Do people inspect your bookshelves when they visit?

I wish people would look, actually, most do not really

with more living space, I have finally been able to pull everything - everything -- out of old boxes and display on tall book shelves:
everything from pre-Socratic summaries from undergrad classes, to tasters' illustrated guide to wines most recently

at least 50 percent politics and philosophy with gusts through English lit, French culture, history, religion, sports

subject for another discussion: what percentage of the books displayed have you never (entirely) read?

A.: a lot more than I would want to admit!

It usually depends on whose home I'm in. If it's someone I'm interested in getting to know better, then a bookshelf makes for a great conversation starter. I frequently trade books back and forth between friends, so it's also a great way to find new reading material.

Always, the bookshelf is one of the first things I look at. My wife has gotten mad at me because at parties when we are suppose to be still chatting up the host and the like, I am off scoping out the bookshelves. Not is only a good way to learn at the owners, I also find out if they have anything I want to borrow.

I will also admit that I assume other do the same, and therefore I have edited the content of my more visible bookshelves before people have come over. I try and tailor the contents for the people that are coming. I am always a bit surprised by the numbers of people that don't check out the bookshelves during their visit.

I think it's because I look at other people's bookshelves that I assume they are looking at mine! Books are very revealing, not just of who you are but, as someone pointed out, of your history.

At one time, I tried to maintain a kind of division: books that were more or less generally "acceptable" in the living room, political books along with books I read when I was younger in my bedroom and "office". The situation was further complicated by the fact that I also used to conceal some books from my political friends! I think it's obvious how ridiculous all this was.

Lately, this system has been breaking down - my political books have spilled over into the living room - and probably this reflects not only lack of space but an unwillingness to conceal parts of who I am.

ETA: Now I've revealed how utterly boring I am: I keep (books by)Lenin in my bedroom rather than erotic literature [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img]

[ 12 November 2007: Message edited by: RosaL ]

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:
[b]You could create a section of "dangerous" books and include Lenin, Salman Rushdie, Charles Darwin and any erotica you have lying about. Now that would get the attention of your guests ... and they would be confused about your intentions and orientation. Heheh.[/b]

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Excellent idea! I could put some theology in there, too. heh.

I definitely inspect people's bookshelves, if they sport them, but if they don't read I won't hold it against them. I used to harshly judge people who had, say, Matchbox 20 albums on their shelves (and I'd lie if I said that I didn't feel a candle of respect for such a person flicker and die with that revelation) but people can surprise you. In fact, just because someone has James Joyce on their shelves is no get out of jail free card.

As for my own shelves, I do confess a guilty, materialist pride in having them filled (why else are bookshelves customarily in the "public" living rooms as opposed to the private bedrooms, or even in broom closets--could you imagine?) But I'm more boastful of my graphic novels and hardboiled fiction collection than my theory or high literature books--either because they afford me street-level cred or because I actually enjoy them more.

But it's definitely a weird thing, bookshelves. I agree that they reveal a lot about someone, but I don't think one's cultural taste is the alpha and omega of character judgement. (As for the bedroom talk, I've tried reading passages of [i]The Communist Manifesto[/i] and [i]The German Ideology[/i] to my partner in the late evening, but it hasn't quite worked so far. Revolution ain't what it used to be, I guess.)

I had a roommate who tried to subvert perceptions of our bookshelves by stocking them with classic self-help literature along the lines of How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, etc. I'm not sure how to judge the results because no one ever commented, probably because they were too polite.

I [i]always[/i] look at people's book shelves.

Most of the books Rebecca and I have don't fit on the shelves we have, so they are downstairs in safe storage for the time being.

I do have rules on what I display. I do not display books I have not read-- the exception being the odd book that I intend to read. I have one on the shelf at the moment.

I do not care that people will see my two thick books by de Sade, nor other libertine works, or a few works of erotica that I have among those Anais Nin, and those spankarific books by Anne Rice, and a collection of poetry by Catalus.

Of the three daughters from my first marriage, all officially claim this house as their residence. However, all but one actually resides here, and she has some concrete plans to move out in the new year. This will finally open up another room that we will convert into a study/ guest room-- or maybe just a study. Then we'll have room, I think, to unstore the other books.

I'm sure there are scores that Rebecca has that I have not yet seen, and I will be able to read them.

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He saw the spine of my copy of William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and gave me a strange look. Shirer's book has a swastika on the spine.

