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!

Terry Pratchett said he never trusted anyone who had enough bookshelf space.

yes, well, he was best mates with Neil Gaiman so not sure if he should be considered the ultimate source for assessing trustworthiness...

I'm so sorry for you, if you're led a reading life where you learn nothing, neither from fiction nor nonfiction, neither becoming smarter in terms of facts nor more encultured overall.
It may not have made you smarter, more's the pity, but it certainly makes some of us smarter.

It appears, based on this thread, that there is a correlation between thinking you’re smarter, and being a condescending a’hole.

Having multiple bookcases with rows and rows of books, does not make you smarter. At least this thread has made me understand the obsession some people have with this, they think it makes them look smarter, which is fine.

Or they are Luddites and don't know how to use a kindle and are covering up their insecurities about using tech to read.

Or they are show offs and like to make other people feel inadequare because they have room for acres of booksheves in their homes and lesser people don't.

Or they are crashing snobs.

Yes! I love books. Just wish I had time to read them 😫

Big readers as a family when I was a kid, and I encouraged my kids as I was encouraged myself, but only had one bookcase about the size of a small billy bookcase but visited library twice a week. I remember spending whole afternoons reading and having "special" picnic dinners (basically snacks) when my mum was really into a book and didn't want to stop to cook. 😁
Now I only own 3 books but I can see our local library out my window and we visit often, and donate new release books to them after we read. Also a big lover of second hand book shops (dd2 got 20 "new to us" ones at weekend) I have to admit I'm mostly an audiobook person now - I just don't have time to sit and read unless on holiday. When I try I just fall asleep. I also feel guilty when I have books waiting to be read - a not enjoyable urgency to start.

Or they just really like books and find reading on a screen not as pleasant as reading from a book.

Have not RTFT but this is one of my fave examples of correlation not causation.

the more books in the home, the better educational outcomes of the child.

However; further studies showed it didn’t matter what the books were or if you even read them.

Lots of books indicated higher socioeconomic status; parents who valued literature/were educated, storage for books, funds for books etc etc and these things are far more relevant indicators for success than if you’d read much :)

Ironic, as this is inverted snobbery at it's very finest.

Books, especially those in bookcases, excites the intensity of division on MN that is usually reserved for lavatory brushes.

The disdain is invariably on the side of those who for whatever reason dislike or dismiss collections of books. Seriously, who gives a fuck? Why devote such energy to those who choose to keep books?

For the record, I do have bookcases full of books, but as I tend to read in bed or outside I find reading on a kindle more practical.

What I am snobbish about is which books people choose to display, for example, if they sit in front of a bookcase in a podcast.

Maybe I'm in the wrong, but if If I saw a bookcase with books sorted in colour order, I would judge.

I would probably arrange the books so that the books that were visible were reference books not airport novels or self-help books.

I've had a life long love affair with books. I cannot remember a time when I couldn't read? Studied English Literature at university then spent over 10 years working in a university library. It would be weird if I wasn't a Bibliophile, frankly?

I currently own over a thousand books, which technically makes my home a library, apparently? Many are kept on built in bookcases in our study. Plenty more stashed away various rooms upstairs. And yes, I have read every single one, and I rarely throw away book.

Reading vastly improves your vocabulary and your general knowledge. If that makes some people feel woefully inadequate then I really couldn't give a toss.

So so many books here - the movers were thrilled 😂

I do declutter quite a bit and read loads of library books. Since having DD I’m stuck with my Kobo during naps - physical books not so great one-handed!

Reading vastly improves your vocabulary and your general knowledge. If that makes some people feel woefully inadequate then I really couldn't give a toss.

But you can read without owning books! If people like owning books then good for them, but it doesn’t mean that book-owners are superior to non-book owners, despite what some people on MN tend to post.

Yes. Am currently weeding them out though, part of a general sorting my life out campaign. It’s very hard, I have to set myself a target of so many books to take to the charity shop every week then dive in and grab that number without agonising over it. If I accidentally send one I want to re read it is usually cheap enough to buy on eBay or Amazon ( I don’t use my local library because a) our tastes in books don’t co incide and b) i hate books that have been thumbed in a smoke filled house)

I look to the future when all books will be available online.
Do I want to present my future grandchildren with crumbling dog-eared books that have been in storage for 20 years? No, so everything except HP went to a playgroup.
Those Wordsworth Classics printed on crappy paper from the 90s are available free on Kindle. Bye-bye. The few I annotated for pleasure are on the garage bookcase gathering earwigs.
Last house move I offered a box FULL of modern literature that I knew I’d never read again (Angela’s Ashes, Dragon Tattoo etc) for €20 on Facebook. Gone in a day.

We’re down to 2 bookcases and when DD’s exams are over I’m sure there’ll be another purge. Her school has a book crossing table (not school books) outside the staff room.

If I want to OWN a book now the order I look for it is:
charity shop
kindle
2nd hand Amazon or eBay
really nice new edition.

No English library near me, unfortunately…

If someone wanted to judge me by the visible contents of my bookcases they wouldn’t get very far.
We have a lot of reference books, including a 35-volume encyclopedia/ dictionaries/atlas bought piecemeal when DC1 was a baby and nobody uses!
The layers behind that might give away a few secrets.

@Sgtmajormummy , I have plenty of reference books, and some out-of-print books, some classic literature I hope to read or re-read, and I am trying to cull the remainder. I need to be more ruthless.

I have lots book cases and was an avid reader but last year during a house move I started listening to audio books and now I listen to an audio book every day. I always felt like reading was a luxury and I felt bad for reading for 2-3 hours at a time every day. But now I listen to an audio book while in driving, doing domestic chores, cleaning up the allotment or puttering in the greenhouse. I can easily do 4/5 hours a day and it’s actually made me more productive. I still keep a lot of books but have slowly downsized from 5k+ to about 2k across 4 rooms and 6 book cases.

I do a lot of driving on motorways these days and listen to audiobooks while driving. It passes a long journey very nicely.

I think the original question really should be "Do you read lots of books?"

There is no snobbery or oneupmanship inferred then.

I don't think it matters whether you read books as a paper book or a kindle/other device or even listen to an audiobook. I just love reading, but I don't feel the need to show off about it.

You probably can’t remember not reading as the schema formed to retain and decode literature in your memory also supports episodic memory.

You could read Freakonomics to unpick some of this.

@Spaghettihair , I can't remember not being able to read, but I can remember things that happened before I was likely to have been able to read.

That's interesting. I have read Freakenomics but a long time ago. My very earliest memories are of puzzling over the words in a Topsy & Tim book when I would have been no more than three and a half?