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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 We've a few shelves in the study with a few technical manuals etc, but these go out of date so quickly as to be obsolete as soon as they're printed, so we go online mostly.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:
echt · 07/04/2021 22:15

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

Where are these people?

Is it assumed that if your house isn't full of books you sit mindlessly watching reality TV and eating microwave meals - that's the undertone in some of these posts

Who has said this?

ArmchairTraveller · 07/04/2021 22:16

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

Mostly non-fiction, my fiction is on my kindle.
History, natural history, ecology, ethnology, architecture, music, cook books, gardening books, art, poetry...and a dozen other subjects
I like having a library of quality work at my fingertips.
I have friends with barely a book in the house, and others with libraries.
I have one child with a library, one who reads everything online.

Bishbashbosh101 · 07/04/2021 22:16

I felt stifled my my books for about a year. I took them to a second hand bookshop. We had an arrangement where the book seller gave me money when each time I visited for any books that had sold (which I promptly spent in the shop).

After a few years I realised I needed all my books back. Important sentences were in them. As the original books had all been sold by then, I had to search on ebay.

Now I have the first collection along with the books bought with the proceeds of selling the first collection.

Some of us just aren't meant to part with books and there's nothing remotely virtuous about it.

emmetgirl · 07/04/2021 22:18

I have hundreds of books and I have read every single one of them.

Ylvamoon · 07/04/2021 22:19

Is it assumed that if your house isn't full of books you sit mindlessly watching reality TV and eating microwave meals - that's the undertone in some of these posts

OP I don't know who your friends, relatives and acquaintances are, but most people I know really don't assume anything or care for that matter.

I mean I have a room full of books. I collect them, I read them and I care about them. That's my hobby. I guess you don't have a hobby or yours isn't seem as intellectual as reading books?.

Strangekindofwoman · 07/04/2021 22:19

I have a kindle app on my phone so I can instantly get access to all the books on my kindle any time any where.

Works for me.

MissKeithsNeice · 07/04/2021 22:20

OP: I hate it when people judge others for not owning lots of books.

Everyone: I’ve got loads of books!!!

SoftSheen · 07/04/2021 22:20

I love my books, they are like old friends. I would never get rid of them.

MysteriesOfTheOrganism · 07/04/2021 22:20

I've just done a very rough count, and it's around 800 books. About 500 are fiction and 300 professional (psychology, therapy, personal development, myth, spirituality, etc.) And that's after decluttering many hundreds over the past couple of years Grin

I do re-read favourites from time to time - it's like meeting up with an old friend. What brings joy to our lives is different for everyone. For me it's books and music.

plominoagain · 07/04/2021 22:21

We used to have two secondhand bookshops . When we moved a long distance away and had to close them , we picked out what we wanted , including the kids , and got our customers to take what they wanted to empty the shops for a donation to the local air ambulance and raised about £4000. So now I have somewhere in the region of 10,000 books in our new house . All the old favourites , the ones we collect , the ones we bought for our older kids now being devoured by the younger ones , the hundreds of cookbooks , all of them . People judge me plenty , whereas I don’t give a shit if the only reading matter you own is the Next catalogue . I’m more likely to judge you for having a show kitchen.

ArmchairTraveller · 07/04/2021 22:22

I’ve got a friend who lives almost without books.
But she’s got a collection of musical instruments, a spinning wheel and a loom and a vast collection of kitchen equipment. Two dogs and a couple of horses.
And no tv. 🤣

7catsandcounting · 07/04/2021 22:24

I keep mine for the zombie apocalypse.

Thecazelets · 07/04/2021 22:24

I would struggle to live without lots of books and I hate staying people who have nothing to read. Like a pp I enjoy books as objects as well as for the printed word. I constantly reread old favourites and am extremely sentimental about them. I love opening a book and remembering where and when I bought it, right back to the 1970s. DH and I actually do have floor to ceiling bookshelves in every room, and I pity our dc having to decide what to do with them all when we die.

