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.

I watched a programme about homes in Wales yesterday
Ffasiwn Drefn?

Had shelves built into into the alcoves of the living room and all the bedrooms. All house books.

@DaNiYmaOHyd The programme was was Wales’ Home of the Year with Owain Wyn Evans.

I have loads of books. They are the most precious things I own. Books are beautiful things in their own right.

The snobbery about books and bookshelves occurs quite frequently on mumsnet. It isn't a badge of honour to hoard books, nor is it wrong to have no books in the house and only read books on electronic devices.

I have books and a Paperwhite kindle. I prefer to read on my kindle because I can read in bed while DH is trying to sleep. I also read it on the train. I find it easier than trying to hold a book open flat.

Books on shelves in every room except kitchen and bathroom. No plans to change this. I have a kindle which I haven't looked at it probably 2 years.

I have a small bookshelf in our bedroom and the kids have a shelf each in their room and a crate downstairs of books, but other that no. Just don't have the space

We are a family of bookworms and have a couple of thousand books in custom built bookcases along one whole long wall of our living room plus bookcases in the bedrooms. We also have a lot of Kindle books between us (probably a few hundred); I tend to only read on my Kindle when I’m commuting/travelling though, as I prefer the feel of a physical book.

2 tall bookcases and a few random shelves, almost all non-fiction. This is one of my bookcases, mind 😁. The other one is mostly cook books.

forensic science type range, some psychology, some anicent history, some the unexplained eg graham hancock type books, then various warhammer 40k books and magazines

I have a room with only bookshelves in it, and a couch. But, I work in a library.

I don't like reading on a device much.

Yes, I love my books and also have a kindle.

I'm with @Sartre , also an academic, and thousands of books around the house. I could never have enough book shelves. I also can't read off a screen.

Hundreds of books in this house - I think there are 10 full bookcases.

Library cards are also full 😂

Kindle & ebooks too...

Multiple shelves rammed with books, and more in boxes. And quite a lot on a kindle.

Yes, at least 1000 books here.

I have loads of books on shelves. I have also given hundreds away, including some I now wish I had kept. DP gets a bit panicky if he sees more books (aka dust collectors) appearing as we've run out of space for them. But it doesn't happen too often now due to my Kindle, which I much prefer because I can make the font bigger🤓 But I can't bring myself to get rid of any of the books I've retained, so they're staying. They are part of who I am.

In our previous home we set up a proper library. We could have done the same in this house, but by the time we were moving in we had gone to kindle’s. Most of our books are in storage. Some that were appropriate for the cause were donated to a book program
that DD’s primary school ran to collect books for a free book program at their sister school.

I have my 'reading' books on my kindle.

In my spare room / office I have textbooks in dewey decimal order.

In the living room I have my cookbooks which are in colour order.

Thanks @VerrryNice , I'll watch it.

I also can't read off a screen.

"Can't" or dislike @Ruthietuthie ?
A kindle paperwhite screen is nothing like a phone or tablet screen.

This thread is turning into "who can outdo each other with the number of books/bookshelves boast"

I don't like reading books on a screen either.
Lots of books doesn't mean they've been read or that they're worth having.

There's research showing that humans don't absorb as much info when reading off screens. This is apparently due to the lack of sensory engagement.

So whilst people literally can read off a screen, it isn't necessarily as pleasurable, engaging or informative.

Reading for pleasure is quite a meditative thing, the turning of the pages, the feel and sound of the paper are all part of it.

A kindle is fine, of course, but definitely not the same.

There's research showing that humans don't absorb as much info when reading off screens. This is apparently due to the lack of sensory engagement.
That would not surprise me. I notice a big difference when reading newspapers online. Reading a paper version, I typically read the article, but online I tend to read snippets.

I was put off getting a kindle when I went on holiday with a friend. I took books, my friend took a kindle. The kindle broke before we arrived.

As a PP says, reading on Kindle or another proper e-reader is nothing like reading on a phone or tablet. I find it as immersive as a paper book, with the advantage of being able to make the print bigger.