Words not required

I recently became aware of several companies that sell books by the foot to home decorators who incorporate books of a certain appearance in a room's décor.

This seems wrong to me on so many levels.

First, who would want to stock their shelves with books that they have not read? Since when did the appearance of a book trump the words contained within? This seems like the ultimate in pretension and affectation, two qualities that I despise.

One of our bookshelves is in the dining room, nearly