This week, I’m once again joining in with Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer‘s book blogger hop, where they post a question which you and other bloggers answer, hopping from blog to blog to see people’s answers. This week, the question is…
“When you enter an unfamiliar house or apartment for the first time, do you feel disappointed if you don’t see any bookshelves, or books on the coffee table?”
The answer is no, I’m not quite that shallow, and I do have friends and family members who don’t read so it’s wouldn’t necessarily be a surprise to walk into a house where there weren’t books on display.
What I do suffer from is jealousy when I see people with more books on the shelves than me or, even more, built in books shelves or creative ways of displaying their books. I have a friend, for example, who has two windows on her stair case and she has used these as makeshift shelves. Walking up the stairs and seeing all these wonderful books always makes me want the same and feel disappointed that I can’t (no windows so it’ll never happen!).
I’m also jealous of her book collection. Over the years, because we have moved countries and then ended up living for a lot of years in a very small house, I have had to give books away. In fact, it’s a habit now to pass on what I’ve read or give them to the charity shop. I do it without thinking and then find myself regretting some of those decisions when a book pops into my head and I realise I no longer own it. Said friend has books going back to her childhood, all well read and loved, and I have very few of these any more (*pulls sad face*).
See why I’m jealous? What about you, do you suffer from book jealousy or do you judge people by their lack of books? Let me know!
Emma x
Image courtesy of Pixabay
One Readers Thoughts 
Yes I feel the same. Envious of other book collections but moving house a few times plus no space for too many books.
Not all of my friends are book lovers so I’m certainly not judgemental about their lack of books.
I would like to see more representation of the reading habits of ordinary every day people in TV programmes,, especially soap operas where anyone whoo reads is portrayed as a geek or a bit odd.
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There is something isn’t there about reading and how it is seen. People who don’t read are seen as ignorant but there are so many ways to learn and people who do read are seen as geeks as you say. I never thought about it much but you are right.
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No, I don’t judge folks by their lack of books as I, too, have plenty of friends and family who don’t have books on their shelves. And a few only now possess Kindle editions… Neither do I suffer from book jealousy – if I had my way, I would have a major cull of the books in our house and get rid of a significant number… Himself is the one who wants to hang onto them!
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Kindles do keep shelves clean – my mom is a complete convert and I can’t remember the last time she bought a real book. I thought I wouldn’t mind losing books but I didn’t half miss them!
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I don’t think I would mind if we had less books – but Himself definitely feels like you:)
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For years, I only had one shelf with books….and then I moved to a fairy sizable house in the foothills and starting buying books and more bookshelves…until, after moving to my current condo, I had so many that I had to do a major purge a couple of years ago. I try to buy mostly for my Kindle now, but I still have a lot on the shelves. Maybe 400-500? (Down from 1400).
Great post. Thanks for sharing.
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That’s still a lot of books. I wish I had room. 🙃
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I have non reading friends too so I don’t judge the lack of books but yes I can get a bit jealous when I see others with awesome book layouts or reading nooks…lol.
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Oh reading nooks – my dream!
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To be honest I never even think about it. Most people in my real life aren’t big readers so I don’t even expect to see books. Also in my house, I have all my books in a small library/spare bedroom, so they aren’t out on display. So there are no giveaways about how fanatical I am. Of course if they open the door to that room, they better prepare for an avalanche!
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I love the image of a big pile of books falling on someone who opens the door!
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Oh, I definitely understand that bookshelf envy!
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The green eyed monster!
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[…] Friday, I took place in the book blogger hop, talking about whether I feel disappointed if I go into a person’s home and don’t see […]
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Like you I wish I had my childhood favourite books as well as some of the later ones that have gone the way of various charity shops or friends due to lack of space or moves. I do still donate books and I really can’t expand to any more bookshelves now so it has to be done but it is always a wrench for me. But back to the original question, I do notice if people don’t have books in their house – I’m more shallow than you 😉
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I suppose the nice thing about books is you can always get another copy. I also regret giving away shoes I never actually wore when we moved.
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I have to say, I’m definitely envious of people’s book collections and I love the different ways people have them displayed! To be honest, I don’t buy books🙈 I have so many books TBR that I rarely if ever read a book a second time! So I just look longingly at others!
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I have a whole Pinterest board as well on how to display books…my plan for when I have a big old house one day. I rarely retread books either but I do sometimes wish I had the books I’ve loved on shelves just to look at…of course, the sensible part of me knows they won’t get read but still…
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That’s the thing….the sensible part of me always gets in the way!
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