catalogues aren't really kindle options, either.

It’s a dilemma, isn’t it? We still have loads of books on multiple bookshelves, but anyone looking at them would think we’d lost all interest in reading sometime around 2005, which was about when I started doing most of my reading on Kindle or library books on my Kobo.
I’d feel weird getting rid of old favourites, but realistically I can’t imagine ever reading, say, Anna Karenina in paper form again - e-readers are just so much more comfortable for chunky books or small print.

I’m an English Lit lecturer so have hundreds upon hundreds of books in every room of the house, children’s and adults. Never had a kindle or similar, I can’t read off a screen in the same way.

Books everywhere here. I use my kindle a lot, too, but often like to have a physical book, particularly if there are photos or artwork involved.

Yes, shelves with books in my front room and a back reception room and I’m storing overflow in boxes under my bed. When we eventually do our house up I’m getting to get book shelves everywhere!

Yes, but the main one is upstairs so visitors wouldn’t see it. Not on purpose, that’s just where it is. There’s one in the play room downstairs but that is mostly kids books, and not the good ones - Star Wars annuals, draw your own comics, that kind of thing.
The one upstairs is six shelves high and three shelves wide, and double stacked.

Two bookcases pretty much double stacked, a desk and six boxes. I have started a brutal (or what I call brutal) cull.

Yes, but all in the bedroom apart from a shelf of recipe books so it would look to most visitors as if I don’t read.

We didn’t for a long time, but when we bought this house I got fitted bookshelves installed and I’ve been gradually filling them up with naice editions of classics I loved as a teen/young adult, and treating myself to new books now I have a bit more time to read. Very satisfying!

The kids have bookshelves in their room absolutely jammed with theirs, I badly need to do a cull. I remember when my sister was selling her house, they had a viewer who happened to be a health visitor and she did a little “oooh yes!” when she saw my little niece’s nursery shelves bunged full of her books. She said it was always lovely to see when a child had access to plenty of books, and ever since I’ve found it really hard to let any go!

Three Billy bookcases in office rammed full, books above the bookcases too.

One bookcase in my bedroom.

The older DC have a Billy in their bedroom full up almost.

Youngest DC have a lot of books in their room too.

No bookcase in living room but do have books on my piano.