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AIBU?

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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 We've a few shelves in the study with a few technical manuals etc, but these go out of date so quickly as to be obsolete as soon as they're printed, so we go online mostly.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:
daffodilsandprimroses · 07/04/2021 21:55

Yes, but as technology has moved forwards books have moved to kindles and so on.

It’s like saying that someone without a CD player doesn’t love music.

I have a relative who is an avid reader and won’t use a kindle and honestly the house is being taken over with books, and it is a worry.

thebillyotea · 07/04/2021 21:55

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.

someone touched a nerve with you or something? Confused
What's with the faux naivety and what can't you understand?

Why do you think everything is about YOU and people cannot possibly make a comment that doesn't revolve around you?

Very weird thread indeed

Strangekindofwoman · 07/04/2021 21:56

@Sally872

The OP isn't against books or people keeping books.

Just the people who can't understand how anyone can't have lots of books. And usually the tone of these people is judgemental.

Op yanbu.

You would think all the great readers on this thread would have understood what the OP was saying.
Lineofconcepcion · 07/04/2021 21:56

@MixedUpFiles

We used to have a proper library in the house. DH and I adored having a huge room devoted to books. Then they invented kindles.
My aim is to have my kindle on the bookshelves and that's all . . . am down to around 75 from 600 or so, so getting there. Unfortunately the bookshelves have filled up with sewing stuff, photographs, plants and other such things. I don't know where these other things lived when I had only books on the bookshelves. Anyone?
daffodilsandprimroses · 07/04/2021 21:57

strangekindwoman MN comprehension has always been ah, unique I think!

RunHobbitRun · 07/04/2021 22:01

Books = happy me

My perfect home would be lined wall to wall in books. I couldn't give a fig about whether other people want the same. I don't find it odd when people don't keep books, but I find the idea of never re-reading a good book odd.

Armi · 07/04/2021 22:02

I love my books. I always suspect those who make a noise about how they don’t re-read books of virtue signalling, myself. And perhaps of limited intellectual capacity. Or maybe the OP just reads crime fiction?

cyclingmad · 07/04/2021 22:02

Well I don't judge you on your choice not to keep books so not sure why you judge people who do.

Judt so happens I do re read alot of my books. I love reading and I like having my books on shelves. I tried an ereader but I just prefer holding a book and turning pages.

Each to their own

DrFoxtrot · 07/04/2021 22:03

YANBU OP.

I can understand looking at Rightmove and saying 'where's the bath'. But saying 'where are all the books' is along the same lines as 'where are the bikes' or 'where is all the walking gear'.

Why would you bother pointing out something that isn't actually a fixture in the house? Maybe the books are in storage, why do you ask?

Bishbashbosh101 · 07/04/2021 22:04

It's clear.

The OP is working from home. She had a Teams meeting. Everyone else had books behind them. There was light hearted chat about books.

She had no books.

saraclara · 07/04/2021 22:05

am down to around 75 from 600 or so, so getting there

Tell me your secret @Lineofconcepcion! I've actually cleared all my books into boxes and bags, as I had my study redecorated a few months ago, so the bookshelves had to be moved away from the walls. Charity shops will open soon, so this is my chance to only put back what I really want to keep and get rid of the other 90%. But the trouble is it's not going to be that easy. I'm sure I'll find reasons to want to keep the vast majority. how did you decide what to keep/get rid of?

baroqueandblue · 07/04/2021 22:06

I think it's really important to make that distinction between books because their owner loves them and/or needs them, and books for show. But it's also important not to equate a person filling their home with books as virtue signalling in and of itself, which some people appear to believe. Those bookshelves aren't threatening people; it's more that certain people appear to feel threatened by someone housing lots of books.

For many, just the presence of various books around the home is a huge comfort in a very shaky world. I keep plenty and frequently let plenty go, and on both sides of that arrangement there are many I've not read fully and may never read fully. Nevertheless, they fit into the sense I have of a collection, and that's very satisfying and reassuring for me. When people are here I almost never draw attention to my books, but what pleases me is that sometimes visitors will notice some book or other that they're drawn to and if they ask me I'll tell them what I remember about it or give them a brief description of its contents. Just conversation.

I also still have quite a decent CD collection but as they gather dust so quickly and are a pain to keep dusted most of them are in a wardrobe and I just have a few in circulation near the hifi at any one time, according to my mood. No need to display them.

