/lit/ - Literature

>>12059238
I don't think you understand what books and personal libraries are for.

>>10857169
I'm not hoarding: we had just moved in and I was putting the upstairs library together. I teach a range of courses, so many things come in handy.

My upstairs library has a comfy couch in front of a bay window, so I like reading there.

>>9934993
Heh. Yes, I'm very sad about my welcoming private library with windows, couches, and a broad selection of literature and fun reading. I dreamed of it for decades before I bought a house and could have it, but if a stranger doesn't like the color scheme, I'm just heartbroken.

>>9725554
Read how? Your paper books you lugged out there that will be mildew bricks in a week, or the electronics you can't charge or plug in? Camping is an endless pain in the ass for more than a weekend. I'll work the worst soul-crushing McJob I need to in order to have electricity, a bathroom/shower, a safe home for my books to stay dry, a fridge and oven, etc. A better plan (since in your scenario you somehow have enough money for supplies despite no obvious income) is to move to the country/small town where houses are cheap (or rent is) and live quietly there. This is where I read:

>>9067701
Well, that's okay. You don't have to visit. Personally that Greek white/blue combo makes me happy every time I step in there.

The author Umberto Eco is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books), and separates visitors into two categories: those who react with “Wow! Signore professore dottore Eco, what a library you have! How many of these books have you read?” and the others — a very small minority — who get the point that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendage but a research tool. Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary.
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Personally, I buy frequently from amazon and local bookstores, and visit local libraries with volunteer-run bookstores every week. The books cost 1-3 bucks each, and are usually in excellent shape. I have certain authors I look for, and certain publishers I trust even when an author is unknown to me. If I never read the book, I've "lost" a dollar or so, I guess, but having a lovely selection of read and unread books waiting in my library makes me happy.

>>8571527
Ikea Liatorp table, actually. Big but handy. If you don't want to display stuff you can just stick your currant "to reads" in there.

>>8563327
That would take a lot of photos, and my collection is eclectic, with lots of non-lit-approved stuff, but I'll post a few new photos of the two libraries in my house.
First photo: entering the upstairs ("patrician") library. Don't take the names too seriously, but when I moved all my genre fiction, graphic novels, humor, etc., to the downstairs den, I started calling that one the "plebeian" library.