I don't trust people who don't have any books in their houses.

[WayHarshTai]

I think they are a bit evil.

My sister and her DH only have a couple of Jamie Oliver books and THAT'S IT. Freaks.

I get a bit twitchy if I visit someone and I can't see their bookshelf, I have been known to snoop on the pretext of finding the loo or something to put my mind at rest.

I think it shows trerrible character and possibly criminal leanings to not have hundreds some books around the house.

AIBU? I know i'm not really, it's just common sense.

I do wonder when I see no books, though I feel the same about pictures, too. But then I'm sure others might look round my house with its non-matching, often second-hand furniture, plates, and think WTF.

Who has paper books anymore. Get with it grandma

I loathe the wankers who start this "oh I can't throw a book away" schtick. It's a load of paper, not a bloody kitten

There are four of us in a two bed flat. We don't have ROOM for books. It doesn't mean we don't read, we just have to use the library or donate them once we've finished.

Yup. Thread full of wankery

Am finding this thread v amusing with all the competitive book loving.

What about when the only pictures in someone's house are photos of them and their family ?

I also dislike the advent of digital music players; I can no longer go round to people's houses and judge them by their record collections.

Yawn yawn yawn yawn yawn. This thread variant pops up fairly regularly on MN now. I think I might go and look somewhere else for a while- what was the name of the thread that requested alternatives to MN this morning, can anyone remember?

Just for shits and giggles, I'd like to inform all the pearl-clutching "but books have SOUL!!!!" types that I am slowly but surely chucking out all my paperbacks because I hate the clutter they make and the dust they attract. They are all being replaced on my kindle, which goes everywhere with me, so stick that in your leather-elbow-patched pipe and smoke it whilst peering over your half-moon glasses at the Philistine.

For extra bonus points, I fully intend to do exactly the same thing with MIL's 'precious' collection when she kicks the bucket (yes, it will likely be my problem). I expect that that job will involve a skip, or at the very least, a wheelbarrow.

"I loathe the wankers who start this "oh I can't throw a book away" schtick. It's a load of paper, not a bloody kitten"

Yup .

Quote of the week.

Meanwhile, I wonder where op has gone??

I have masses but I must admit I always shelve out halls and awkward spaces and love books on them. Its horse for courses i couldn't read a screen as I know it hurts my eyes! A lot of my books are definitely kept for sentimental reasons. I have also every issue of living etc and elle decor since they started and they are becoming a pain to move around. I have never understood the MN snobby thing re books though its something I have never encountered irl My friends and I trade books and recommend etc but never discuss whether or not we keep them or how they are stored

It's snobby to say that people who don't own lots of books are freaky or worse have criminal leanings.

You know there are places called charity shops that you can donate them to once you've read them. Even better there are places called libraries where you can borrow books allowing you to read loads without spending a penny.

Not owning lots of books doesn't mean that you don't read. Definitely doesn't mean you can't.

Fuck off with the grandma, screwfox.

What part of older woman do you think is shit?

Well I do own 2 bookcases.

One is one with a glass door then my son likes to sit on and the other holds clutter that I don't have space for.

I have a couple of those sad true life books of bad childhoods and PS I Love You somewhere. I prefer my trashy mags tbh which are on my coffee table. They are there for people to puck should they wish to do so.

Its a bit like a doctors waiting room

This thread, or the OP was snobby Galaxy! I have books, I read books, I pass them on. Kindle shmindle I say. I don't want one.

But that's not the point, this thread was about prejudging people who don't have books on display in their house.

You won't get far trying to argue that the OP itself wasn't snobby and judgemental!

Exactly zoe it was quite upsetting actually.

And the comments about netmums were pretty judgemental and offensive. Honestly, sometimes mumsnetters aren't happy unless they're almost choking on their own sanctimony.

Why would you want to read books when you can read about the woman who ran off with her daughters boyfriend who happened to be sleeping with the brother in Chat?

Double whammy. Snobby and judgey in one go. Snobby because judging people against pre-defined parameters informed by middle class values; judgey because it's, well, judgey. Yawn.

my mum and dad don't have books permanently in the house.
Mum reads them and then passes them on to the charity shop.

I have books in my bathroom and downstair bog for loo reading material. It's proabbly gross by some people's standards. I currently have one in there about random things that have been found stuck up people's arses and they've had to go to A&E. It's got X ray pics too. People can judge me on that all they like.

A friend of mine said something the other day which I thought was superb. She moved house so de-cluttered the books she was no loonger interested in and just kept her core ccollection.... but then she mused "I read everything on my kindle now - so guests in the future will think that I've stopped reading. Perhaps I should print my reading list off my kindle every few months and pin that to my living room wall."

Oh I do hope she does!

Zoe according to my CTRL F there was only one comment about Netmums which was mine.

It was a light-hearted OP garnering light-hearted and sometimes piss-taking responses.

It's amazing how a thread can be taken so differently by the sober morning crowd. That's when they tend to go wrong imo.

x-post with MrsDV