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AIBU?

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

356 replies

WayHarshTai · 08/09/2013 21:12

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.

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MumToKandD · 08/09/2013 22:32

A house with no books is a house with no SOUL.
It's just an empty shell, a husk if you will.

Bollocks!

MmmmWhiteWine · 08/09/2013 22:33

A house without books has no soul. Especially for children. A kindle has its place for commuting/holidays but there's no way it can replace a real picture book with real pages. My mum was a teacher and I remember her telling me about a wee boy in one of her classes who'd never held a book before and didn't understand how to turn the pages....how sad is that?

DiseasesOfTheSheep · 08/09/2013 22:33

I don't want to be judged on my music collection You'd think I was some kind of multiple personality psychopath all of whom have very poor taste in music!

Plus my DVD collection is almost entirely Star Trek... I need my impressive book collection with its vague semblance of good taste to manage people's snap judgements!

MumToKandD · 08/09/2013 22:33

Sorry, just to clarify, that was a lighthearted 'bollocks', not an angry 'bollocks'

Oh bollocks....

SummerHoliDidi · 08/09/2013 22:35

We have books, not that you'd be able to tell from the living room. There's far too many toys in there for there to be room for bookshelves as well.

All my books are in underbed storage boxes and there is no room for anything other than books under our kingsize bed. Dd1 (13) has a large bookcase in her room and a kindle and takes a number of books out of the library each week. Dd2 (3) has two boxes of books (one in the living room and one in her bedroom) but we visit the library weekly and her favourite shop is the book shop. Dp doesn't read any more but his mum does and apparently he used to be a real bookworm as a teenager.

Sil has NO BOOKS AT ALL other than the books her dcs bring home from school. She is proud of the fact that she hasn't read a whole book since school stopped forcing her to. She doesn't like to read to her dcs even when they ask her to, and then she wonders why it's difficult to get them to read their reading books for school.

ShakeAndVac · 08/09/2013 22:38

Bollocks!

Lol, I wasn't being entirely serious at that bit although I am baffled to how you're supposed to sniff a kindle. I'm imagining it's not the same

GibberTheMonkey · 08/09/2013 22:39

Maybe that'd the next step. Kindles that give off book smells. You can choose from new fresh book or musty old book.

VaultFullOfTwizzlers · 08/09/2013 22:39

Back in the mists of time one could be judged on music collections and would adjust accordingly ie hiding amongst collections of parents' music.

I remember going to a party at the house of the coolest "alternative" boy at Sixth Form and someone unearthing SIX well-played Luther Vandross LPs from his wardrobe.

He never lived it down.

KeemaNaanAndCurryOn · 08/09/2013 22:43

Since we got the Kindle Fire, the DCs like having picture books on there as well. There's some really good ones, like the ones by Elwyn Tate that are formatted specifically for them. We have a lot of books, but they take up space and gather dust.

e-readers are the way forward. I've never had a "I've got nothing to read" since I got the Kindle (though its costing me a quiet fortune ).

MrsGeologist · 08/09/2013 22:43

Books make good insulation, although I hope no one judges me on my book collection, there are some proper shot books in it.

I should designate a shelf 'Shit Book Shelf' and label it as such, so any visitors know I know they are shite. Some are so shite it would be cruel to force them on another poor unsuspecting reader.

Although the last person to peruse my book shelf was a priest. He liked my palaeontology books. They are not shite.

Pigsmummy · 08/09/2013 22:43

My DH claims that my (frankly odd and very hard work) SIL is very intelligent however I haven't seen a single book in her home nor any reference from her about reading. She however is vocal in many other ways.

I love books and dream of having a house with a study or libary with shelf, after shelf full of books!

MumToKandD · 08/09/2013 22:43

Wouldn't know, I'm afraid Shake, I don't even have a Kindle...

MrsGeologist · 08/09/2013 22:44

Some kids books are very good on my kindle app. The DCs are particularly fond of the octonauts.

ShakeAndVac · 08/09/2013 22:45

My mum was a teacher and I remember her telling me about a wee boy in one of her classes who'd never held a book before and didn't understand how to turn the pages....how sad is that?

Aw no all joking aside, I do actually find that sad. As a huge book lover and have read avidly for as long as I can remember (literally, I've been glued to books since about the age of 4!) and I just can't imagine a life without books.
My life actually would feel a little emptier and as if something was missing.
I LOVE reading.
I have a 6 and a 10 year old, and they've been read to since they were approx 6 months old. We used to buy the cloth books as a starter book, so if they'd rather have a chew and a slobber then they could.
I didn't mind as long as they were getting introduced to books!
So by the time they were toddlers they loved books and their bedtime stories.
To think a child doesn't know how to turn a book page is alien to me.

Maryz · 08/09/2013 22:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

zatyaballerina · 08/09/2013 22:50

I don't understand it, would much prefer a book to the bloody kindle. If world events were to conspire in such a way that we no longer had electricity a kindle would only last until the battery died. Books can be read forever.

I hate seeing children with no books, there's a huge difference between the vocabulary and imagination of those who have lots of books and are read to and those who don't.

ReindeerBollocks · 08/09/2013 22:51

See I've tried reading on a kindle and on the iPad. It's just not the same, my eyes hurt (mainly on the iPad less on the kindle) but I miss turning pages. I am a freak.

Oddly I've not read a good fiction book in years due to reading stupid bloody text books for studying, and i feel guilty for reading a normal book when I could be studying.

So I make up for it by reading DS's books. I'd recommend gangsta granny too. Don't get any guilt when reading with the kids

ReindeerBollocks · 08/09/2013 22:52

X-post with Zatya. But I echo those sentiments"

Flibbedyjibbet · 08/09/2013 22:52

I also "worry" about folks who as well as not having books don't have any "stuff" around the place. I'm talking newspapers, today's last weeks post, receipts, just stuff. My house seems filled to the rafters with "stuff."

VaultFullOfTwizzlers · 08/09/2013 22:54

I used to tear off and chew the corners of books as a child while I was digesting the text as it were...

CS Lewis and Noel Streatfield had the entire edges missing because they were re-read so often.

I must have had pica because my parents didn't understand that you can't just give a child who can't eat meat the carbs and veg without providing an egg or cheese as an alternative.

Some books were tastier than others

wigglesrock · 08/09/2013 22:54

I know what books I've read, I don't need to keep them so that people who come into the house also know

I read loads, always have done. I've never kept books - always left them into charity shop, book fairs etc. I really do love to read but I fully understand people that don't. I can't stand sport either in real life or on tv. Reading is a hobby, one that MN tend to revere amongst all others with the exception of baking - again not a fan.

grumpyoldbat · 08/09/2013 23:00

Why do you worry about them flibbedy?

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Talkinpeace · 08/09/2013 23:00

Reading is a hobby.
So is seeking out information.
That is what reference books are for.
That is why I have lots of them.

usualsuspect · 08/09/2013 23:02

I love my kindle more tham I love books

VisualiseAHorse · 08/09/2013 23:04

I'm bemused by everyone who gives books away after they've read them? I presume these are second hand book that you only paid a quid for, not brand new books that cost a tenner?

Also, what if you want to read them again? I love re-reading books. I've read the Hobbit at least a dozen times, Terry Pratchett books millions of times. I love having whole collections on my shelves, my Game of Thrones books are so pretty sitting all in a row!

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