I really hope I don't come across as condescending and judgemental about people who choose not to have books all over the house - it's not the intention. They just genuinely make me feel happy and at home, and I need to have them around me - like music for some people I imagine. (Conversely I absolutely can live without music...)

MrsKeats · 07/04/2021 22:24

I am an English teacher so books are my passion.
I collect some old books and love art books too which are beautiful objects just to have. I also have loads of signed copies from when I go to events.
My dh is scientist and collects natural history books.
Online is not the same at all.

DispensingShitAdviceSince2002 · 07/04/2021 22:24

@daffodilsandprimroses

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.

It's a worry 😂

How can this possibly be a worry?

I don't have a Kindle or a smartphone or an iPad. I'm just not interested in that stuff.

But I do like books. I like the feel and look and smell of them. Perhaps your relative does, too.

Strangekindofwoman · 07/04/2021 22:25

There's an awful lot of people on this thread proving your point, OP.

baroqueandblue · 07/04/2021 22:25

Quite a few people at pains to point out that many of us are missing the OP's point, and therefore must be less intelligent than our book collections would suggest. I can't speak for others, but I got the impression this was a thread sparking off chat about bookshelves and people's need for them (or otherwise). Just seemed like the OP's point was made on the first page, but people are enjoying posting that they do/don't have lots of books at home. It's a pleasurable read for many of us, not miscomprehension.

Thecazelets · 07/04/2021 22:25

hate staying with people!

kwiksavenofrillsusername · 07/04/2021 22:26

I had to move 7 times in 8 years so got rid of my book collection apart from a few very special books. I was absolutely devastated to do so. I dream of a home with lots of bookshelves where I can keep books and revisit them, but I’m a tenant and never likely to own a house, so sadly it’s out of the question.

I hate to think I’d be judged for my lack of books. I’m a minimalist out of necessity. Maybe that’s a good thing.

CorianderBee · 07/04/2021 22:27

Idk, I keep my books because I re-read them after a few years (some 5 times by now) and don't want to pay again. I donate around 1/2 of the books I read, but then I read about 100 a year so I wouldn't be able to keep them all.

I love my books, a nice hardback brings me pleasure. I also have several kindles full of books so I'm not always wasting paper. But, I have bookshelves because I read books and then I like reading them again.

I have 6 bookshelves and several cupboards filled with books. Not sure why you're so bothered that i prefer to keep my purchased books and keep them in appropriate storage.

PferdeMerde · 07/04/2021 22:27

The only “judgy” and sneering one is you, op

Bythemillpond · 07/04/2021 22:29

I don’t think I have ever owned more than 3 books. A diy one, a gardening one and one from the 80s which was all about paint effects. Now everything I need is on line. So I sold them on at a car boot sale.
I have had a few people who have asked where we keep our books and been flabbergasted that we don’t have any.

Jessicabrassica · 07/04/2021 22:30

I love books.

I do look at our neighbor's big living room enviously and then remember ours is the same size but all the walls have book cases so it's 2' smaller in all directions.

I assume other people wonder how it's possible to live without a TV. Or a passport.

CorianderBee · 07/04/2021 22:31

And tbh I couldn't live in a house without books... simply because I really fucking love books and having them around me and grabbing one randomly on a whim. Don't give a shit what you do though

Nith · 07/04/2021 22:31

I do tend to hoard books, not least because I do read some twice, and I definitely need a LOT of shelves. I am however currently trying to be more robust about weeding out the ones that realistically I am never going to read again with a view to sending them to charity shops when they reopen. I do have some on Kindle and regard it as a total godsend for things like holidays, but it's pointless to get further Kindle copies of books I already have.

What has surprised me is the value of books. I have books that have gone out of print and which now sell on eBay etc at quite high prices. I'm therefore double checking before I send them to charity shops.

I certainly wouldn't assume that people who don't have loads of books on display are automatically inferior. Other considerations apart, they may have hundreds of electronic books at their fingertips.

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