/lit/ - Literature

>>13494686
I was going to answer, but this is perfect. I've been dragging my books around all my life, every move, every apartment, until I finally had a house and room for two library spaces. They were cumbersome, expensive, took up space, but I always loved having them. Now I can enjoy them properly and keep adding to the collection. It's not for everyone, but it's very much for me and my family.

>>13460030
Very true. I consider my library a record of books I've enjoyed, a reference resource, and a selection of unread books to suit any mood.

>>12059366
You sound very grumpy. First off, my local libraries are pathetic and don't have a fraction of what I want to read, and e-readers are someone else's custom, not mine. Second, I do reread many of my books, but whether I do or not doesn't determine my having wasted money on them. Third, my books have multiple purposes: I'm an English prof and teach a wide variety of courses, so it's useful to have a broad selection (not to mention I receive free books on a weekly basis). The hoarder psychoanalysis is amusing, but you undermine it with this nonsensical idea that your preferred aesthetic for book bindings and bookcases is a defining measure. If you read a range of books, you know that finding them in a preferred edition is often impossible or absurdly expensive. Paperbacks cost less, take up less room, and are usually more easily available. I have many hardcovers as well, and some beautiful and antique books, but aesthetics are not my first criteria. That said, my library is beautiful to me, and the bookcases bring me pleasure to look at and explore when I have leisure to do so. It would be a dull world if everyone wanted their homes to look precisely the same way. Bookcases don't "clutter" anything, especially if they're full of good books.

Part of the library.

In any case, I'm just happy to finally have a room for my home library (two, actually), even if the shelves aren't perfectly aligned.