Is this what 99% of mumsnetters homes look like

[Damaged27]

After all these interior design threads this is what I'm imagining everyone on mumsnets homes look like. Just curious if I'm way off because iv never been in a home like this. Maybe if the person is in their 80s. Do people really have bookshelves?

I have books because I like books - couldn't get on with DD1's kindle when I tried it - wanky though it sounds I like turning pages and, when rereading a book, noticing marks from when I last read it and remembering.

They are all in my study, no one who visits goes in my study so they certainly aren't for show - but I can't part with my favourites - I am an avid re-reader. I also have books given to me by my grandparents which I treasure and some that just remind me of places I first read them or people who recommended them - they are precious to me.

Does it count if the books are the entire collection of Katie Price novels, autobiography books written by various reality stars and those misery childhood memoir books you get from Asda 😁

Or do the actual books have to be a certain style too

That sounds wonderful! 😍 We have lots of bookcases/shelves, that hold DVDs, records, CDs, and videogames, but we also have several bookshelves full of books! We currently have around 300 in all I would say. (Used to have more before we downsized a few years ago, to a smaller house.) Some books we have are as old as 70 years old. And I still have all my childhood books from the 1970s.

There's some hilarious inverted snobbery - and silly sarcastic comments from some people (about people who love books/have books.)

And not just on here! 😆I think people feel somehow threatened by people with lots of books.

Well, it IS a well documented fact that people with lots of books are more likely to be intellectual and more intelligent and smart. So it's easy to see why SOME people are a bit salty and sniffy about people with lots of books. I think it's jarring some people.................

Many, many of my books have been re-read. Many times.

Sadly I don't read as much as I used to, but it is a great pleasure. It upsets me that my DGC don't, really.

I used to read a book a day before homework (occasionally) got in the way.

Most of my friends now use audio books but I don't like them

I am so glad Ikea still do the Billy bookcases!! We have some too!!

We have bookshelves in one sitting room on every wall, DH has them on every wall in his office and we have bookshelves in the front part of the cloak room. I also have them in the kitchen as I kept all my grans, aunts and mothers cookery books. The ones in the kitchen have glass in front and are more of a display as they’d smell of food otherwise. There was an actual library in the house when we bought it (now DH’s office). The previous owners had steps with wheels on them to get to books that were high up on shelves. We have all of FIL’s books as DH couldn’t bear to part them when he died and I kept all my books from childhood so yes, we have a LOT of books.

They aren't boasting, the OP asked if people really had bookcases, and people are telling her that they do have them, where they are and how many.
Unsurprisingly, many people are shocked at the OPs question. So what if people have got inherited furniture and don't like 3 piece suites, everybody's different!
People aren't sneering at people who don't display books everywhere, but many people look askance at houses where people don't read, particularly where there are children, as there is a correlation between children reading for pleasure and educational achievement.

These threads always sporn hundreds of MNers falling over themselves to post about how much they judge homes without visible books/tvs bigger than their bookshelves etc. All with a considerable air of cultural and intellectual superiority..

Yet surprisingly all this reading hasn't given them the ability to consider
-how often do you see beyond the living room and toilet of most peoples homes

• the majority of people who read frequently have some sort of electronic device -they could read a classic a day and not have any physical evidence in their front rooms
• lots of people listen to audio books, use the library or read once and then donate to avoid clutter.
• not reading does not equal unintelligent
• having books on display does not equal them being "good" books or even that they've ever been read

But yes carry on smugging 😁

My house is full of all the things people considered dated, tacky and cheap in the previous thread. And I couldn't give two hoots!!

Exactly, @Nanny0gg!

I said out of print/academic not "out of print academic books. ". Maybe if you read more you would have noticed that key difference.

oh stop being tedious @DragonFly98 This isn't a re typing test.

We all got the gist.

Nothing like the pics but we have lots of bookshelves and some book piles

I read all the time and was bought a kindle one Christmas but I hate it.
I like to feel the paper and turn the pages
A lot of people do

🤗😍😁

Of the few books iv read these are the sort I read the last one I read was matthew perry

Have you looked at Rightmove? That should give a very good representative example of what people's homes look like.

Op oh how I wish!!! Would love bookcases that big!!! We have two bookcases in the living room and two in my sons room. However if I had more space would definitely have more books!!! 🙏❤️

we have bookshelves and our home is full of colour, mismatched furniture and house plants 😂 apparently very ‘mumsnet’ but it’s comfy, cosy and my favourite place on earth. I don’t like grey minimalist homes but I appreciate everyone’s different tastes. I firmly believe your home is your sanctuary and should be exactly how you want it.

Load of bollocks. If you're reading a novel in an hour it must have huge type and very few pages. Your eyes must be skimming the pages but you cannot be assimilating what the words mean if you read 400 pages in an hour.

Absolutely! I love my books, and reread them regularly, but ‘literary’ friends tend to recoil from them in horror as they consider what I read to be absolute rubbish. One of the cleverest people I know has a minimalist house with no books thanks to her e-reader. I was a bit gutted actually, as we share trashy tastes (not that most people know that about her), and I used to get her books when she’d finished them (she has an eidetic memory so doesn’t reread). It used to save me a fortune before she got her damned kindle 😂

Of course people have bookshelves! I have one in most rooms My friends have book shelves in their homes. My adult children have bookshelves in their houses and my grandchildren have book shelves in their bedrooms. We all read books. Where are we supposed to put them if we don't have bookshelves? Why is is considered odd to have book shelves?

Different people like different things. Each to their own if they enjoy it and it works for them.

I don’t just have bookshelves - I have a room full of book shelves, and 4 more bookshelves in other rooms - and I have a Kindle full of books too. Some might say I have too many books, but I absolutely refute that statement!

The thing is, if you look those things up in a book, they often take you somewhere else, or something will catch your eye.

That doesn't really happen with a recipe website imo

Not bollocks. It’s just a weird quirk I have. If you asked me questions afterwards I could answer them. Many teachers did when I was younger!