LOL Jennifer about your daughter and lending you books. My children detest that I write and underline in books. They have since they were little. I don't understand how they study and learn without marking the pages.

Olychik, your post reminded me:)

You know, how in the former Soviet Union, they'd be regularly "cleansing" the party? And it'd happen ovenight, or seemed to happen overnight, and they wouldn't have time to reprint their books on revolution and leadership etc, right? But they for sure didn't want leaders and heroes-who-were -in fact-traitors and enemies and spies, mentioned on pages with lleaders and heroes who were-still-real-heroes-greatest-of all times, neither they wanted the-now-disgusting-faces-of-traitors next to other noble heroic (yet) faces, in photographs taken in times where all of them were heroes. So what happenned for some time was that they'd take such books, copy by copy, and they would cut out the faces of the heroes-now-traitors, very accurately, and blackout their names. Throughout the book,

Hard to believe I know-except I saw couple of such books with my own eyes..probably saved in families for future generations to see.

(your post sent me also to think about "The Name of The Rose", but that's the whole other spiral-I never really reached the bottom of it, or got to the top, it's endless-and there's no chance today'll be different)

dear april, would that you could see rainbows with out rain all the time. and us americans, should pay heed to these stories. lest we should see the world through a veil of tears at all times.

I too am guessing you are of a much younger generation than I and others book lovers that have commented above.
I've had a passion for books long before I could read myself, as did my children, and my grands. I still remember the name of the first book I ever owned. Old Charlie, as shown below. It was from Weekly Reader. Oh the thrill of bringing the Weekly Reader pamphlet back to school with some coins to order a new book.
I love books and sharing my passion for reading with others. One of the best things ever said about me was when one of my reading students (I was a reading teachers assistant but had my own students) "Mom and Dad, this is Mrs. C. She taught me to read!"

I guess my working class roots are showing. I never step foot into a book store until I was an adult. And, that was in New York city where I experienced my first book shop.

I grew up in a military family and lived on base and off base. On base, the library was there for me. But, off base it was not to be unless some one would drive me there.

I lived down south part of the time, off base. Our schools did not even have libraries. We had a mobile library that came. It was a little service person truck. That was a big deal.

Husband grew up in northern New Jersey and his town had no bookstores, either. They did have a small town library.

As a baby boomer we never had children's books. We had none of that and I was completely unfamiliar with children's classics until I went to work in a bookstore when I was in my 50's.

My kids did not own books, either. I really don't know where we would ever have gone to buy books most places that we lived. Other than "dime novels" at the drug store, I never saw a book store anywhere.

We lived in New Orleans when the kids were in early grade school and my daughter did manage to read the entire Nancy Drew series, as did I many years before. Sure, there must have been some books stores in New Orleans, but the era of big box bookstores had not quite arrived and we had access to the library.

I lived on base in Alaska when I was that age and spent many a cold, cold day in the base library or snugged in to my warm bunk with a book. Good, good memories!!

I think that there is way too much misplaced value attached to very young children's books nowdays. Working in the store, I saw a lot of these and a lot of them are nothing but eye candy and pure nonsense. With the advent of big box book retailers there was so much of it being printed because there was a venue for it. Now, they are a dime a dozen at yard sales, literally and many of them hardly used. The market was flooded with all kinds of stuff, regardless of merit. My grandson has a shelf full of these picture books and I dont' think most of them were very much appreciated. They did not even hold his interest as a baby/toddler. Sure, the title sounded interesting and the cover was bright and intriguing, but there was really little substance between the covers and the kids grow out of them so quickly.

Then, there is the massive marketing of them in preschools and public schools through Scholastic.

I used to love to go to bed and read at night. I read all of Sinclair Lewis and John Steinbeck and I loved some of the latin American authors. Tolstoy was a favorite of mine and I even read a few detective novels. Tom Wolfe was another more modern favorite of mine. It is not as if I have never been a reader. I just don't see the need to keep a copy of them.

I am not without my own fond memories of reading all night and reading again. But, I don't want to own a copy of them. For me, there is no point in it. For some of you, there is, apparently.

I sold at Borders for seven years and I saw the mass consumption of books and DVDs that ensued. There seemed to be a need to have a personal copy of everything. I saw people come in and purchase DVD copies of what they already owned on VHS. Suddenly, so many wanted to create their own personal libraries of books and movies. Now you see the avalanche of so much of that excess consuming coming down on the resell venues as so many of those personal libraries get downsized and media is consumed in more digital formats.

