Do you have bookcases filled with books at home?

[CatteryCatss]

I grew up without books at home, but my DM frequently read magazines.

Surprisingly, I turned out to be a big reader in adulthood. I have bookcases either side of the chimney breast filled with books (as well as LEGO sets and a couple of ornaments) I also have a bookcase on my stairs and in the office, which are filled.

Whenever I visit my DM, I’m reminded of my childhood without books and it makes me quite sad!

That is the point you are ignoring - OWNING is not analogous to READING

Well said @latetothefisting
I do a lot of motorway driving and love listening to an audiobook on a long and boring drive.

I'm a member of a book club and sometimes listen to the more "indigestible" books rather than reading them.

I suppose this is considered cheating among the more lofty here.

Blimey that's a sizeable chip on your shoulder! It snacks of inverse snobbery.

I don't have any issues whatsoever with audible books or Kindles (of which I have two). I'm all for encouraging as many people as possible to get into reading, however they want to access books. Literacy levels in the UK are really poor and it's a disgrace in a country that is the sixth wealthiest in the world.

But on a personal level I just happen to get a real pleasure from buying, reading and owning physical books. No more, no less.

I disagree. There is a lot of snobbery on this thread about book owning my book collection is bigger than yours

I have a bookcase for myself in our downstairs hallway. Both dds have wall mounted bookshelves. Ds has a kallax unit in his room where we store toys at the top and then books at the bottom so when he was younger he could pick his own books and toddle over to me. I listen to all 3 kids read daily but I do enjoy it and so do they.

I just don't see that. Someone owning more books than me certainly doesn't make me feel inferior, or make my books any less special to me.

@latetothefisting no of course not. Dont be so simplistic.
I enjoy owning books. I enjoy buying books - particularly I enjoy searching for them as treasures from charity shops, second hand book shops. I enjoy reading them. I enjoy organising them on my bookshelves. I enjoy browsing through them. I enjoy reading them from cover to cover. I enjoy reading bits out to anyone who happens to be around in the house. I enjoy the pictures if there are any. I enjoy learning from books (and also from the radio, tv programmes). I do sometimes listen to audiobooks but tbh I prefer reading. Ive got a lot of the classics because that is what I personally like. Owning books is for me 100% analogous to reading.
I enjoy books. I enjoy reading them. Every day. Its one of my hobbies. Thats me. My enjoyment.

It makes me sad when others say books arent for them/they dont own books etc but fair enough, we are all different - Im sure (hope!) they find joy in something else.
Im amused and baffled by the huge amount of "oooh they think they are soooo clever" on this thread aimed at those of us who love books. A lot of very defensive comments and a weird smell of reverse snobbery.

It makes me sad when others say books arent for them/they dont own books etc

But why does it make you sad when it doesn’t make the people who don’t own books sad?

I get a lot of joy from making knitted and crochet stuff. Doesn’t make me feel sad when other people don’t have yarn around the place - why would it? What people enjoy and value is personal to them.

You feel sad for me because I read library books or listen to audio books?

Wow!

It just counts as a completely different activity to me, because I absolutely hate being read to, even by a skilled reader, unless it’s poetry — apart from anything else, they’re far too slow when reading prose. If I speeded an audio book up to the speed of my reading, they’d sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Agree
This is such a hilarious thread and there have been other similar ones over the years about books in the home with the same bizarre reaction.
Why is it automatically assumed that just because we’ve replied to OPs thread affirming that we do have bookshelves that we are therefore being snobbish.

What’s snobbish about that,

I don’t see similar comments on the diy threads when someone posts they have a drive or want advice on an expensive kitchen choice 🤣🤣😳🤣

It just counts as a completely different activity to me, because I absolutely hate being read to, even by a skilled reader, unless it’s poetry

I can't read when I am driving, so an audio book really does help during a long and boring drive.

I prefer to read, but listening is a decent alternative when I am the captive audience.

Sorry, but I loathe poetry. I prefer a straight bit of prose.

I don't like audiobooks either, for the same reason. Too slow and my brain can't focus on it. It's a pity because it would be nice to enjoy them on my commute but I just have to stick to the radio instead.

So responding to what you actually said, rather than what you think you said, or what you meant to say (but didnt) is "simplistic?"

You can get whatever enjoyment from having books you want. You can be sad if you don't have books. You do you.

Nobody is calling anyone snobbish or having pretensions of intellectual superiory just for reading. If you had bothered reading anyone else's posts, including mine, you will see that many of us are ALSO very frequent readers. I have a masters in literature and read daily.

In your original post you only said you feel sorry for people who don't OWN books. That is what is ridiculous.

