Page 15 | Where are the bookshelves?!

NRCS · 08/04/2021 19:00

I read a lot - but all on Kindle so I dont have many books around - they just gather dust!

LavenderLollies · 08/04/2021 19:02

In this day and age it’s impossible to tell whether a person is a reader or not based on the presence or lack of shelves. We have two very small shelves with books on, but I’m a voracious reader and get through a book every week or so, more if I have time. On my kindle.

I keep a few books kicking around that have real sentimental value, but otherwise I don’t usually enjoy re reading and I prefer kindle books to paper copies nowadays.

I’d never be astonished at someone not having bookshelves. Or at someone who didn’t read in general via any method. It’s not mandatory, everyone has different interests and hobbies.

weedoogie · 08/04/2021 19:02

@GreyhoundG1rl

Your interior decor seems to have caused a frenzy, weedoggie

I'm available for consultations at very reasonable prices; a half-way decent bottle of red should be enough for most projects.

A new career beckons...

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 08/04/2021 19:03

Wasn’t Wilkie Collins considered the first crime writer?

The first detective novel was supposedly his The Moonstone'. 'The Woman in White' has shades of the detective/mystery novel as well, with Hartwright playing the part of the detective. His (Wilkie Collins's) friend Dickens was allegedly fascinated by the Road House murder case and Inspector Bucket from Bleak House^ was a variation on the same theme. I've been hooked on P D James since I was a teenager; especially loved Cordelia Gray and was sorry she only wrote two books about her. I also reread some of my old kids' books on occasion, for the pure nostalgia.

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 08/04/2021 19:04

Apologies for italics fail.

poppyzbrite4 · 08/04/2021 19:06

@MarieIVanArkleStinks

Wasn’t Wilkie Collins considered the first crime writer?

The first detective novel was supposedly his The Moonstone'. 'The Woman in White' has shades of the detective/mystery novel as well, with Hartwright playing the part of the detective. His (Wilkie Collins's) friend Dickens was allegedly fascinated by the Road House murder case and Inspector Bucket from Bleak House^ was a variation on the same theme. I've been hooked on P D James since I was a teenager; especially loved Cordelia Gray and was sorry she only wrote two books about her. I also reread some of my old kids' books on occasion, for the pure nostalgia.

I thought it was Poe who wrote the first Detective story.

TaraR2020 · 08/04/2021 19:08

@Babysharkdododont

Sorry I've not explained myself well, I see that. What I was trying to say is, if you want a house full of books that's grand, if you don't that's equally grand. What I don't quite get is people exclaiming that they couldn't possibly live in a house that's not full of books, as though it's some sort of value judgement.

Ah well, that's me I'm afraid...Having books around brings me a feel of comfort and security. I love the fact that I can pick up anyone and disappear within their pages for hours...Many of them hold sentimental value too, I've inherited quite a few that fascinated me when I was growing up.

I don't think I'm snobby about it though, I actually quite envy those without many bookshelves, I try to live in such a way I can just pack up my car if I wanted to and leave but my book collection lets me down everyone, in spite of semi-regular clear outs.

StoneofDestiny · 08/04/2021 19:13

I'm a regular reader, as is my DH, but I never read a book twice and donate them all to charity shops after I've read them (and buy more). Don't like walls of books - to difficult to dust 🙄 and take us too much wall space. But if anybody judged me illiterate because I only have a small bookshelf in a study full of signed copies, early editions or reference books, , they'd be very wrong.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 08/04/2021 19:13

@Babysharkdododont

Sorry I've not explained myself well, I see that. What I was trying to say is, if you want a house full of books that's grand, if you don't that's equally grand. What I don't quite get is people exclaiming that they couldn't possibly live in a house that's not full of books, as though it's some sort of value judgement.

If I say ‘I couldn’t live in a house with no books’, that isn’t meant as a value judgement on anyone else, it is just the truth about me. Why would it be wrong of me to say so?

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 08/04/2021 19:14

I thought it was Poe who wrote the first Detective story.

In the short-fiction genre yes. And his was absolutely brilliant, as were most of his creepy Gothy ones. Actually I think that's the next thing I'll re-read!

Alltheprettyseahorses · 08/04/2021 19:18

Yanbu. I think there's an awful lot of false snobbery about books. The house owners may well have put their books in storage anyway, they're selling so the less clutter the better. Books are tools and amusements and delights, but the fetishism of them is boring and I say that as a constant reader with 1000s of the damn things plus an overstuffed kindle. I also have a great big telly that's always on

GuildfordGal · 08/04/2021 19:18

do people genuinely not believe its possible to live without shelf after shelf of books in a house, or is it, as I suspect, faux naivety / virtue signalling

We're a big family, with a fairly big house, and we all love reading. Ergo, there are several well-filled bookcases in our house.