Still, I do understand the appeal of a real book that you can hold and a real photograph that cannot be accidently erased with the errant swipe of a keyboard.

But, I have no desire for my own personal library. I have maybe two dozen books that I keep and get just the thrill that some of you claim to get from your entire wall of books. That is all I need, or want. You can't take it with you and your family will just get rid of it when you go.

For those of us who are lifelong avid readers and book-lovers, it can be baffling to try to understand how others could not love books every bit as much as we do. I've been guilty of making certain assumptions about people who don't read up until very recently, when I learned that someone who is one of the most intelligent, eloquent, and artistic people I know is not a reader due to issues with ADHD that make it very difficult for him to engage with printed material for any length of time. While it surprised me and made me sad for him, I realized that he doesn't necessarily "suffer", and finds a host of other ways to keep his mind and imagination active.

" I realized that he doesn't necessarily "suffer", and finds a host of other ways to keep his mind and imagination active."

One of those ways could be having someone read books to you......aka audiobooks. Actually, I don't know if it would be good for someone with ADHD, but it is a good way to take in great stories without actually physically reading a book yourself. I am a huge audiobook fan; I listen to probably one a week, but I probably only read 2 or 3 books in print a year. I find it really hard to settle my mind and body into relaxation enough to read a book unless I'm on vacation. I think it's wonderful to have someone read to me.

Much as I love my Kindle, I use it mostly for trying out new authors. BookBub has introduced me to some excellent new authors.

We've pared down our book collections - DH has his, I have mine - but books we like to re-read, we prefer to have hard copies. It's a tactile pleasure, I think. Especially series; right now DH is working through my Secret Histories series by Simon R. Green. He's loving the snarky humor and dozens of pop references, LOL. We do have friends who keep all their books in e-form, however.

We both enjoy sci-fi/fantasy, although we share only a few authors. I like Ray Bradbury, whereas he's more the David Weber type. Where he goes hard-score military, I lean to mystery and romance.

I love re-reading a good author (thanks to my Kindle, I can delete the bad ones!). I think Pride & Prejudice by Austen was my first real hardcover purchase - and I still reread it on a regular basis. We have 17 full-height bookcases scattered thru our
home, with 11 of them built-in during our recent MBdrm remodel.

My family was lower middle-class but we always had lots of books – more than the mediocre branch libraries had, in fact.

In the '70's I started collecting art books. I've winnowed it down some, but virtually every book I've kept is long out of print and are ones I love going through again. I have a fair number of photography books because I used to do it as a hobby. I have architecture books because I grew up with a love for Louis Sullivan and Frank
Lloyd Wright buildings. I have books on artists I love: Erte, Tiffany, Michaelangelo, Durer, Magritte, Tooker. I have a small but choice collection of dollhouse books because while growing up in Chicago, I was fascinated with the priceless Colleen Moore Fairy Castle (it's on permanent display in the Museum of Science & Industry).

One can't compare the sketchy YouTube videos to the close-up photos in the books and background stories of what went into creating the castle's interiors and furnishings. And Colleen Moore's excellent autobiography, which details not only the early days of silent film but also great anecdotes about the Castle, is not available on Kindle and no library here offers it on loan. It's lovely to reread (she was a contemporary of Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and others).

For about 15 yrs I collected children's/young adult books that had art I liked. Included are Wesley Dennis's wonderful equine watercolors for several Marguerite Henry books; the former Pixar artist Marilee Henner's incomparable Weaving of A Dream; and the fascinating Folktales of the Amur, whose designs clearly show the bridge between what we think of as Chinese art and Amerindian art. One doesn't find these on library shelves; they're not suitable for Kindle.....but they are works of art as real as anything I hang on my walls.

Doesn't really matter what happens to my books when I pass away. If I have to downsize, I'll give away what I can and donate the rest. No big deal.

BTW, the post about people who had bought VHS movie tapes and later replaced them with DVDs? You didn't have much choice before streaming (which as some pointed out, never has everything). VHS machines were going away, and you can't easily burn a DVD copy of a commercial VHS tape. It's illegal, although it can be done with pirate software.

Don't forget, there are many movies that have never made it to DVD or streaming, just as many books will never go into e-format. It's why Amazon has a button on some book pages where you can add your vote to "please publish this in e-book format".

