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.

Yes! We a custom built shelving system that wraps around 2 walls of one living room & its totally full . It was always my dream to have a library at home & I do. The room has huge velvet sofa, open fire & lots of windows looking into the garden. I've lived here almost 20 years & I still sometimes just walk into that room & look around & can't quite believe its mine. It brings me huge joy

We have a glass fronted book case in the other room & the bottom 3 shelves are filled with books & the top shelves have things we've collected
The kicken has shelves of recipe books
Out bedroom has about 150 books in a stack (waiting to decorate in new year)
The upstairs corridor has books

I can't imagine living in a house without books. Books are life for me.

Loads of books. Loads of bookshelves BUT in the process of getting rid of them all and buying kindle versions of much loved books.

I know you can't pass ebooks on the same way you can pass paper books on, I sure my DC won't want to be landed with hundreds of books to sort out. So trying to streamline in my 40s.

Trying to streamline everything really. New books are on kindle or borrowed.

We have 5 bookcases dotted around the house. I do all my leisure reading on my kindle, but I still like to have proper recipe books.

I have donated books that I know I will never read again to charity, but still have lots of books.

We're bookcase in every room people, and absolutely crammed with books. I've read almost all mine.
About three quarters non fiction. DD1 has more half and half.

DH has read one book for pleasure in the 18 years I've known him! He has lots for study and reference though.

I'm definitely edging towards a cull though ready for our next move which will be a downsize.

i did have two huge bookcases overflowing with books
I got rid of them just after Covid as it made decorating a nightmare as you had to remove all the books and the bookcases to do anything
took me around 6 months to decide on getting rid of the books as they were a big part of me ( if that makes sense )
I did keep a few that I couldn’t get on my kindle / e-books

When we moved to this house my mum bought us two huge bookcases for the dining room, they are double filled with my books, mainly fiction. I also have a row on books on my desk and a pile beside the bed. The children all have full & groaning bookcases in their rooms. I also have to keep some at work. DH is not a reader so doesn't understand my love, luckily all 4 DC have come over to the dark side with me! He bought me a kindle once, I sold it. Eldest DD likes an audiobook, but I struggle. I should given them another try really - New Year's resolution maybe.

I have loads of books in bookcases, they were in ramshackle order, then a librarian friend came to sleep with me for a week stay with me for a week and now all books are placed in order. And l can’t find anything 😂.

Most of mine are double or triple stacked

I can't imagine living in a house without books. Books are life for me.

@RedCoatSearch could you explain this a bit, I am genuinely baffled by what it means!

I've got hundreds of books, and had bespoke bookshelves built into my study and living room. I also have bookshelves int he kitchen, bedrooms and kids playroom. I don't feel like it would be my house without books.

Only my bathrooms don't have books on shelves. And that's for hygiene reasons.

What's disturbing about it? Those people might use a kindle instead. Or maybe they have a bookshelf in a room you've not been into.

Or maybe they don't read books. I don't understand why that would disturb you. Not sure I'd even notice if someone didn't have books.

I’m ‘lower class’. Both my parents struggled with literacy, and I grew up in a house where the only three books were an old recipe book, a Dr Spock and a Reader’s Digest book of lists.

I couldn’t give a damn what social class a visitor might think I was, but we have thousands of books all over the house. I do also use a Kindle, but mostly when travelling.

(I mean, I get that your post was a joke, but threads about visible books in an house are often about social class.)

I live in quite a small flat so I am limited with space but I have two large bookshelves in the lounge. These have my mother's collection of what I think you would call "Folio Books" - most of which I have read over the years and along with them I have a lot of hardback books which are sentimental to me for various reasons or are books I refer to a lot. There's also a section with travel guides and hiking literature (quite a lot of that).
I have more shelves in the bedroom with my "to-be-read" collection. In the large cupboard in the lounge and in the cellar I have a lot of books I have accumulated over the years which I don't want to throw away.
But I do try to keep on top of things by selling any books to a second-hand website or passing them on to others or failing that as I don't have the space to expand the collection any more, especially with books I will never look at again.

I work in client's homes so get to see a lot of people's living rooms - I can't think of anyone off-hand who has a bookshelf. Perhaps the books are in other rooms - but it is something I've really noticed over the last few years. Not sure whether this is part of a trend towards only purchasing books on kindle, or the decluttering/minimalist trend or people not reading as much as they did in the past.

My house is stuffed with bookshelves. I regret to say that my Kindle is also stuffed with books. But I am working on downsizing, and a serious cull of the books is coming.

Yes. Only have books in one area of house, they are colour and size coded! I've passed 100's of books onto others, charity, hospital etc over the year as I find it renewing. I used to keep everything but now only keep special items and stuff I really like.

Only in one room now. I had a really hard cull last year and have two tall shelves of them.

I love physical books and have hundreds of them on my shelves!

I love the feel and smell of the paper!

I can't abide electric ones. Partly because it means being glued to another computer and partly as I don't like the feel of the metal in my hands for ages and the weight of them!

I borrowed a Kindle from a friend ages ago just to see what it was like and I didn't take to it at all. I also can't deal with Tablets. I have a smartphone and a laptop which I'm comfortable with but anything ''in-between'' feels weird to me!

Another thing I found was having to swipe to get to the next page, where as with a physical book I love the feeling of turning a proper paper page!

It’s hardly that mysterious, is it? Books are very important to @TetleyTeaForMe. She wants them around her.

I am a big reader and prefer to read a paper book; I find the pleasure of holding a book and being able to flick back etc as part of the experience for me. I have one bookcase in my sitting room but I mostly pass books on. I love to share them with friends I think will enjoy them and we can discuss together or else I send them to the charity shop.

Reading is hugely important and life affirming for me but I am with the people who have commented saying that they don't like to see books 'dying' on shelves. Me too. I don't feel the need to demonstrate my intelligence, class or any other potential signifier to a visitor to my home by keeping hold of the books I have read. I would much rather books were reread when in good condition, than left to age and yellow. I keep a list of books I have read and I have a good memory so I don't feel the need to keep the book itself as a record. If I want to reread a book (very rarely) then I will just rebuy it.

We have 6 floor to ceiling shelves full in the 'office'. Whilst I think we can cull at least half of them I can pretend they aren't there as I can't see them all the time. I do love a good book though, just not in display in the living room.

Books in every room, either on built in bookshelves or on bookcases. We all read a lot, and prefer real books to kindles.

People say our house is like a library - and we are happy to lend books out, I have a "borrowed book" notebook to keep track.

I have approximately 3000 books.

2 rooms have bookcases floor to ceiling along one wall. Separate bookcase for cookery books in my kitchen.
small bookcase in my bedroom with my To Be Read pile.

Yes I have two walls of books. I love them. I read a lot and re read a lot. I also love the aesthetics too. Most of my stuff is replaceable but some books are not - out of print or hard to source. They also tell the story of my / our lives.

We have many, many bookcases and books. Thousands. Trying to cull before we downsize.

Something that does disturb me is watching a home improvement show that does the big reveal, and they've put books in a room but BACK TO FRONT so you can't see the spine and know what they are! I'd be in there turning the books round whilst they wanted me to gush about the flooring!