grey - Maybe it is a North American thing. We certainly do live in a culture of judgement here! I have a small TV too.
Overall Rating: votes
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Posted 4 months ago #
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As a data point, the woman I mentioned initially is a UK academic who works for a large museum in London. (She is otherwise a charming and kind person, and we have since made up.)
I have a gift card! What do you think: replace my Zen Buddhism books or the most recent Parasol Protectorate (and why is it not March yet?)?
Posted 4 months ago # -
i know neither, lucy, sorry i cannot help!
i have rejoiced ever since you wrote the op yet did not know how to respond. i do now though, thank goodness, because i must clutter up every thread with my smart and funny comments *rolls her eyes at herself* i am immensely glad that bookshelves are slowly becoming less of "audi bmw porsche etc" (almost half the cars on my street are of the grossly flashy kind just because they should prove some testosterony point or whatever and it is totally silly- and do not get me started on the small "houses" that roam the streets of a city either while drinking a liter a minute or something equally green) in favour of "i might drive my secretly fast car yet take the bike another day or walk even" (dh has a very fast saab that looks like a family car and my mom almost killed me upon hearing how fast we used to drive in germany when he still lived there and i would visit). i do love books but these days it is about the favourites, the good stuff, and it might be a dead tree book or it might consist of bits.
Posted 4 months ago # -
oh and i would buy in a flash a cool pretty porsche as soon as it would come as an electric car with carport covered with sun cells, sun panels or such, and of course permanent sunshine here in the cold and dark north.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Congrats celebkiriedhel!!!! I'm sure that feels wonderfull, what a huge step!!
I never knew that there are some people who would turn up their nose if they walked into someone's house without books. o_O I tend to be snoopy and LOVE reading the titles on other people's shelves but if they are not there I just don't think about it...
For me, I feel like if my books have a place then they are not clutter. I just love reading them, enjoy reorganizing the shelves and just looking. It's so comforting. I got a little book stand which I rotate my favorites on. It's cute and changes things up a bit ^^
Posted 4 months ago # -
I don't drive - so not interested in getting a car (I gave it up for the good of humanity. I realised I was a lousy driver! LOL)
It is Nina - it's about the favourite stories, and pictures, and the things that mean home. I'm still very happy - and it's so changed the room! For one thing the bookcases are thinner than the filing cabinet, so I have more floor space! :D
Posted 4 months ago # -
Congratulations on reclaiming your books! I don't know what I would do if I had to get rid of my books. My office is more or less lined with bookshelves - 9 feet tall professionally built solid wood ones, scavenged from a bookshop where I used to work when it underwent a refit - and they're mostly full. I would say 80% of 6 bookcases is sci-fi/fantasy, 3 cases full of nonfiction, a half case full of computer books, plus a largish collection of magazine back issues on a variety of subjects.
Years ago when I had to clear mum's house for sale after she died, I had to get rid of a huge number of magazine back issues because I had been storing them in my old room - I had nowhere to put them. I took 28 crates of magazines to the recycling depot - including things like a 10 year collection of BYTE magazine, the loss of which was described by a colleague as 'akin to the burning of the great library at Alexandria'. When I got home after a hard day clearing mum's house and recycling that lot, I sat down and had a good cry. It felt like losing a huge chunk of my history, and I still regret it now more than 2 decades later.
Books don't count as clutter, in my book, as long as they are properly stored and neatly arranged. Rejoice in your bibliophilia, that's what I say!
Posted 4 months ago # -
@ ninakk, I think some car builder ought to invent a photovoltaic car roof exterior with fully-lighted roof interior. Why do we have to settle for a miserly little crown light, that we have to manually switch on, or open the door to activate?
I know, I know, interior light is supposedly distracting to other drivers but it doesn't have to be, you know, Las Vegas. Just a nice, well-modulated, full-spectrum LED glow. To make gloomy days not so gloomy and long cold drives not so cold.
Hey, if I can think of it, surely someone can build it.
Posted 4 months ago # -
Congrats, Kiri!
I grew up in Europe, in a house filled with books. Two walls in our living room and one wall in my bedroom were furnished with custom-made floor to ceiling bookcases, which often overflowed. The same was true of my grandparents' house, and most of my relatives' homes.
Then we changed continents and most of the books stayed behind; out of our 4 suitcases, one was filled with books, but mostly necessities and research material for my mom's second Ph.D. thesis. My parents have slowly rebuilt their collection, but I chose to buy and keep only the books I truly love and would read again and again. I choose to restrict my fiction collection to one shelf, and use the library frequently instead - or I did do, until recently when there have been reports of bedbugs in library books from one of the branches... eek.
All this to say, I'm very aware of the (European?) obsession with judging one's worth by the number of dead trees lining their walls. And while I love books as much as the next bibliophile, the idea that the size of your book collection defines how intellectual you are strikes me as beyond ridiculous in this day and age.
On the other hand, I also enjoy perusing people's book (and CD; and DVD) collections to get a sense of their tastes and look for common interests.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Anita, I don't think it has anything to do with which part of the Western world you come from. Seems like there are cultural/academic snobs everywhere :) I used to have a fling of it, too, but after the release from the spell of books (I can't describe it in any other way than being spell-bound) I've taken a different approach. It's fine if my bookshelf is full to its brim (but no further these days!) as long as the ones accepted to live within its borders are the cream of the crop. I'm not showing off (might have done so a teeny tiny bit before even though I've also always had a true love for words, books), but keep a library for myself and the loved ones now.
Posted 3 months ago # -
@ninakk: I bought both AND a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. *grins*
Posted 3 months ago # -
Atta girl!
Posted 3 months ago # -
Oooh I loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell!
Posted 3 months ago # -
ninakk - that's what I'm feeling with my books. All of them here at home, are the cream of the crop - the ones that I Love. And the exciting thing is since I moved the shelves around a bit to accomodate the books better, I have room for two more shelves, so I can still consider getting new books! YAY!
But with a new paradigm - if I don't love it, it goes out the door after I read it.
PaulT00 - I want to come read your books, we sound like we have very similiar tastes. And (hugs) for the Byte magazines, they were PC history in the making. I know that regret. I think the thing that makes me happy is that I can still be a bibliophile AND fit in my flat.
I really wish I could use the library, it would be great for books I only want to read the once. But my Sci-Fi collection is way more thorough and up-to-date than my local library. :(
To be honest, I've never seen the sort of snobbery that people on this thread have spoken about. Most of my friends are similiar to me - they love books and scour the shelves to see what they can borrow!
(Part of the declutter was getting rid of books that I had borrowed over 10 years ago and no longer know where the owner lives. I'm a bad, bad girl :( )
Posted 3 months ago # -
Having books you love--and other objects as well--in your home is expression of what you value. Writing has the same effect: saying this is who I am and what I stand for. Is it possible/desirable to have the expression of values come from one's words and behaviors rather than from possessions?
Posted 3 months ago #
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