Regarding childhood books, my parents had a handful of their childhood books in the "library" growing up. The one that stands out to me most is Poor Johnny Microbe, published in 1938, not sure which side of the family that one came from, mom or dad's. But, it interested me in science at a young age as it was my favorite book. The science in it by now is woefully out of date. There was also a 50s book about "how to get a teenage boy and what do do with him once you get him." Or something like that. We'd also go to book swaps and I found some 1942ish diaries at one of them, written by a teenager who was my age at the time I found them (the 70s). I still have those diaries. They've traveled me from house to house since. And yes I re-read them from time to time.

Those are the sort of books that do make me wonder if I should keep a library. So yes I do get it. Even if I am content to keep a minimal and highly edited handful of books these days.

Totally relate to comments about the mass marketing of books that aren't all that good. This is why I'd rather just keep my library card up to date. But yes, we are very fortunate to be in an urban area with lots of great libraries.

if i had known that the libraries would throw away all my favorite books, i would have bought more myself.

I thought i asked this, but i did not see it. is anyone else ready to cry over the national book list through public tv? the people they left off is downright painful to me! How can you have any great bookes if you keep tossing them and nooone gets to read them?

I had a fabulous night tonight. my husband introduced me to new city representative and he actually listened to my program to help stop drugs among youth and seemed inspired by it.

If you go from a somebody to a nobody, it means a lot.

I am so happy for you havingfun!

I am sorry I don't know anything about the public tv book list. Is it the one that included many popular titles, but not quite as many classics as some might have liked? If so, yes, I saw it mentioned here. I think those kinds of lists are good jumping off points for some readers and a nice place to start a national conversation- like this one :-)

yes, and i am very happy to see that the young are now valueing books again.

It is located on line they want you to vote for your favorite. but there is so much missing.how can you vote on the vampire novels when they are based on anne rices principals and she is not there at all. love horror, but can we have a vote on horror with out the father of horror- ea poe. and it just goes on. I feel i am voting on something that noone understands, or they have changed the rules on me! Who is everyone else going to vote for? I think i am going to vote for Douglas Adams Hitchhikers guide. I adore those books. his humor is glorious and it relates to everywhere and anywhere. apparently even to space. The book he also wrote which is why i am voting for him is 'last chance to see' - not at all like the show. anyone who can make me want to reread them, make me laugh and yet not be fiction has to be a great book. After years of fighting. I finally got the librarian to read the book. she took up the battle the year i left. I believe it took 3 more years before she got it on the school wide summer reading list. and they loved it too.

Some seem to equate opting out of having a personal library to not having an appreciation, a "love", for books. That is not so.

I opt out of having to personally own a copy of everything.

There are many things that I "love" in life. I will not try to fill my home with them all. That is not necessary for me to do in order to recognize the value in them.

Not having a wall of books does not make one a luddite.

And we stood in line for cheese..so, for *me* and my family, it wasn't about being an intellectual or academic family,

We stood in line for cheese too. Wasn't that peanut butter in the #10 cans THE BEST? I wish I could buy that today. Keep in mind that income doesn't always "line up with" being intellectual or academic.

I know the way I was raised influences how I respond to threads about
remodeling homes that function well but are "dated". I hold my tongue,
but deep inside is that niggling, little voice that warns "you might
need that $50K for something more important". Folks who weren't raised
in the Depression or by parents who were probably can't relate to any of
this.

Oh, I think that ALL THE TIME. I wasn't raised in the Depression, but I was raised by people who firmly remembered the depression, and I was raised in a small town, where shopping wasn't available. It's served me well, and I've raised my own girls with a frugal mindset; now that they're adults, they might just be more stingy than I am.

As a baby boomer we never had children's books ... My kids did not own books, either. I really don't know where we
would ever have gone to buy books most places that we lived ... the era of big box bookstores had not quite arrived and we
had access to the library.

I was born at the tail-end of the Boomer generation, and I had children's books. I had lots of Little Golden Books -- I have a vague idea that they were available at the Big M grocery store. I received one Dr. Seuss book in the mail every month, and that was a very big deal for me. We were not children who received gifts or toys "just because", but we always received books at Christmas or our birthdays.

I don't think my younger siblings received as many new books as I did; rather, I understood that -- being oldest -- I had "first crack" at the books, but they were family property. I was taught that books were to be respected: touched with clean hands, never left outside, etc. because they had to last through all five children.

My father ALWAYS had paperback books. I don't know where he purchased them; I have no memories of shopping with my father. Ever.

My mother had an extensive collection of reference books: Cookbooks, craft books, etc. Many of these were subscription-type books that came in the mail one at a time.