Apart from books and CDs I don't really collect stuff and I certainly don't display things for the sake of it, but I know people who do and I presume it means something to them, which is their business.

saraclara · 07/04/2021 22:06

Well I don't judge you on your choice not to keep books so not sure why you judge people who do.

AAAAAAAAAARGH!

@cyclingmad, read what the OP actually said. It's not what you think she said.

Strangekindofwoman · 07/04/2021 22:07

OP needs to get a backdrop of a bookcase full of classic books to impress her colleagues on her next team meeting.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 07/04/2021 22:07

@ThrowingAShellstrop

I couldn’t live in a house without books OP. And I have a lot. When I’m surrounded by books I feel like I’m in a sweet shop or a beautiful patisserie. Each book is associated to a memory. I love their smell, their shape, how they feel in my hand. I can tell you where each one came from and why. I love the fact my kids spend time looking at the shelves reading the words or noticing their colours. They can tell when something has been taken away or added.

To some people books are much more than printed pages. I don’t really care what you do though.

Perfectly put, @ThrowingAShellstrop.
Abraxan · 07/04/2021 22:08

@FangsForTheMemory

If I hadn't got a house full of books, I'm not sure what I'd do with myself. Or with the space. Fill it with a huge telly?
It's this kind of statement I find make people sound judgmental.

Why would a space without a bookshelf be replaced with a large TV? There's only one reason someone would suggest a large tv instead tbh.

Why couldn't it be replaced by a record layer and records (we have quite a large shelving unit for vinyls for example)?
Or by a comfortable chair? Or someone's shelves of hobby related stuff such as crafts, sewing, knitting? It a box or two of their children's toys?

How many people would really place their TV in the same kind of place they'd have their bookcase anyway?

DrFoxtrot · 07/04/2021 22:08

So many PP with the wrong end of the stick Confused

saraclara · 07/04/2021 22:08

@Armi

I love my books. I always suspect those who make a noise about how they don’t re-read books of virtue signalling, myself. And perhaps of limited intellectual capacity. Or maybe the OP just reads crime fiction?
Bloody hell. Grin
Strangekindofwoman · 07/04/2021 22:10

I do actually have a small bookcase on the landing upstairs. I couldn't see my massive TV from there though.

saraclara · 07/04/2021 22:10

@DrFoxtrot

So many PP with the wrong end of the stick Confused
Unbelievable isn't it? All that reading, yet they can't understand a perfectly clearly expressed OP.
RandomGrammarPun · 07/04/2021 22:11

Fascinated by many people on this thread calling books clutter and describing themselves as minimalist (which precludes books on display)...I consider myself a minimalist (have no photos or ornaments) but hundreds of books... Books aren't clutter; they're...life!

amusedbush · 07/04/2021 22:13

I used to have a bookcase but when we moved house in February 2020, we were ruthless about clearing stuff out so we didn't have to take it with us. I donated them all to the "take a book, leave a book" library at the local train station. I read on my kindle as it's usually cheaper, it's an instant download and it doesn't take up space.

RosaLuxemburgwasright · 07/04/2021 22:13

I have too many books but also, there is no such thing as too many books. I have clear-outs every so often, getting rid of those I know I won't read again or that no one I know will want to have a read of if they're visiting but I honestly would feel lost if I wasn't surrounded by books.

I don't really judge people who have no books but I do feel that those who don't love reading are missing out on something. Thing is, they don't and so it's none of my business, just as it's none of their business that I'm a bit of a maniac for reading.

The only time I get really judgy to the nth degree is when I'm looking at an interiors site and they say "here are some of the best libraries that people have in their homes!" and more than half of them have shelves with a few books and lots of ornaments. That is not a fucking library!

weedoogie · 07/04/2021 22:14

I've just got rid of two walls of bookshelves and culled the books heavily, resulting in one, new smaller bookshelf for everything. I love it.

Where are the bookshelves?!
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 07/04/2021 22:15

I was considering spending the money to put some of my books onto kindle, to make more space (for more books Blush), but I checked the Ts&Cs and found out I don’t actually own the books I have paid for on kindle. I own the right to read the books, but that right is not guaranteed in the future. Amazon could decide to remove books from kindle - books I’ve paid for - and I would have no come-back.

I do have a list of all our fiction books on the computer, and aim to list the non-fiction too. Sad, I know.