Links + meme + reminder
Some neat links I picked up from various book-related blogs:
- Via Reading Copy, 50s SF book art
- Also via the same blog, Library look, revised, an article in the LA Times about how personal libraries have become a mark of style
- Yet again via Reading Copy, A new leaf, an article in the Guardian about how Colombia is constructing libraries to rebuild ( Read more... )
Most of my unread books are in piles next to my bed, because that way I know where they are, and it satisfies my own sense of order and rhythm to move the books to the (pile on top of) a bookcase only after I've read them. That said, I find it ridiculous to try to dictate an etiquette regarding the non-intrusive personal use of personal property--that's pure snobbery. Reading habits are unique, and so is the relationship between a reader and their books.
I would probably think of someone who had a large display of books they had not read, never intended to read, and did not use as a poser; someone trying to create an appearance of something that wasn't true. There are, however, lots of ways to read a book, and lots of uses for books, especially reference works, that don't involve reading them cover to cover--this is very well-illustrated by the various comments from people with widely differing reading habits and emotional relationships with their physical books and bookcases.
My only rules for bookshelf display are content types--fiction together, drama and poetry together, reference together, classics together, comics, cartoons and graphic novels together, folklore and mythology together, artbooks together, manga taking up three times as much space and the next largest category.
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