About the time I started high school we started visiting book stores; this was also about the same time malls started popping up. As a deep-South family with no air conditioning (very common in the 70s, less common by the 80s), we went to the mall often during the summer. We probably spent more time in the bookstore than any other store, though we looked more than we bought.

About the same time we also started frequenting used book stores. Did they exist before that point? I can't say, but we saw used books as a great value and purchased many. Typically we kids purchased these books with our own earned money, and we shared them freely amongst ourselves.

I do think that books were harder to come by when I was a child.

Yes, the feel and smell of the book is special.

Lots of people say this, but it baffles me. I enjoy reading ... collecting books, eh, not as much.

Some people won't read that much at all-but they'd listen to audiobooks.They're simply might be not visuals, and absorb better when they isten, or have mild dyslexia, or that's how they find their time to do it.

My husband has just started listening to audio books (since he discovered he could borrow them through the library), but I dislike being read to. I don't follow it nearly as well.

you know if i have forgotten how to spell a simple word, and i do, it can be amazing. the internet does not help, a dictionary normally does,

If I'm already on the computer, I frequently google "spell ___". Quick, easy, yeah, it's instant help.

Ms pete although i do understand your comment about your mom. i was such a big reader that i quit when i became pregnant and did not start again until i knew that he could make his own, so he would not start.

What?

I am trying hard not take exception to your other comment? I did maintain my health, at 60 they finally believe i do not have diabetes, no cholesterol. I have high blood pressure though it is just the same as yours now, but for me that is high and it is related to the weakening of my heart from lack of air. this is not due to copd or lung cancer or heart attacks, this is due to a very rare condition called a thymoma. I am tired of people looking at me or hearing me and jumping to negative conclusions. there are so many things in the world that will kill you and you have never heard of them. I am sorry for your brother's fate. perhaps part is not so much his problems as your beliefs?

I don't think you understood my comment at all. My brother wasn't taking care of himself. By pointing out to him that diabetes could take his eyesight /take away his ability to read, he was scared into taking better care of himself. He's now healthier. He needed a reason to monitor his diet and medications better.

I believe I'd like my baby brother to stay alive, and taking care of himself will further that goal.

The Kingkiller Chronicles are great!! Have you read the Slow Regard of Silent Things? It's an interlude for those books, a story totally about Auri, and how she lives beneath the University.

Yes! I just read it (twice) about two weeks ago. Loved it, thought it's very different.

And while I am not a conspiracy theory promoter, I do remember many years ago, when the large box booksellers and Amazon were putting many independent bookstores out of business, reading about the downsides to monopolies and electronic versions of books.

I tend to think this is more of an economic issue. I don't think Amazon wants to control thought so much as they want to control sales.

What if, in the future, the only books available are virtual? What safeguards are in place that ensure original texts are kept intact? What if the government or some other institution decides that the text, or the ideas promoted in a book is offensive?

Well, to some extent, this is already happening. Conservative thought and traditional Christian beliefs are under fire.

Print books will keep history honest and intact.

Always assuming, of course, that what's in the print books is honest in the first place. I'm not sure that's a given.

My children detest that I write and underline in books. They have since they were little. I don't understand how they study and learn without marking the pages.

I'm not a book-marker, but neither am I against it. However, I am appalled at how so many of my students treat books. Clearly some of them have never been taught to take good care of things!

Our schools did not even have libraries. We had a mobile library that came

Wow, I thought my little country school had small resources. I'm amazed that anyone today grew up in a school without a library!

Oh, I remember the Book Bus! When I was in lower elementary school, we didn't have a library in our small town, and the Book Bus'd come around every so often to bring kids' books to us in the summer months. Oh, did I love that!

It was from Weekly Reader. Oh the thrill of bringing the Weekly Reader pamphlet back to school with some coins to order a new book.

Oh, Weekly Readers! I had forgotten them. Yes, we used to get them during the school year, and parents had the option of having them mailed to us at home during the summer months. My mom got them for me a couple years, then decided that bit of reading wasn't worth the cost -- and I understand that; she made sure we went to the library every week during the summer. I also loved that my grandmother always gave me a subscription to a children's magazine for my birthday.

My own children had nothing similar to Weekly Readers.

I think that there is way too much misplaced value attached to very young children's books nowdays. Working in the store, I saw a lot of these and a lot of them are nothing but eye candy and pure nonsense.