It is also illogical (for most people owning books doesn't equal any additional enjoyment or knowledge than just reading them), materialistic, (as you are valuing the item itself rather than solely the contents), unempathetic and quite insensitive ( you are essentially judging people who might not have enough money to buy multiple books, who live in too small a house, who have housing insecurity, who are dyslexic, who is blind, who have moved from another country and wasn't able to transport multiple crates of books), not to mention patronising - be completely honest, how would YOU feel if someone said they "felt sorry for you" for not having something?

Once more for those in the back:
NOTHING WRONG WITH ENJOYING READING

RUDE AND STRANGE TO JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE ON WHETHER THEY PROMINENTLY DISPLAY PHYSICAL BOOKS IN THEIR MAIN LIVING SPACE FOR ALL VISITORS TO NOTE

RUDE AND STRANGE TO JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE ON WHETHER THEY PROMINENTLY DISPLAY PHYSICAL BOOKS IN THEIR MAIN LIVING SPACE FOR ALL VISITORS TO NOTE

And yet, here you are stating what you 'think' people said as opposed to what they actually said?

Storing your books on (God forbid) actual bookcases, or built in bookshelves, is hardly making them deliberately prominent, is it? Surely, that is what, you know, bookcases are actually for? I mean, I could always display my saucepans on my bookcases and my books in my kitchen cabinets, but it would look rather incongruous?

As for having your bookcases in your main living area? Well, yes, because you don't tend to pop your bookcases in the bathroom, do you? For one thing the humidity is really bad for them. And, most on here have mentioned having bookcases in bedrooms, spare rooms, in the attic or on landings which wouldn't generally be considered 'main living spaces'.

Not for a while. Why do you ask?

I used to but they were mainly paperbacks I had read once and had no intention of re-reading plus a few travel guides and recipe books. Got rid of most of them and those we have left are stacked in storage cupboards upstairs. I read a huge amount but always use my kindle now.

You don't need to have a house full of dusty books to enjoy reading - obviously fine if people want to, but I often get the idea on here that posters without at least 3 bookcases are looked down on.

I'll admit though that in some cases actual books are a lot nicer than electronic, if something is visual or if you wish to flick back and forth through the book .

I love books and reading, but am not sentimental about them and don’t see the point of keeping anything I won’t reread (and there’s only a few books that I would reread).

We're all different, but I hate the snobbery (feeling sorry for others who don’t have books or saying things like homes without books have no soul). You wouldn’t see my books because they are hidden away (in their own room) and not on display.

People who board books remind me of people who hoard things like dolls and toys. Having lots and lots just feels like clutter. Books also gather dust and smell.

No, all my books are very neatly arranged, ta very much. No idea about how dusty they get as we have a cleaner. But yes, I agree they do smell and it's heavenly.

All of the pictures I uploaded are rather organised. The smell is a bit like toast - individually quite nice, but do (or have) and load and it becomes unpleasant. Just my opinion, though 🤷‍♀️

I don't feel sorry for adults who don't have books, different people have different interests, and of course many adults read on kindles so don't need to own books but I do feel very very sorry for children that grow up in a house without books (whether its owned books on bookcases or library books borrowed each week, doesn't matter if they own books or not so long as they have access to books every day). I very much doubt that's going to be anyone here but there are children that grow up like that and don't know how to use books when they start school and that is desperately sad.

A bookshelf filled with books is like a tiny library. It's not for showing off. It's for perusing, smelling, choosing from, looking at sections to see what you feel like.

One of the first things I did when I got rid of exH was put up bookshelves.

Supposedly, it's a good correlation with children's educational attainment; how many books are in a home. I wonder if that's changed with Kindles.

I didn’t grow up around books and on reflection, it did impact on my education. Reading books was vital back then but less so now.

My DCs grew up around more books but none of them read.
I read more than anyone in the family but despite loving a physical book I’m mostly on kindle as it’s better for me.

So we don’t have many books in the house, they’re read and passed on. To me, they’re for sharing. I hate clutter and love the fact we no longer need to store books, CDs and DVDs!

I’m downloading and streaming all the way 😂

Just one Billy bookcase, but I could easily live without it. It's extremely rare that I read the same book once and I don't need it to show off

It's fascinating how some people correlate having visible books in their homes = Showing Off.

Should I hide mine away just in case a visitor might be made to feel intimidated or somehow inferior?

A whole room full of Billy bookcases plus bookcases in other rooms too

Yeah, you’re supposed to keep them under the bed in a plastic box. That way that don’t relate the dreaded ‘clutter’, attract the equally-dreaded dust, or look like you’re ’showing off’. It’s like some kind of lower-middle class Bingo.