I have always believed that bookshelves add an indescribable charm to any room. As soon as I see a bookshelf in someone's room, my eyes start scanning the book collection. I am attracted to the collection of their books, the condition in which they are maintained, the kind of bookshelf, etc. I cant but help notice if the books have been cared for or not. Also, I try to gauge the personality of the collector by seeing his/her collection of books.
I adore bookshelves as much as I love books. It is always a pleasure to see a well designed tastefully organized bookshelf. As Pradeep Sebastian eloquently puts it in his Endpaper column in the Hindu Literary Review, he ponders over deep vs slim shelves, pigeon-hole shelves, whether libraries should use those ghastly slotted angle shelves and a host of other dilemma a book collector has to face.
Mark Twain once famously said "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them". In essence, I think books are as essential as food, air and water (I was about to say wireless internet but refrained myself!). So, prejudiced as I am, I somehow cannot believe that some people can live their entire lives without reading any good books. The USA which is the largest publisher of books in the world is now 'endangered in reading habits' according to CNN. It wasn't for nothing that B. F. Skinner said "We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading".
Now why am I endlessly droning on two different topics - books and bookshelves? There is a connection. Recently I chanced upon the website of Strand Books which, believe it or not, sells books by the foot! Now have you ever heard of such a thing? I had heard a few years ago of buying dresses by the kilogram(!) but selling books by the foot is the height of it all! My first thought was what sort of an idiot would go to a bookstore and say 'Hey, I want about 4 feet of books to fill up my bookshelf'!!!! Then after seeing this site it became apparent that people who build beautiful houses and are rolling in money with no time to read want to have a bookshelf in the study or in the living room. It would test their patience to go out and buy books that they could read. So they buy artistically bound or gilded books with golden coloured spines, golden lettering with leather covers and weird sounding titles. I am seriously not against beautifully bound books but buying them only to decorate your living space is ... um... really crazy.
This website even announces on its page that "A home without books is like a room without windows" and the offerings vary from $300 per foot for Victorian era books, $250 per foot for art books and so on. I really do not understand why people have to portray this false sense of literacy. Or it is that they just want brand new books to go with that shade of wallpaper and mahogany!?!? As someone said, "The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it". how can you explain that to these people!?!?
Check out the webpage. It really is fun to see what all you can sell if you can convince gullible rich foolish customers. People with lots of money are really crazy. And I don't have lots of money :-)
I adore bookshelves as much as I love books. It is always a pleasure to see a well designed tastefully organized bookshelf. As Pradeep Sebastian eloquently puts it in his Endpaper column in the Hindu Literary Review, he ponders over deep vs slim shelves, pigeon-hole shelves, whether libraries should use those ghastly slotted angle shelves and a host of other dilemma a book collector has to face.
Mark Twain once famously said "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them". In essence, I think books are as essential as food, air and water (I was about to say wireless internet but refrained myself!). So, prejudiced as I am, I somehow cannot believe that some people can live their entire lives without reading any good books. The USA which is the largest publisher of books in the world is now 'endangered in reading habits' according to CNN. It wasn't for nothing that B. F. Skinner said "We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading".
Now why am I endlessly droning on two different topics - books and bookshelves? There is a connection. Recently I chanced upon the website of Strand Books which, believe it or not, sells books by the foot! Now have you ever heard of such a thing? I had heard a few years ago of buying dresses by the kilogram(!) but selling books by the foot is the height of it all! My first thought was what sort of an idiot would go to a bookstore and say 'Hey, I want about 4 feet of books to fill up my bookshelf'!!!! Then after seeing this site it became apparent that people who build beautiful houses and are rolling in money with no time to read want to have a bookshelf in the study or in the living room. It would test their patience to go out and buy books that they could read. So they buy artistically bound or gilded books with golden coloured spines, golden lettering with leather covers and weird sounding titles. I am seriously not against beautifully bound books but buying them only to decorate your living space is ... um... really crazy.
This website even announces on its page that "A home without books is like a room without windows" and the offerings vary from $300 per foot for Victorian era books, $250 per foot for art books and so on. I really do not understand why people have to portray this false sense of literacy. Or it is that they just want brand new books to go with that shade of wallpaper and mahogany!?!? As someone said, "The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it". how can you explain that to these people!?!?
Check out the webpage. It really is fun to see what all you can sell if you can convince gullible rich foolish customers. People with lots of money are really crazy. And I don't have lots of money :-)
1 comment:
hey! you have just voiced my thoughts! My Dad is an avid reader and i've got this trait too!
However, during my school days, n even in college when my friends visited my home, they would always look terrified at one of the walls! coz, its where our bookshelf occupies the space, frm flooring to ceiling! then, after their initial 'getting stumped' reactions were over, they would ask me,"have you read all these books?", "is this all your collection?", "do you run a library?"
well...i would find these questions laughable n pity them for having such silly queries! n now it irritates me to think that these young people don't even read newspapers, forget books then!! n their reasons for not reading are no time to spare for books, wherein they can spend hours in a multiplex/malls..!!
i just find this kind of ignorance completely unbearable coz 2de everyone must be aware of things going on the global front! How can we make people read? It should be instilled from a young age in kids by parents and teachers!! that said, just want to conclude that loved ur thoughts on this topic! keep posting more! :)
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