Disagree. My children loved so many books ... not all of them were valuable in literary terms, but the bright colors and fun language were enjoyable, and we sat for hours and hours in the rocking chair enjoying them together. Their purpose was to teach the kids that reading is fun.

Some seem to equate opting out of having a personal library to not having an appreciation, a "love", for books. That is not so.

Agree, and technology has provided alternate ways to maintain a personal library.

I don't know that anyone insinuated that..did I miss something? Of course one can have a love of or for something and not have five or 100 or an entire room full. We all have things that fill our hearts. Some of us, it's books.

My brother's got boxed Transformers coming out of his ears, and so many dvd collections of cartoons and tv shows we watched growing up. That fills his heart, and usually I know what I'm getting for Christmas-something from our childhood. I've got Jem and Three's Company, Fresh Prince, Cosby Show, he's gotten the kids the Smurfs and Gummi Bears cartoons. He's got Knight Rider at his house and has yet to let me borrow it. But those things, I can watch once and I'm good. He revisits them, that's his connection.

I feel a deep connection to certain books, and certain authors. It's not even "Oh that was a good book" or "Yeah, he's/she's a good author". It's a visceral reaction to certain books. Mom introduced me to Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew when I was quite young. Some of them I've read innumerable times. She had a Piers Anthony series I enjoyed (repeatedly) so I bought my own when I got married. Stephen King, Lee Child, John Sanford..I feel a connection with those authors, and even if I never read the books again, it makes me happy to see them on my bookshelves. I enjoy talking about books and discussing them w/others who enjoyed them as well. I don't read philosophy or poetry or Shakespeare or..I don't know, Atlas Shrugged, books that people have these deep deep talks about, classic literature, that's not generally where you'll find me. Slaughterhouse 5..totally didn't get it. Catch-22, eh. That one I think I'll go back and read and maybe I'll like it more. Have not tried Pride and Prejudice, but To Kill a Mockingbird, A Separate Peace, loved.

I found a couple small books mom and one of my gramma's used to read to my brother and I, and then I read repeatedly when I learned how. Gramma is gone now, and I can still hear her voice and remember my brother and I being curled up with her, listening and the funny voices she would use for the donkey, cat, and dog, and the pictures from the other book, how sad we were for the little kitten and his hurt paw.

To me, some books are treasures, and I know that what brings me happiness in owning does not bring happiness to everyone, and what I enjoy reading or collecting is not what everyone enjoys reading or collecting. I would never, and have never, form an assumption or judgement of someone based on their like or dislike for books, reading, or owning books. (you will get a Spock brow raise, however, if you have the Twilight and/or 50 Shades books haha)

"

Print books will keep history honest and intact.

Always assuming, of course, that what's in the print books is honest in the first place. I'm not sure that's a given."

Very true.....history is still written by the victors, whether it's printed on paper or not. We forget that at our own peril

Wow. Some people can find a way to interject politics into ANY discussion, can't they?

Interjecting politics into a discussion is when someone promotes political ideas or offers judgment of political ideas. Recognizing the power of the written word is not the same thing as endorsing or advocating or protesting a political idea.

What is in print can easily be untrue or misleading. There is much power in the written word----much. It is a powerful tool for disseminating ideas and knowledge, both destructive and constructive.

Now, we have the written word being disseminated not only on dead trees, but in digital as well. It is no longer between the covers of a book. It is now streaming onto a lighted screen and onto my desktop through a wire the size of a human hair.

Amazing, and powerful!!!!!!

I was specifically referring to this, which absolutely IS politicizing a discussion about books. Ridiculous.

What if, in the future, the only books available are virtual? What safeguards are in place that ensure original texts are kept intact? What if the government or some other institution decides that the text, or the ideas promoted in a book is offensive?

Well, to some extent, this is already happening. Conservative thought and traditional Christian beliefs are under fire.

In my life, EVERYTHING is political. Thanks Dad. I wasn't raised during The Depression. I was raised in Ireland. 'Nuff said. (Angela's Ashes is the ONLY book I have read multiple times. "It was wet" Frank McCourt).

my dad left school at fourteen, my mom at fifteen. We were certainly not a wealthy family. Books have been their mainstay over all of those years to the present. As a very young child (and, yes, I taught myself to read before I was four) Enid Blyton was my favorite author (Mallory Towers and St. Clare's). By the time I had read all of those my mom sent me to the library. I got through all of those books too so mom had to go talk with the librarian so I could read the "grown up books". I was ten/eleven. The BEST books were the ones I "stole" from my parents. Books that were censored in Ireland, Lady Chatterly's Lover and Amber and others. My parents were rebels in their own quiet way and they passed that on to their children. My mom is going blind. (Look her up, Alice Conba) and reading is one huge loss for her. My dad reads her emails to her and her texts are hilarious! Every one of us, children, grandchildren and now, their great-grandchild, love our books (doesn't matter if they are e-books or hard copy) and we love them fiercely. Parker Noelle is not even three and she goes to bed with Puppy, Lola and her books. Always books. She kisses everything/everyone goodnight. Including her books.

