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People displaying books but not reading it!
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Why would it make more sense to buy posters? If he's someone who likes the look of books why would he want posters? I can more understand someone who wants to decorate a place with (unread) books than I can someone who has endless china nick-nacks that just need dusting.
Petra, I'm impressed by your "read" collection of classics. I hope to slowly work myself up to that level very soon. In fact I'm working on it as we speak.The thing with china knick-knacks is that it doesn't fraudulently give the appearance of knowledge of a certain subject. With books people expect it to be an extension of your knowledge, and when people buy books with no intention of ever reading them, it seems rather counterfeit.
petra, haven't seen you around lately. guess i'm looking at the wrong threads. hope you're fine
El wrote: "Isn't that deceitful?"How is my decoration "deceitful?"
Jessi wrote: "Wouldn't it make more sense just to buy posters of those people or something?"
I personally haven't seen someone use posters for decoration since college... and posters really wouldn't match his decor. I don't think it would make sense to buy posters of them if he would rather display books about them.
I totally agree. There have been many times where I go into someone's home or a model home, and see a collection of classic books (or just books in general). With me being the curious cat, I decide to flip it open to read the cover page or a page to see if I would be interested in it.. only to find that the book is fake (either blank pages, or one of those fake books where you can open and put things inside).
It makes me sad :(
C wrote: "Actually, I have rows of bookshelves filled with law books designed to impress clients. Looks like a legal library and is, but nobody uses it. Quite frankly, I've no intention to ever do anything more than dust them."C, I was commenting more on the use of the word "impress" in your initial statement. I think doing anything just to "impress" people is rather deceitful.
The main basis for my feelings on this comes from a friend of mine who was dating a guy who had a wonderful display of books. Only to find out that he hadn't read a single one of them, but was using them to "impress" girls by looking smarter than he actually was. It doesn't really "impress" anyone if they've never been read by the person trying to make the impression.
As a potential client, if I asked you about the books only to find they were just "decoration", personally I would be turned off by that. Of course that's just my opinion and I know a lot of people could not care less, but that's just my feeling on it.
As far as someone displaying books about things they're interested in yet not reading the books, I then question just how interested they are in the subject. I have many books that are on my shelves that are unread currently, but that certainly is not a permament issue as I plan to read them all.
I wouldn't feel ethically comfortable putting something on "display" (ie, coffee table book or similar) without being able to discuss the content of the book.
Rosemary wrote: "oh, snap!"Rosemary, if you're referring to me, "snap" was not my intention. I stated clearly that it was my opinion. My question to C above was not meant to be an attack and my follow-up was my perspective backed by personal experience. Everyone has different opinions.
I do not understand what this "snap" means . Is it something we should not be doing or saying? ??????????
nope, no derogatory snap intended, i just enjoyed your eloquence! Nobody really knows the system by which personal books are displayed or read. That's the fun of it! I have an entire counter top of unread books that I plan to read. When and in what order remains to be seen.
Petra - I loved your story about buying 5' of bargain books just to have something new to read. Sounds like something I would do!
I got it now. The light just went on "snap"Thanks you all
glad everything worked out ok and people with working minds explained thigs for me. I was afraid I was going to completely have to do away with 'snap' and then what would tht have done to my flamenco career?
Rosemary wrote: "glad everything worked out ok and people with working minds explained thigs for me. I was afraid I was going to completely have to do away with 'snap' and then what would tht have done to my flame..."LOL, unfortunately in my circle "snap" is generally considered a bad thing. As in, "Oh, you told her/him!", or as in I put them in their place. That's why I was quick to make sure no one thought I was trying to be confrontational. :)
El wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "glad everything worked out ok and people with working minds explained thigs for me. I was afraid I was going to completely have to do away with 'snap' and then what would tht have..."Hmmm Never heard of that one.
I'm just kidding, kidding I say, every little bit of it. Snap, unread books, books used for show but then read later. I don't have a flamenco career, I am in a cast up to my knee and hopped up on goofballs. I think I'd better stop contributing for a few days.
Rosemary wrote: "I'm just kidding, kidding I say, every little bit of it. Snap, unread books, books used for show but then read later. I don't have a flamenco career, I am in a cast up to my knee and hopped up on ..."Don't you dare.... So what if you are a little addled.
Snap out of it.hahahahahaaha.
El wrote: "C, I was commenting more on the use of the word "impress" in your initial statement. I think doing anything just to "impress" people is rather deceitful. "It's quite impossible to read that much case law, inside or outside of law school. To be honest, if you go into any attorney's office, chances are the books on the bookshelves are for decoration. It's an impressive array of hundreds of matched books. As far as I know, most attorneys prefer to use the online databases for research. I've been to several offices that have walls of books unrelated to the field actually practiced in those offices, and if they are related, they're very outdated. It's a wall that makes you go "Oooh" and that's about it. I don't see how that's deceitful, or even annoying. And really, I hardly see the connection between a legal library and a guy trying to score.