To answer your AIBU, I believe that we would live without them, but we prefer not too.

I don't honestly give too many shits about other people's reading habits. I couldn't care less if someone is glued to a Kindle or has never read more than the back of a cereal packet in their lives.

I don't judge other people for very much, ever. How they choose read doesn't even register with me really.

However, I think this was probably intended to be a fairly mean-spirited thread, made somewhat obvious by dragging out the deeply unpleasant 'virtue signalling,' a phrase which tells me more about anyone who chooses to use it, than their reading habits, frankly.

NeverDropYourMoonCup · 08/04/2021 19:23

@Babysharkdododont

Inspired by another thread, do people genuinely not believe its possible to live without shelf after shelf of books in a house, or is it, as I suspect, faux naivety / virtue signalling?

We've not got many books in our house, both adults are degree educated professionals, but feel no need to have books. When I've finished a book I pass it on, as I've no desire to read the same book twice. We've a few shelves in the study with a few technical manuals etc, but these go out of date so quickly as to be obsolete as soon as they're printed, so we go online mostly.

The dc have books of course as they don't tire quickly of rereading, but I certainly don't think we're slobs for not having lots of books.

What are these books people are so keen to keep, and tell everyone that they must have?

I've never been able to afford to replace the hundreds of books my ex decided were blatant displays of virtue and superiority and therefore needed to be binned whilst I was out at work. Of course, this meant things like books of poetry, textbooks that are still valid now, cookery books, things bought by my grandfather and anything, books with beautiful illustrations, things with handwritten notes pushed into them by my grandmother before I was born, books of art works that you don't find online without already knowing the artist and title, rather than happening upon them, children's books that I held with grubby hands or I sat reading to my daughters (he hated me reading to them, by the way). Amongst the many things he discarded as trash were a first edition of The House at Pooh Corner that my grandmother bought for her first child (a boy who was stillborn, she gave it to me aged 6 a month before she died, having kept it hidden and safe all those years), an Enid Blyton book that I can still remember the smell of, but isn't available as a download and an early set of The Lord of the Rings, a set of which apparently sold for over ten thousand pounds just a year later.

I need something physical to read and absorb it; a computer screen doesn't give me whatever cues I need to be able to remember information, even more so as my sight has deteriorated significantly in the last few years. And the tactile experience of books, the smell, the texture of page, spine and covers, the history of the person it was originally presented to in 1937, the correction to a cake recipe, written on the back of a shopping list, the clipped out death notice that was slipped in there for safekeeping at some point or the child who drew around their hand on the back cover - that all means something to me that a download from Amazon, which can be taken away again in any case or cannot be accessed without access to electricity, can't be shared amongst friends, can't be used to pass on messages unseen, can't.

All my books had value. Some financially, some historically, some psychologically and some just by virtue of being my books that I used to learn about the world and the human condition.

Bishbashbosh101 · 08/04/2021 20:19

I've never been able to afford to replace the hundreds of books my ex decided were blatant displays of virtue and superiority and therefore needed to be binned whilst I was out at work.

I see why he's an ex.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 08/04/2021 20:24

That made my heart stop, @NeverDropYourMoonCup. As @Bishbashbosh101 says - no wonder he’s an ex.

adrianmolesmole · 08/04/2021 20:44

@TheSandman

A few years ago I ran out of wall space for bookshelves.

This is gorgeous! My dream house will be like this, if I ever get to own one

thevassal · 08/04/2021 20:52

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

”I know what you mean OP, and think the people on this thread who don't "get it" can't have seen the various faux bewildered/smug posts on MN - although some of them are popping up now on this thread- see Fangsforthememories, SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius, and others...”

@thevassal - are you saying that I have made ‘faux bewildered’ posts on this subject on MN - because that is news to me!

My first post was my response to things already said on the thread, not just the OP. There is no rule on MN that posters cannot share tangential thoughts raised by a thread.

My subsequent posts were about e-readers, and were responding to points raised on the thread - can you point out to me where it says that I am not allowed to do that?

The OP on a thread starts the conversation - but then the conversation can, and usually does, take on a life of its own.

No, I was saying that there are multiple posts on multiple other threads about smug book owners who judge those who don't have books on display, in support of the OP, and that your post was an example of those types of posts now appearing on this thread.

Why are you going on about 'the rules' and lecturing me on MN (and general forum) conventions? I haven't accused you of breaking any rules...I said your (first - wasn't referring to any of subsequent ones) post was an example of house-book-smuggery, which I stand by because of phrases like:

" I can’t imagine a house with no books in it.." (really...it is actually beyond you to imagine this very believable thing? I thought people who read a lot of fiction were actually supposed to be good at imagining things much stranger than a house without books)
"I’m sure it is possible..." (Yes, because it is...and not just 'possible' but 'common'!)
"It's feels so wrong to me...." (Ugh, really....)