We are a family of writers, artists, photographers, storytellers. And readers. Always readers.

Thank you SO much for this post.

Books are so ingrained in who I am that I even have a large rendition of one of Garth Williams' illustrations from The Tall Book of Make Believe as part of my tattoo sleeve. As a very young child, I found that book at my maternal grandmother's house (not the librarian), and it absolutely enthralled me (although it wasn't mine - it was published in 1950, and I was born in '62, and the family is still not certain where it came from). It continues to move me every time I pick it up from the shelf where it resides today. Its stories and poems and artwork can still transport me to a place where teddy bears come to life, a so-ugly-he's-cute ghost haunts an old couple's house, and a baby mermaid combs her hair with a shell.

As a baby boomer who grew up in NYC, Brooklyn to be exact. We lived in a Brownstone and then a small, tiny apartment, but always had many, many books. My father, a highly educated professional never read except for work. As an attorney he read a lot. My mother a high school drop out read at least a 5-7 books a week. She took the three of us to the used book store at least once a week and let each of us buy one book, they were .25C and she took home several for herself. We also visited a local candy store that rented books out for pennies a day and my mom would rent something she had heard about from the NY Times or other publication.

My mother's sister also a high school drop out and teenage mom read non-stop while the tv blared in the background. She had a number of friends who passed her books and they were loved, read, re-read and passed to the next person. She also had a set of encyclopedias but no real room for them. So she lined them up under the china cabinet in the living room. Large reference books were slide between an arm chair and the wall. I loved lying on her floor for hours and reading the encyclopedias, atlas' and Life magazines. To this day I love browsing old dusty books, siting in my living room with either the tv or radio on in the background. Books were the one constant and normal in my very dysfunctional childhood. They are friends.

Also the one item I still have from childhood is my second hand copy of "Little Women".

Little Women was one of my favorites. My parents have all of my books up in their attic. How I loved those books.

dear ms. pete, forgive me, sensitive subject, and then a brainburp made me misread. I do not truly believe that baby boomers need worry. we all read books it is the latest generations that don't read. my husband read all manuals, me all fiction. I was raised by a german wwII child and step father was great depression. my husband's parents were both college graduates and grew up during great depression. i do not believe the stigmatism of being poor affects desire to read.

my grandson, does not like being read too. i do not know his mom but his dad neither reads nor sings and not due to his family lineage for sure. he was given tons of books. and he is incredibly intelligent. but there are definite sheldon elements within him.

I recently received a box of photos, letters, writings, and other memorabilia from my father's mother. Included in the box was a book titled, "In The Sweet Bye-and-Bye," a collection of drawings based on the popular hymn. There was an inscription in the front, "To Sadie, from Alice, San Fransisco 1889." We looked up what name had the nickname, "Sadie," and learned it was Sarah. My 2nd Great Grandmother on that side was Sarah Herbert Goyer. My dad was named Herbert for his middle name, presumably for her maiden name. Sarah died in 1891. I can now hold this book that she held in those last two years of her life. She died at 39 years old. Her DNA is probably still on this book as I hold it, a hundred and twenty nine years later. It may also hold the DNA of her son, my Great Grandfather Clinton Herbert Goyer, and my Grandmother Margaret Goyer Donovan, both gone now for almost all of my life.

Such a silly book of maudlin pictures and trite sayings!

Dear Nancyinmich -- I understand how moving this is for you. Lucky that you can experience this touch from the past. But, if you could go back to their time, would it be silly maudlin and trite? There were sophisticates in their time too who would describe the book in that way. But the whole society was familiar with death death death, especially of children. In day to day life they were in need of some light simple truisms. That is just a thought of the moment.

bleu, this is the disconnect. many people back then would have hung on the wall or in some other way honored it. your moment is very current.

nancy, that is a very special kind of book, in it's own way. There are many books still that are filled with maudlin pictures and trite sayings. Not all is print worthy.

