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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to begin to feel weird about books?

40 replies

IntoTheLight · 08/09/2013 20:31

I have a lot of books, I've collected them and inherited other people's collections. They're on shelves all around the house, where ever I can fit them. I used to adore them but I'm beginning to, dunno, feel grossed out by them. Is this odd?

My cookery book collection (region of 350 books) is my most adored and has been built over 15 years. However, I'm feeling guilty about it. I don't know why I'm feeling guilty (it isn't the cost - I can afford them). It's something about the actual books. As though I'm saying to myself "DUH, you can get this all online!".

Is there some pop psychology angle to this? I'm a bibliophile and I'm feeling properly anxious about it! IABU?

OP posts:
KaseyM · 08/09/2013 22:35

OP, I feel it too. My books are also grossing me out. I think it's the Kindle effect. I don't have one, but if things aren't on a screen anymore they seem quaint, old-fashioned and very untidy.

Go to Ikea, get some cheap bookcases with doors to cover them up and you're sorted. That's what I'm doing.

Silverfoxballs · 08/09/2013 22:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ilovegeorgeclooney · 08/09/2013 22:39
VisualiseAHorse · 08/09/2013 22:43

I also thought the word Kindle was a weird name....like its the beginning of all books dying...

I love books, so does OH, and the boy has a vast collection at 18 months old. I love craft books, with gorgeous pictures. One of my favourite books is a Singer sewing manual from the 70s, there are some gorgeous pictures in There.

kaosak · 08/09/2013 22:57

Oh that is such a shame.

I can get everything about the clutter but oh my I do so love a book with a beautiful cover, bookshops I just adore, they make me feel so calm and content.

I had a kindle and gave it away, couldn't bear not having a proper book in my hand.

I do give a lot of books to charity though, I think refining your collection is the way to sanity unless you really do hate the sight of them.

lottiegarbanzo · 08/09/2013 22:57

I think you're shuddering at your own mortality. Having seemed so permanent when collected, suddenly the books remind you that even the most wonderful things cannot outlive their imperfect physical form. So you feel weighed down by their physical presence and want to free yourself, to escape or ignore the inevitable limitations of your own body, in time.

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 09/09/2013 00:11

Ex book lover here. Now Kindle/digital .

Books are nasty, dusty,dirty,space consuming (did I really used to fill my entire hand luggage with a dozen or so paperbacks on holiday??) past their sell by date artefacts.

They actually make me feel a bit...sick.......these days.

CharityFunDay · 09/09/2013 02:00

For anyone on this thread who is becoming 'grossed out' by their book collection, PM me and I will arrange a time to come round and take selected titles off your hands, at very reasonable rates. Grin

I am an unrepentant bibliophile.

littlewhitebag · 09/09/2013 07:30

We are a family of readers and had amassed a huge number of books. Then one days recently we both looked at each other and said that the books had to go! It was very freeing getting rid if them. Friends and family took some and the rest were donated to charity. We only kept some favorites. We all have kindles now and I find I really like reading with it.

With cookbooks I have narrowed it down to my absolute favorites. The rest have gone.

I think in the digital age we don't really have to have as much stuff physically littering up our lives. We don't have CD's in the house either as all our music is now downloaded onto the computer or streamed via spotify.

YoungBritishPissArtist · 09/09/2013 10:06

"RIP, to the books I used to read!"

themaltesefalcon · 09/09/2013 10:54

I do judge people for being bookless.

But not as harshly as I judge those who have books by Jeffrey Archer.

OP, you poor thing. I can't imagine falling out of love with my books and am now worrying that it might happen to me too some day! Shock

themaltesefalcon · 09/09/2013 10:55

lottiegarbanzo Grin

KaseyM · 09/09/2013 12:49

My problem is I buy books but don't read them all, because I'm too busy on the Internet...

...on Mumsnet Shock

I couldn't possibly give up Mumsnet for books. Books Smooks!!

Jan49 · 09/09/2013 12:51

I used to have around 2000 books and felt overwhelmed by them. It just felt like they added a lot of clutter to an already cluttered house and if I wanted a book to read, I'd spend ages trying to choose one. I used to like the idea of having our own family library containing lots of books, but now I think they're just wasted because many other people could be reading them. When I gave books to charity, I felt guilty about the ones I kept because I realised that 500 books not donated means £500 or so not given to the charity.

I decided to cut down. I have only kept books that I really love and want to read again, books I haven't read but intend to, and useful reference books. I had quite a lot of cookery books but gave away many of them. We now have around 400 books. The fiction is entirely in one bookcase and the non-fiction in another. I can easily find a book and I don't have too many to choose from. My ds has 2 small bookcases of his own books. We moved to a smaller house last year and I'd have a problem if I'd still had 200 books. I intend to keep cutting down. Books are lovely but they can be clutter too and if they're left on shelves gathering dust and not used or read, it seems better to donate them.

Jan49 · 09/09/2013 12:52

200 should say 2000 but I decluttered the 0. Grin

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