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I have, somewhere kicking around, a fairly good biography of Adolf Hitler. These types of books are the only ones that give me a twinge of trepidation about displaying, but in the end, I would.

If I could find the damn thing.

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Originally posted by Stargazer:
[b]hey good thread!

I never hide any of my books. I had such amazing books prior to my move back from Winnipeg (boxes upon boxes of collector books gone). Now I have three full book shelves and they contain everything from the erotic arts to The Vertical Mosaic. I also have graphic novels (autographed) and weird counter culture books like Crispin Glover's What It Is?[/b]

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ahhhh, the same thing happened when i moved from winnipeg to toronto. if it didn't fit in my van it didn't come. the guideline i used for books and vinyl was: will i think its cool i kept this when i'm 80. it was harsh, and my friends were more than happy to help with the reduction.

one of the keepers, a first edition of Hunter S. Thompson's "Hell's Angels", hardcover with black fabric and a red and silver embossed cover and ragged edged pages. sweet.

stargazer, did you happen to see Crispin's weird multimedia show a ways back at the Pyramid? he read selections from his book for housewives from the 1800's he edited by blanking out words into a handbook on ratcatching. woo.

so, regarding hiding books, does anyone leave books out that may be controversial, to see if they are commented on? (sort of like the usurper previously mentioned, but more blatant)

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stargazer, did you happen to see Crispin's weird multimedia show a ways back at the Pyramid? he read selections from his book for housewives from the 1800's he edited by blanking out words into a handbook on ratcatching. woo.

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No but I wish I had. I saw him at the Festival of Fear in Toronto. He had his show at the Bloor Cinema ,which I missed (I am still kicking myself for that one). I did get the photograph with him as well as What It Is? autographed. He is a strange cat in real life.

Nice find on the Hell's Angels book. I read the soft cover.

I don't really have any books I am afraid people will see. I do have the Redneck Manifesto, but that is because I really like the counter culture books. I'm not too worried about that one because it was worth reading, even though I did not agree with his rant.

My books are pretty much a reflection of me, and I like that.

I used to clean houses for rich people. It took me awhile before I realized they had no book-cases! Then I noticed how few books they had - maybe a "block-buster" or two and that would be it. They had a lot of money but were culturally poor. (I realize this isn't true of all rich people!)

I've read almost every book I've ever bought. Looking at my bookshelf, I count only 4 books out of a couple of hundred that I haven't read - and they were all gifts, that I keep telling myself I should read one day, to try to figure out why those people chose them for me.

Strange that someone who tells you they couldn't buy you a shirt because they don't know your tastes would think that they could buy you a book, isn't it?

I worked cleaning carpets one summer, and one thing the struck me, and depressed me, was how few people even [i]had[/i] books.

There was the everpresent television, and the omnipresent Disney VHS collection, but not a book to be found anywhere.

I know, many people keep books in a study, den, or office. But in many, nay most(I'd say 19/20), of those homes, books did not exist.

I wanna get books just to freak people out when they see them on the shelf, like "Mein Kampf" next to the "Left Behind" series, next to "Dianetics".

While I am always interested in what's on people's bookshelves, I guess I think it might be seen as prying to inspect too closely with people I don't know well. [And people I do know- well, that's not as interesting.]

The nature of my work I'm in a lot of people's houses when they aren't there. THEN I inspect the bookshelves, and if I've never even seen them it means I get to construct outlines of who they are.

I should say that I'm not judgmental by nature, and I tend to take personal asseeemnets I make as tentative even when they are based on more evidence than the books on their shelves. But that doesn't change the attraction of speculative constructs.

I had never thought about it before, but if you could seperate which books I owned, you'd probably be puzzled if you knew me. And if you didn't know me, your speculative construct would be nothing like me.

[ 24 December 2007: Message edited by: KenS ]

Am an avid reader and also a book pack rat, with most of my books in boxes. One on the shelf is Mein Kampf - that I haven't read. Some would be shocked, but I picked it up at a book swap at, of all places, a Canadian Legion.

Whether a book shelf, or a book being read on the bus, I have gone into contortions to read a title.

I keep my locally published books and all my signed books on my one loan book shelf (this thread has got me looking around the house to build more shelving so more books are out).

I do have a signed copy of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" which is most prized book, and it just sits there with the rest of them.