What people are keeping is the stuff that they have bought from the Borders, B&N, and Amazon over the last couple of decades.

"What people are keeping is the stuff that they have bought from the
Borders, B&N, and Amazon over the last couple of decades."

Being new doesn't make it any less special, just as being old doesn't make it more special. It's about the memories and emotions attached to it, not its age.

I don't believe any person has the ability to dictate to another what constitutes "print worthiness." That's the absolute beauty of a book. Its intrinsic value is wholly in the eyes of the person in whose hands it is held.

I love books. I grew up in a family that emphasized reading and there were books books books everywhere. Many we owned, and always a few dozen borrowed from library at any one time. I once worked in a bookstore and spent most of my earnings on more books (not the best job for me obviously if I wanted to eat). I moved a lot in my 20s and early 30s and always had these boxes and boxes of books to move. I read many of them over again, but not all, but felt they were valuable to me.

But things changed for me in last few years. My mother got very sick and began clearing her own things wanting them to go to people who valued them as she did, and when she died there was still so many more things - not just books but a lot of books - for us to sort through and if all had me sort of swing completely the other way. Having so much stuff - even books - seemed more of a burden than a joy. Things to store and keep track of and dust and occupy space. I purged a lot - books included, keeping only those of my books that meant something to me - that sparked joy - and donated the rest, mostly to hospitals.

I still love to read for pleasure (I have to read a lot for work too, so less often for pleasure now as used to be), but the joy is that I can live fully in the reading as I do - be it a hard copy book or e-book - and send it on its way and open room in my home for the next. The memory of the book remains, good or bad! The value for me is in the words, in the experience of the read, not the physical paper. I also feel less guilt if I don’t finish a book that is (in my view) terrible whereas I used to finish every book no matter what.

My library card takes up so much less space and more importantly frees up space just to be...space. Room to breathe for me. Also a lot nicer financially for $15.00 a year to have all the books I want to read available to me be it hard copy or electronic...I used to often feel a bit bad about how much I spent on books! It’s also nice when traveling to just take my iPad Mini and download books even while sitting in the airport waiting for a transfer.

Rai, you stated it all so very well!

I agree with every word of your statement.

I, too, don't need to have a material object to fill up the space of my house to remember the joy or pleasure of an experience. And, I don't forget the knowledge that I gained about something just because I do not have a copy of the book.

The actual number of books that anyone might really read again is probably much less than most would admit.

Husband has a wall of books that I think he keeps mostly because he thinks that it makes a statement about him. Yes, he did read them all, but he is unlikely to ever read them again. As a matter of fact, I have never known him to read a book again, ever. And, we have been together for a very long time. Maybe that is true of some who feel a need to keep a copy of everything that they have filled their mind with. Maybe it is because they feel that it represents them. Maybe it is as if they feel that it is an extension of them.

Actually, that is also much the same behavior as a hoarder. The excess items that surround a hoarder become part of their identity, and it is like removing a part of them to remove a material object.

The freedom from the expense of buying so many books and the physical keeping of the books is invaluable. Also, the ability to just download, anywhere, what ever you want to read and where ever you want to read it is a luxury never believed possible by those of yesteryear.

Husband does feel that the books make a statement about him. But, they only make that statement to him, as he and I are the only ones who ever see them.

The statement that they make to me is that he is deluded to think that they are a viable statement of who he is and that he is seriously deluded about who does any keeping of said tomes. He is in denial about the fact that the kids will haul them away to the charity store when we get old or die. Or, toss them into some recycling bin.

It is also true that the smaller number of things you keep, the more appreciation you will have for that which is kept.

"Husband does feel that the books make a statement about him. But, they
only make that statement to him, as he and I are the only ones who ever
see them."

But he's the most important person to make a judgement on himself. Those books are just a tangible reminder of that statement he's making about himself.

I wonder why books at times, and for some, are not considered valuable, or not deemed that they should be or could be something valuable, to someone else. Someone else's pictures are not valuable to me. They are valuable to that person. If the pictures are gone, the memory of that person is still there. But only for those who have memory of that person. And after a while, regardless, memory fades, and for those who did not actually experience that memory themselves, it will never evoke the same emotion or hold as much value on its own, as it would with something tangible. I can read all I want about Ellis Island and the immigrants coming over, but spending the time w/my daughter a few months ago actually *there*, seeing and experiencing what people have painstakingly preserved for future generations-that was a memory immeasurable. Do I think my falling apart at the seams Swan Song is going to be displayed anywhere under glass so people can be amazed and astounded by it? Of course not, but that doesn't make it any less valuable to *me*, and if there are books that in 30 years remind my kids of a memory that they may have otherwise forgotten (bc let's face it, there's no one on the entire planet who hasn't thought, oh wow, I'd forgotten all about that until I saw XYZ)), then for me, that's a wonderful thought. I'll take the tattered item that holds special memories for me that I can think back to now and again when I see it, regardless of someone else's perceived lack of value.

