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?

To be fair some are in the attic . I got a lot of my grandparents books which came boxed and went up there. I do trawl through those boxes for something specific every so often and can honestly recognise practically every spine from when they were on their shelves.

You are reading, You are reading MN.

Yes, and?

But it's OK to rag on people who like reading. Sure.

Wrong.

And they certainly are to me.

🤣🤣🤣

How so? It’s simply a matter of personal preference what you spend your money on.

I like reading. I don't have to brag about having 10000000 books though.

Because, personally, I reread them. You might as well ask why people have more than one pair of shoes.

The bafflement on this thread that people are different is quite something. As is the distrust and suspicion of reading as a thing only snobs do.

I never said I couldn't read

for someone who reads so much you can't have a very active imagination then....
fantasy fiction must utterly overwhelm you if the concept of a bookless house is beyond earthly reckoning....

Thank you.

Don’t be silly: some people just accumulate, and don’t want to dispose of, books. I’ve lots from my grandparents I haven’t even read. But it’s everything we have collectively read which to some people - and this is essentially what op was asking - is an important concept to them. Some people collect books.

Quite.
Although I do get rid periodically. Need the space for more!
But apparently how very dare we. We should do more accessory shopping or we're terrible people 🙄

Yes, we have lots of bookshelves. We have bookshelves in every room apart from the toilet/bathroom. My house doesn't look like that though...you don't have to be posh to read

If you have that many please do brag. Some of us round be genuinely interested. It takes all sorts …

Maybe you just haven't found books you enjoy! Some have very short chapters, others have pictures like comics, I think they are called graphic novels. Also many people that struggle with reading but still like stories prefer audiobooks and you can listen to them while driving or doing chores or on the go.

@Calliopespa exactly - I have a copy of Lady Sings The Blues my grandfather (fabulous communist and lover of blues and jazz) gave me in 1983 - his copy - I treasure it - it's a beautiful story of a difficult life, with the best opening lines, from a man I loved and miss every day.

I tried bathroom bookshelves but the pages started to curl😃

I think im going to look into audiobooks and see how I get on

We don't have bookshelves (other than in the kids bedrooms) DH isn't from an academic background and doesn't like reading (he has a handful of books in his bedside drawer but never reads them) I do like books and reading but tends to all be fiction that I either borrow from the library or read once then pass on, other than a handful of parenting books which are also in my bedside table.

I'm not a reader of physical books. I mostly just consume information which interests me online. I'm well travelled and educated to a high level. I am very sociable and outgoing, a good listener, have been told I'm very funny, yet, I'm somehow lesser because I don't like to sit with my head in a book in my free time? Is this correct?

For any book lovers who judge themselves to be better, more intelligent human beings because they read books, well just simply, fuck you.

oh god I've just looked at her insta and cringed myself inside out. Nothing wrong with the actual bookshelves but the staged photos of her "reading"!
I can't decide what's more embarrassing, whether she sets up her phone to take multiple shots and then goes back to review them, or whether she actually gets a friend/publicist/partner to take the photo "now darling make sure you wait until I raise the mug just to my mouth, and make an appropriately pensive expression with my carefully angled face before you take the shot.' 'right next one I want the mug to be out of focus but a wistful smile on my face'🤮

Really not helping the overtly proud book collectors=inherent wankery theme going on here (normal book collectors who dgf about what other people do are fine)

Read really well by an actor or voice actor you like really enhances the experience.

Shelving (or lack thereof) isn’t a crime, whether you’re in your 20s or pushing 100 🤷🏻‍♀️

Interestingly, the experience of reading the written word vs online text is different.

https://www.learning-mind.com/ebooks-vs-printed-books-brain/

And the same to those of you who think loving books is snobby or false.

You can fit a LOT of books in full height shelves, and they don't take up much space, I think some Ikea ones are only about 20cm deep so you could run them along any wall or hallway without impinging on the room much.