In this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine there was an article with the intriguing title of “On Their Death Bed, Physical Books Have Finally Become Sexy“. Beyond the weird juxtaposition of death beds and sexiness, I wanted to know what this was all about, so I guess the title at least worked as a good “hook”!
It turns out that what this is all about is the fashion trend of decorating with books, even if one doesn’t read them, or only reads electronic versions of them. The article notes how almost any interior design magazine or home journal shows lots of pictures of rooms with attractive and book-filled shelves. It also describes how some people will buy books simply for the color of the book spines–all in purple or green, for example. And so, whole businesses have developed providing books in bulk to those who want to look literate. I’ve seen these in furniture stores and most look like old book club editions minus dust jackets and probably salvaged from estate sales, or desperate children cleaning out a parent’s home.
I guess this keeps them out of landfills, at least for another generation, or until their owners tire of that “look”. Yet in a strange way, I also get it. We have a bookcase with Library of America titles we bought on subscription until the bookcase was filled. I think the only way I got away with this was that my wife liked the way the books looked in our living room. But I’ve always had many hours of enjoyment reading those books, whether it is tales by Mark Twain, or the speeches of Abraham Lincoln.
It seems that rooms lined with shelves have a special kind of coziness. They don’t just make their owners appear to be literate but, if not overly messy or threatening to tumble onto one’s guests, they lend a warmth to a room that might seem too stark with just a few pieces of furniture. And there is also the implicit invitation of, “come and read and explore the treasures within” that seems to be lacking when one looks at a Kindle or tablet lying on a coffee table.
The only problem I see with decorating with randomly acquired books one has no intent of reading is that you not only mislead your guests as to your literacy, but you send false messages about yourself. I love to look at the books on other people’s shelves to learn about what interests them. But if their books are selected only for appearance rather than content, that misleads me. Or maybe it doesn’t if I figure out that is what is going on. That also tells me something about the person, perhaps something not entirely complimentary.
Yet, my mother-in-law was always fond of saying, “where there is life there is hope.” I might just have to adapt that motto and say, “where there are books, there is hope!”