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've got two bookcases full of books. When we moved house we had to get rid of a lot though, as there wasn't going to be room for them all.

I'm sight impaired now, anyway, and much prefer reading on my kindle but do still love a book as long as the print isn't too small.

I also wonder whether, if we switched to kindle only and got rid of all our physical books, how much we'd miss the comforting presence of actual books in the house. I'm pretty sure I'd start restocking 😆

Yes, we have about 15 bookcases/ sets of bookshelves of different sizes around the house, some floor to ceiling, but mostly cases of 3 or 4 shelves, mainly made by DH. There are also a few piles of books( about 50) that are not currently fitting in.
We're due a decluttering session!

Books everywhere here too...

That's useful to know, and an incentive to recycle newer books quickly!

I like books, I like the feel of them, the whole thing.

Ive probably got about 200 and they’re mostly in one room. I even bought children’s books before I had a child because I love the beautiful illustrations. I’ve still got my Winnie the Pooh paperbacks from childhood. I’ve got novels and non fiction, large hardbacks, everything.

I have a cull every so often, but often regret it. I threw out all my Poldark books, then when the second Tv series was made, went out and bought them all over again.

I have a bookshelf in a bedroom/study but I'm doing a postgrad and I like being able to study and look at (and highlight with a nice yellow pen) the bits I need.

When I do qualify I'll probably have some nice shelves built somewhere in the living room so I can stealth boast about my subject 😂😂

I should add that my cheezy thriller novels will NOT be on display. Stealth boast books only. 😂

6 Billys, with top extensions, filled with books. We also have Kindles and a regular cull, alongside recirculating those books bought and not in our 'keep' category. I do collect vintage sewing and craft books though and DH is a fan of Agatha Christie and 'Golden Age' Crime books, so definitely a theme to the books we keep / display. We also have a basket in the lounge for current reads, plus two small stacks of 'next on the list' reads by the bed.

I do use a Kindle, for space reasons, as I have do many books. But I still have multiple bookshelves (mainly in living room, spare bedroom and attic). I think a house looks naked & feels weird without books.

Plenty of bookshelves and books in my house.

I mostly use borrow box but do occasionally buy books, but I do have a couple of bookcases for books that I love and will read again. Classics by Austen and Dickens, and books like The Handmaid's Tale and A Man called Ove. If I know I won't read it again I will give them away, otherwise I would be swamped.

I have a spare room called the Library = 2 walls with bookshelves but not completely full yet! (It also houses DH's record collection!)
But I am a collector and have some special treasures ...

I've masses of books, many old valuable 1st editions etc. Sadly eldest has collected too many trophies and cups, so I've had to vacate some to boxes in the loft. I have a shelf of 'to read' which seems to get added to faster than I can read. Regularly turf out some to a secondhand bookshop in return for credit towards more, others to a charity shop, some to a local bookswap

I'm the only enthusiastic reader in the home but yes, they're all out on display (with the exception of some very old or sentimental ones I've tucked away).

There's a full alcove in the lounge, a double width bookcase in our dining room (more of a second lounge dprt of room as we rarely eat at the table and are slobs), I've a small bookcase in our bedroom and there's also one in the spare room.

I like how they look and enjoy having my books around me but I've got to say I couldn't care less what people make of it when they're here. I don't subscribe to the idea that a person's bookshelf really reveals much about them. A lot of mine haven't even been read yet and I do think people often by books for display.

We don’t have many books, so no bookcase. We mainly read on kindle. My daughter prefers to read a physical copy and keeps some but mainly passes them on after reading.

2 big filled bookcases in the living room alcoves. I love books!

I think I have way too many. I live in a small cottage so should really sort them out.

No books here! When I was a teenager I had a massive bookcase full in my bedroom and spent my life at the library. I love the look, smell and feel of real books but storage is an issue and it's far more convenient to use/store a kindle.

I also feel like I wouldn't be able to sit and hold a heavy book for long because my wrists are terrible. I can sit and hold my kindle and read for hours with no issues.

Yes, I'm an avid reader and keep most of my books on shelves in my bedroom. Books are mostly fiction.

Our house is teeming with books. Hundreds ans hundreds. All loved and cherished!

Yes, we have lots of bookcases. I'm always torn between thinking it's ridiculous, we probably aren't going to re-read all these books, why not declutter. And just liking having them around.

We occasionally go through and get rid of 50 or so to a charity shop, but they get replenished very quickly (often during the trip to drop them off at the charity shop we come out with quite a few new ones).

I think it's eleven bookshelves round the house.

I have an argument with dh:
He says too many books, I say too few bookshelves.
I am definitely right.

If I win the lottery we will buy a house with a room I can make into a library.

I don’t get your comment about if you came to your house you’d think you were a non reader. How many people who don’t know you come to your house to visit like that? Surely everyone who knows you knows if you read or not?

plus I’d not assume, most folks read electronically now.

we have some books out, some on the coffee table being read, some in a shelf in one room, some more in a cupboard. I read more electronically , my husband tends to like paper . I read three books last week. He read none,

in my friendship circle the more voracious readers don’t have books on display , the ones who seldom read do.

*I always thought Kindles got popular so women could read 50 Shades of Grey on public transport without attracting disapproving looks

I used to know the publisher of that book - his view was it was appallingly written and that they were staggered by the money they made on it*

My view is that the publisher wasn't wrong

We have loads of bookcases in every room except our bedroom where there are towers of books by the bed. I like the physicality of books over Kindle. We already spend too much time on screens.