About Me

My photo
United Kingdom
I've been creative writing all my life, though with various haitus(es) along the way. IFrom 2010 I started this blog and enjoyed sharing writing and other information with everyone. illness and bereavement supplied the more recent hiatus.

Sunday 30 April 2017

Books are there to FURNISH THE MIND, not the home!

I was listening to BBC Radio 4 Sunday Morning Magazine Programme. There was a piece about how people buy books to fill their shelves or just buy first editions to own, just for show, rather than for reading. The author, Terry Deary, of the piece, said it was like a dead tree or a dead forest!

Absolutely! Books are there to furnish the mind not the home. - Someone emailed the programme to say that this attitude was inverted snobbery. Really?


I met someone who when I invited her for dinner, scoured my bookshelves to see what types of books I read. She seemed relieved that we shared a similar taste in novels.

I'm delighted that ebooks seem to be becoming overshadowed by REAL books. I agree with Mary Kenny who says the look, feel and practical nature of real books (I would add smell, too) is still a draw for most people. 
They are satisfying, more versastile and so much more aesthetically gratifying.  Yes they take up space and collect dust, but as the author says
I agree that parting with favourite books can be hard.  

I hate lending books to people who don't return them. I know someone who used to charge her friends for overdue returns on loaned books. She's a librarian now!

How do you feel about books?


6 comments:

  1. Hi Madeleine - I half heard this or similar ... and yes we should read them - I buy them to read ... trouble is they sit there! Books need to live as we learn so much from them ... open their pages and expand our mind ... cheers Hilary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can relate to that, Hilary. When I was younger I worked in a bookshop, but now I read much more than I did back then.

      Delete
  2. I love the look of my shelves full of books, and I have bought books for their beauty - but if we only appreciate the covers, we're missing out on so much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love books! I have special books that I have read (and sometimes have gotten them signed) in a place of honor. I think books are beautiful and I love scanning the bookshelves of others when I am visiting their homes. :)
    ~Jess

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear you Jess. The are wonderful things aren't they. Good to hear :)

      Delete

Comments with heart are worth their weight in gold. Thank you.
NB: Comments based on others comments can lead to misunderstandings.
COMMENTS now enabled and MAY BE MODERATED so may TAKE TIME TO APPEAR, Thank you.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.