The original posts were about people in their homes having books on display. In an earlier post I made the statement that my sister-in-law had books on her mantle. I asked if she had read them, she said no they were for show, to make people think they were well read. I said why don't you read them , then you will be well read. Then this link just exploded from there.I do know there are places where you can buy decorator books for show. They are strictly for decorative display. But she made the statement ,so I guess it was really the statement I found unusual.
C wrote: "El wrote: "C, I was commenting more on the use of the word "impress" in your initial statement. I think doing anything just to "impress" people is rather deceitful. "It's quite impossible to re..." as a former secretary to an attorney, at my job interview, i looked at all of the gorgeous books he had displayed on his bookshelves and said, "Oooo, fancy, I bet they're empty.' he laughed his head off and said, well, to a certain degree, they are. we receive updates to the laws that these books hold on a regular basis and they have to be updated all of the time;. He took down one of the books and showed me that it was sort of like a scrapbook where you can unscrew the metal bar that holds the books together, take out the obsolete stuff and replace it with the up to date law." and I WAS impressed. I also got the job. and i spent a lot of time updating the fancy, impressive, useful books.
My college's library has some fake books on display, which annoys the crap out of me. We're a private liberal arts school and we've graduated Paul Newman (sp?), the author of Sea Biscuit and many others. Can't we have real books on those shelves instead?
I was going to say I do this, but that would be a lie. I bought a bunch of antique gothic books because they...are so pretty (I'm a girl) with no intention of reading them, but I got bored one day and did.It bugs me when people add books to their goodreads read shelf to impress people.
Also when girls buy books that guys mention to impress them.
Christy wrote: "It bugs me when people add books to their goodreads read shelf to impress people."People do that?? I guess I take everyone at their word here. If I see a book on their read shelf I expect they read it. Harumph.
And yes, I'm with you on girls buying books guys mention to impress them. Over the years I've read books at the recommendation of my boyfriend, but I usually wind up arguing with him about the kind of crap he reads. :)
I'm with El, I didn't realize people did that.I mean, I can see someone buying those pretty leather bound books with the gold writing for decoration, but a regular book out of the bookstore? And not read it?
HUH?
I have so many books, I don't need anymore to add to a color scheme, and then again, what color scheme! LOL! I'm happy if I can fit it into the shelf.
I don't have my books sitting out, I have them stacked in lockers I got at an antique store. I do keep my most used nonfiction/occult books on a bookshelf in my bedroom, but I don't like it when people even look at them because it always leads to them rearranging them and I have them in order of 'How often I use it/how much useful information is in them' and no one can crack that code but me...So I have to end up cleaning.
Christy wrote: "I don't have my books sitting out, I have them stacked in lockers I got at an antique store. I do keep my most used nonfiction/occult books on a bookshelf in my bedroom, but I don't like it when p..."Why would they rearrange them. That in its self is strange. The only way mine get re-arranged is if someone borrows one. LOL
My friends are incapable of putting things where they belong, using coasters, and not starting fires!
carol (akittykat) wrote: "Christy wrote: "I don't have my books sitting out, I have them stacked in lockers I got at an antique store. I do keep my most used nonfiction/occult books on a bookshelf in my bedroom, but I don'..."Change friends. hehehe
Naw , just luck of the draw. I suppose you could ask them if they have a fetishes about re-arranging books . Just lookey no touchey.
I know better than to ask about fetishes...although, it could tip me off to some great Christmas gift ideas...
Christy what am I going to do with you. I bet your parents say the same thing. By the way your last name was my maiden name.
My sister scot! What's your current surname?
It isn't quite West Side Story, but that's sweet.
When I bought my first house I went out looking for an "entertainment center" to keep my TV, stereo, etc. in, something that I could close off so that those things wouldn't have to be on display (I enjoy entertaining but emphatically DO NOT want the television to be the primary focus in the room if you KWIM). The EC I liked had a matching glass-fronted bookshelf unit and I ended up getting 2 of them so that the one that holds the TV is flanked on either side by bookshelves. I am an obssessive book-buyer so filling them both with books was never a problem. I do confess that I put my more "impressive" books here. They are all books I have read, naturally, but they are also books that I feel reflect the more interesting and intellectual aspects of my personality. Biographies, historical nonfiction, prize-winners, some classics, etc. I hope this doesn't make me sound pretentious and show-offy! But if a guest is perusing my bookshelves and says, "Oh, have you read ****? What did you think?" I want to be able to say, A)yes, and B)be able to talk intelligently about what I've read.
Wouldn't it make more sense just to buy posters of those people or something?