If you can't pick up on how wanky these statements read then I can't explain it to you!

thevassal · 08/04/2021 21:01

oh, and also:
If I say ‘I couldn’t live in a house with no books’, that isn’t meant as a value judgement on anyone else, it is just the truth about me. Why would it be wrong of me to say so?

Because it's hyperbolic and ridiculous, and also a bit offensive. Millions of people in the world manage to live in houses without running water and electricity. You wouldn't drop dead if you had to live in a house without books.

Plus the OP isn't about people who like having books around. She (and other posters) could not have made that more clear. It's about people who love having books around (great, good for them) AND THEN JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE FOR NOT DOING SO. So if you don't do that why bother being so defensive, her post is not aimed at you!

adrianmolesmole · 08/04/2021 21:04

@NeverDropYourMoonCup What an absolute bastard.

toconclude · 08/04/2021 21:09

@Merryoldgoat

I like books, I like to reread some books, some books are reference books.

What’s with the faux wondering?

MN inverted snobbery at its 'best', that's what.

LincolnshireYellowBelly · 08/04/2021 21:23

I’m not one for revisiting books, however I will keep them if they are particularly special to me. My husband loves to reread books, and he’ll often pick up a book, find his favourite passage or chapter and re-read.
As a family we have lots of books, including books to dip into such as travel and history

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 08/04/2021 22:29

”I can’t imagine a house with no books in - not for me.”

@thevassal - I said I couldn’t imagine a house with no books in for me - not that I couldn’t imagine any house with no books - it is very different. If you quote just the first part of the sentence, it does make me look bad - I think the second part makes it clear that I am talking about MY home, MY life, not anyone else’s.

And who are you to say it is hyperbole for me to say I couldn’t imagine living without books? I know how important books are to me, and I don’t think life would be worth living without them. They have always been important to me. I am simply stating my truth - and I believe I know myself better than you know me.

I might not drop dead - but without the escape of books my depression would get worse, and my life would not be worth living.

I am sure there are plenty of people living happy, fulfilled lives without a single book - I am not one of them.

And the comments I made about ‘the rules were because I felt you were scolding me for not sticking rigidly to the substance of the OP.

Daphnise · 08/04/2021 22:34

If the OP doesn't like books that's fine.

But some people do and the OP should just accept it.

Having a book does not signal you feel every one should also have it.

JaninaDuszejko · 08/04/2021 22:44

I wouldn't expect everyone to have walls and walls of books but DH's cousin had no reading material at all in their house, not even a Radio Times and that freaked me out to the extent that I discussed it with MIL who was able to tell me they had no books upstairs either. And no Kindle either since it was before Kindles were invented. Nothing to read, not even a magazine in an educated middle class house 20 years was surprising.

thevassal · 08/04/2021 22:54

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

”I can’t imagine a house with no books in - not for me.”

@thevassal - I said I couldn’t imagine a house with no books in for me - not that I couldn’t imagine any house with no books - it is very different. If you quote just the first part of the sentence, it does make me look bad - I think the second part makes it clear that I am talking about MY home, MY life, not anyone else’s.

And who are you to say it is hyperbole for me to say I couldn’t imagine living without books? I know how important books are to me, and I don’t think life would be worth living without them. They have always been important to me. I am simply stating my truth - and I believe I know myself better than you know me.

I might not drop dead - but without the escape of books my depression would get worse, and my life would not be worth living.

I am sure there are plenty of people living happy, fulfilled lives without a single book - I am not one of them.

And the comments I made about ‘the rules were because I felt you were scolding me for not sticking rigidly to the substance of the OP.

OK, I took that sentence as two separate clauses but if you meant it as one, that's what you meant.

But how did you get that I was scolding you? I didn't mention anything about what you could/couldn't say or how many posts you were allowed to make, nor made the slightest suggestion that you had diverted the original thread, never referred to e-readers or any of the other things you then brought up. I honestly can't see where you got that from! I just said that your post was an example of the sort of posts the OP was referring to. That's it. You then seemed to make gigantic unsubstantiated leaps to suggest I was policing your involvement in the thread!

And not having books on display in your house isn't the same as living a life without books - that's actually exactly what OP and subsequent posters have been saying throughout the thread, that you can love reading and read frequently without having to prominently display hundreds of books in every room of your house.

If you write "I cannot live without books" (which is a silly, hyperbolic statement) then expect people to think that's what you mean, not to magically understand that they were supposed to infer what you actually meant was "my life would be much less rich without books" (which is a very understandable and inoffensive thing to say).