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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Where are the bookshelves?!

490 replies

Babysharkdododont · 07/04/2021 20:38

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 We've a few shelves in the study with a few technical manuals etc, but these go out of date so quickly as to be obsolete as soon as they're printed, so we go online mostly.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?

OP posts:
MargaretThursday · 07/04/2021 21:26

When I've finished a book I pass it on, as I've no desire to read the same book twice.

We're all different.
Dh and dd1 read like you. Read it once and rarely go back.

Me, dd2 and ds love a book we know. It's like meeting an old friend. I can read a book I've read dozens of times before and spot something new. I've known dd2 get to the end of a book and flip straight to the front and start again three times running.
I will pick up a book I know well and choose to read a favourite passage, or a passage I don't remember so well. Or sometimes look at two in a series and spot the clue in the earlier one leading to the later one.
Ds will come in and say "you remember that book I read? Blue cover and the children had a boat, and got stuck in mud." And I'll find him "Secret Water" and he'll disappear off to his room for an hour or two.
Or they'll want to see something because they read about it in a book etc.
There may be nothing like messing about in a boat, but there's also nothing like rereading your favourite book.

zen1 · 07/04/2021 21:27

I like the minimalist look, though couldn’t do it myself as I like to surround myself with ‘things’. I’ve always had books, but over lockdown have developed an appreciation for old or out-of-print books, especially ones inscribed by their authors. I like to hold books and imagine their previous owners or think about the authors’ lives. To me, there is an excitement in books that electronic reading doesn’t provide.

pictish · 07/04/2021 21:28

I don’t keep books either. They get passed on or put up to council book recycling facility. I haven’t got space for bookshelves full of books I won’t read twice. I have some reference books, special interest books and art and photography books...and a handful of favourites I might pick up again, but that’s all.
My house is cluttered enough without hanging on to books.

GlendaSugarbeanIsJudgingYou · 07/04/2021 21:29

@MissKeithsNeice

I see you OP, and I raise you not using a Kindle cause it doesn’t smell the same.
Well, they don't.

I still love my Kindle, though. :o

The majority of my books are currently in storage and I do find myself missing them. As PP says they are wonderful things.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/04/2021 21:30

@Washimal

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

Who is telling you (and "everyone" else) that you "must have" books? How odd.

Also "faux naivety/virtue signalling"? Really? Hmm

What a weird thread.

Come on, lots of people judging people who don't have many books. I've even seen it on here. I do think there's some virtue signalling going on because I know some people choose books because they'll look good on the bookshelf.
DontBeRidiculous · 07/04/2021 21:30

It's silly to pretend that you think everyone loves to read and keeps lots of books. Some use e-books or pass along paper books, but there are many people who don't enjoy reading at all. That's their business.

People can find a way to be judgmental about anything, though, and that's nothing new. What you eat, how often you dust, where you have TVs, whether you have blinds or net curtains or nothing at all, on and on and on.

dotdashdashdash · 07/04/2021 21:30

I read 5-10 books a week. I probably have no more than 20 in the house at once (currently more due to the library and charity shop being shut).

DH never reads but has 100s of books! They're all in boxes under the bed though.

Atalantea · 07/04/2021 21:30

I struggle with actual books now after years of ereaders...

GlendaSugarbeanIsJudgingYou · 07/04/2021 21:32

Oh, also I don't judge people who don't own or display books.

Why would I?

Strangekindofwoman · 07/04/2021 21:32

What else can they sit in front of in their Team meetings? Look at all my books!

BeyondMyWits · 07/04/2021 21:33

I like to read, I have many books, in a cupboard... shelves get dusty, I don't like dusting.

Gwenhwyfar · 07/04/2021 21:33

@Strangekindofwoman

MN has a thing about books. It's a MN thing.

I have very few books, I do have a kindle and a couple of big TVs though.

You're not on Twitter are you?
Hohofortherobbers · 07/04/2021 21:33

I don't buy books, I cannot stand dust catching clutter. Always have a book out from the library though. They can store my books for me

lynsey91 · 07/04/2021 21:35

We have books in every room in the house. Our spare bedroom has floor to ceiling shelves on one wall full of books. I have never counted them but would guess we have around 800 or more.

Both me and DH love books. I have a kindle but rarely use it as I much prefer a proper book.

I get that not everyone has lots or even any books though.

Personally I could never live in a house with no plants. To me a house with no plants seems bare and cold. At the last count I had 84 plants

WarwickHunt · 07/04/2021 21:35

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.

@Babysharkdododont

I don't think it's necessarily a value judgement. It's like saying you couldn't live in a house without a TV, or without net curtains or without a cat. Some people have different requirements for their home from you!

1Morewineplease · 07/04/2021 21:35

@MapGirlExtraordinaire

Morewine did you read and understand the OP?

OP did not anywhere judge people who love to read! She judged people who judge people for not having huge bookshelves

There is a big difference

I'd have thought an avid reader would have the comprehension skills to understand that Wink

I've re read the OP and read the update. I'm clearly a stupid person, although I think I know what he-/she has said , I'll bow to your better knowledge.
Strangekindofwoman · 07/04/2021 21:35

You're not on Twitter are you?

No?

PattyPan · 07/04/2021 21:36

Don’t you want to reread your favourite books? Or have reference books? I keep books I know I will want to look at again and books that are either difficult to find in the library or too long to really borrow without having to renew loads of times (eg Les Miserables, War and Peace!). I am bilingual so also have a lot of books in my other language which I don’t get much exposure to otherwise and wouldn’t be able to get hold of here easily.

MilduraS · 07/04/2021 21:37

If we had the space, I'd have a wall of bookshelves. As it is, I have to do a cull every couple of years. Fiction is on my kobo but I love cookbooks and hobby books so they multiply quite quickly.

GlendaSugarbeanIsJudgingYou · 07/04/2021 21:37

I did see a program where someone bought books and backed them in wallpaper to match her living room.

That annoyed me but only for a second.

Feedingthebirds1 · 07/04/2021 21:38

It's down to personal choice. I would never criticise anyone who didn't have books, even before we had the internet and Kindle. But I love all my books.

So you'd hate me OP - we once moved house because we didn't have enough room for the books.

eddiemairswife · 07/04/2021 21:38

I have bookshelves and bookcases in every room except bathroom and downstairs lavatory. A lot of them have sentimental value. I have a bookcase with green and orange penguins, and 6 shelves on each side of the chimney breast; there are two Billy bookcases in the dining room, and 4 shelves in the hall. I have 2 shelves of poetry and one shelf of school prizes. I was a child pre universal TV and both parents were keen readers.

LexMitior · 07/04/2021 21:38

John Walters said that if you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them.

Obviously I don’t think he counted a Haynes manual or a copy of Delia Smith’s how to cook, but it’s a good maxim. A kindle however well stocked would not have the same impact.

Strangekindofwoman · 07/04/2021 21:39

I don't think I've ever reread a book. I've never read War and Peace once though.

Bluntness100 · 07/04/2021 21:39

I’m with you on this, but it’s not an attitude ive never encountered in real life, only on here, along with not answering your foot and a small chicken feeding a family of six for a week.

My books are predominantly in a cupboard, you know a book shelf with doors. I don’t feel any need to have them out on display. We can access them just as easily by opening the door. 😂

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