We all see if differently, and that's ok. That doesn't make anyone's *opinion* any less worthy or any more right than another's.

It goes without saying, do whatever suits you -- keep books you've read or cull them. I can't connect with this comment: "he has never, will never, reread the books he keeps." I will not be "rereading" the many books I keep -- and I have bookshelves to hold them. I don't keep them to bolster my image to myself or my friends. I may reread them or not but I will occasionally get the urge to open ONE of them and be reminded of a revelation that serves me now. Just seeing a certain book cover may bring to mind the whole experience of the book or be motivation for something that needs doing. No, I can't get them at the library, and for the most part wouldn't do it. I don't need to remember everything in my life nor every book I've read; who could do that? But seeing the books on the shelf is part of a conversation in my life.

But seeing the books on the shelf is part of a conversation in my life.

Yes, yes, yes. Thank you.

I still say the he, or she, who does the keeping gets to decide what gets kept, or not. In this house, if you don't take ownership or responsibility for it and I am the one who has to do that for you, then it is I who will make decisions about it.

I am retiring/downsizing from the keeping of things, so things are getting pared down, a lot. The less things to take care of, the better. I'm done.

the thing about the books saying things about you, is so true. my home is rarely open to others for some reason, but the few times others have come in they always were amazed about something. there was always the choice in artwork, but that rarely compared to the amazement about any given section of my books. I would always get... but i thought you were/weren't into this.. smart enough to value this.... etc. i always wonder what people think of me?

I've always found it interesting that people measure others by the books they display or possessions they have. To a certain degree I understand the impulse, it's a very human instinct. Sometimes it sparks a conversation in unexpected (and pleasant) directions with company new and old. And then I come back to the Buddhist monk or the consummate minimalist. He or she must be a complete mystery to the company in his or her humble abode.

I would think even the most Spartan of monks would at least have a rice bowl and that rice bowl could tell a story. The Buddhist monk I know has an impressive library of Eastern and Western theology and spirituality as well as a tremendous music library as she was a classically trained pianist.

Or you can skip the rice bowl, and simply...converse. :-)

A bowl? Who needs a bowl? Just hold the rice in your hand and eat it. That way, you are responsible for washing your own hand, not me.

My kids friends always marveled at how our house was so unlike what they saw in most of the homes of others. We have always been somewhat eclectic and pretty much non-conforming and have had walls of books.

But, I don't need physical, material objects to define me.

Husband still has a wall of books of science, social issues, and philosophy, and history, all noble and enlightening ideas. I think that, in some ways, the science books reflect the fact that he regrets not having entered that field and followed his passion. If only he had known what he really wanted to do when he grew up!

Now, I think, that he keeps them there as some statement of what he could have done, or, maybe some delusion that it may still happen. Or, just some connection.

But, the reality is that they don't get touched anymore unless I have to move them or clean around them. When it comes that time, some of them do not make it back onto the shelf. They mostly take up space and collect dust. Still, there is a treasure of knowledge in those books. I understand the value. But, I also understand that they do not broadcast that knowledge unless you actually touch them. Unless you actively engage with them, that knowledge and pleasure and excitement of ideas just stays between the covers, that collect dust, and take up space, and time to keep in good working order.

I'm done with it. I am ready to move on to other things and it does not involve a wall of old books or a collection, of anything.

A visitor to our home once told us, "If you can tell what a person is like from the books they read.....you guys are really weird."

LOL!!

i am sorry kitty, i am confused, what do you mean, choose not to display? i did not know you had a choice. there are only so many shelves, you don't want to lose any?

i think i have got it now. i had a dear friend who taught middle school english. she gave me an anne rice book, "the mummy". loved it. she left school and next i saw her i tried to ask about an ann rice book and she swore she had no idea what i was talking about. i believe it is because ann had become famous.

i don't really believe most true book lovers do that. the people who stage their homes i am sure they do, because after all they choose what is on their table or on their shelves.