Latest news with #books
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Look how well-read I am!' How ‘books by the metre' add the final touch to your home
People have always used books to assert their sophistication and affluence. You need only visit the library of a National Trust property to see that. The novelist F Scott Fitzgerald famously critiqued the shallowness of the super-rich via his character, Jay Gatsby, who lined his shelves with books in order to project a cultured image of himself – yet they were 'uncut' and had never been read. To one guest at Gatsby's party, that doesn't matter – he describes the shelves (that he had at first assumed to be cardboard facades of books) as 'a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too – didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?' A century on from The Great Gatsby's publication, it is once again fashionable to decorate using books – and to question the motives of those who do so. In Vincenzo Latronico's International Booker-shortlisted Perfection, a novel that highlights the hollowness of chasing a 'cool', 'curated' life, Anna and Tom's self-consciously chic flat features 'floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with paperbacks and graphic novels … interspersed with illustrated coffee-table books – monographs on Noorda and Warhol, Tufte's series on infographics, the Taschen history of typefaces, and another Taschen on the entryways of Milan,' carefully arranged with 'succulents in cement plant pots,' and 'a waist-level camera' in the place of bookends. Through their home, Latronico writes, the couple has created a picture of a life that is 'clear and purposeful' – whether or not that is actually the case. In an age of constant scrolling, there is social capital to be gained by simply looking as if you are a cultured person who listens to music on vinyl and reads lots of books. And creating an aesthetically pleasing bookshelf is now easier than ever, thanks to an increase in booksellers who trade in 'books by the metre'. Vintage volumes are particularly popular, as they offer an instant way to create the effect of a long-established library made up of books collected over many years. 'My bookshelf is now complete,' reads one customer review on an eBay listing for a metre's worth of 'randomly selected' antique titles, available for £50. Dayna Isom Johnson, a trend expert at Etsy, another website where some sellers offer books by the metre, says the company has 'seen a 19,616% increase in searches for book-lover decor' over the past three months, compared with the same time last year. If you're willing to pay a bit more, sellers will offer a more bespoke service: for example, for £98, the online shop Country House Library will sell you a metre of assorted vintage books that all have orange covers. Madeleine Ovenden is head of non-traditional sales at the publisher Thames & Hudson, which specialises in what might be referred to as 'coffee-table books'. She has seen an increase in interior designers wanting to bulk-buy books with spines in similar colours, 'to fit a room theme'. The company now sells bundles of coffee-table books that all fit a certain colour or aesthetic – a stack of lemon-yellow Thames & Hudson books, for instance, could be yours for £119.90. Customers will also come to the publisher directly, Ovenden says, with 'requests by the metre for certain shelf sizes'. The rise in such requests can be attributed to the popularity of the 'bookshelf wealth' interior design trend on TikTok – an extension of the 'quiet luxury' and 'stealth wealth' aesthetic. A bookshelf that looks like an heirloom family collection, complete with art and ornaments, suggests you care about literature and art – and have time and money to spend on these things. Philip Blackwell curates bookshelves for a living via his company, Ultimate Library, which is used by hotels, businesses and homeowners who want to outsource the task of filling up their bookshelves. Though he is critical of the 'books by the metre' trend – Ultimate Library's selling point is that a knowledgable team will work with the client to select books they might actually read – he acknowledges that, if you're trying to build a library from scratch, you will almost inevitably have a certain amount of space to fill. I'm speaking to Blackwell at 40 Leadenhall, a newly developed office building in the City of London, where his company was commissioned to create a library for workers to use. 'That panel there is 14 linear metres multiplied by 33.' So he and his colleagues have to find 462 metres of books to fill that space, though most will be chosen for more than just their age, size or colour, and will be available to borrow. 'Creating a book collection, certainly for a private client, is all about having a discussion, going on a voyage to discover it, and it should be really good fun,' Blackwell says. He likes to quote Cicero: 'A room without books is like a body without a soul.' Services like his, then, manufacture that 'soul' in places such as offices and hotels that might otherwise be pretty soulless. Blackwell's service might be less superficial than simply using books for wall-dressing, but its appeal is still partly down to clients liking the way that books look. Michael Wood, who works for M&G Real Estate, which owns 40 Leadenhall, says M&G approached Ultimate Library partly because 'we've got a big space in this ground floor to fill and books are a great way to do that'. Aesthetically, the books make the building's lobby look less stark – and the higher shelves, which feature older books arranged by colour, are wholly ornamental. 'As a decorative element, books are great because they add a lot of texture,' says New York-based interior designer Tommy Landen Huerter. 'They add colour in places where it wouldn't be easy to otherwise integrate it. They just make a home look a lot more lived-in.' There have 'definitely been clients I have bought books for that will probably never be opened', who want full bookshelves 'just for the aesthetic', he says. He has been asked, for example, to style books on high shelves that homeowners will 'never be able to reach'. That is partly because books look good, but also because of their value as status symbols, Landen Huerter thinks. 'It's like: 'Look how well-read I am because I have the time to read and I'm educated enough to know these topics.'' The designer himself has 'a weird insecurity' over the fact that visitors to his own home wouldn't know he reads, since he does so exclusively on an e-reader and therefore doesn't have any physical books on display. Through your home, 'you want to show your interests' he says – but you can also show what you would like people to think your interests are, which is the impulse behind clients asking him to buy books in bulk for ornamental purposes. 'I can understand why people would say: 'I haven't read 100 books in the last year, but I would like to have.'' Just as they do via social media or through clothing choices, people are often trying to present the version of themselves that they would like to be true, rather than what actually is. Presenting the image of being a book lover has never been easier – part of the reason that buying books by length has become a trend is that books can be bought very cheaply, says Matt Hubbard, owner of secondhand bookshop Halcyon Books in south-east London. In the UK and the US at least (the market is slightly less populated in continental Europe), books are published in huge quantities: 'We're definitely spoiled for having a hell of a lot of books around.' Hubbard says he could easily take on more books than he would be able to sell, and some 'tatty paperbacks' have such a low value that they end up getting recycled. There is a 'sort of a rag trade side of the book business', where books are bought by weight and sold on 'very cheaply' by retailers such as Amazon, eBay and World of Books. This has 'hugely depressed the prices' of a lot of secondhand books, he says. Selling books by the metre, then, is a savvy way for retailers to get rid of large numbers of titles that would otherwise be difficult to shift. It's not without its downsides, though. 'It promotes this overconsumption of things that don't really have meaning, that are just for the aesthetic,' says Landen Huerter. The interior designer worries about the rise of 'fast-fashion trends' in home decor, similar to what has happened in the clothing industry. When people start to feel they need to follow new trends and constantly change their homes, it creates 'a new level of waste and overconsumption', which 'gets away from the whole idea of having a collected and curated space of things that represent yourself, your story and your interests,' he says. Buying books by length allows people to create a kind of 'knock-off' version of a richly filled bookshelf put together over years of reading for people who 'can't be bothered to choose the books and read them,' Hubbard says – or who can't afford a service like Blackwell's, perhaps. It is easy to be snobby about people who fill their bookshelves in this way – but 'we've all got lots of books on our shelves that we haven't read,' Hubbard points out. In Japan, they even have a word – tsundoku – for acquiring books with the best of intentions but letting them pile up without reading them. Though it's obviously frustrating for true bibliophiles when someone has bought a random selection of books in bulk to decorate their home, the fact there are books in their home at all is a good thing, Blackwell thinks. Having books around means that, at the very least, the opportunity to read one is there. 'In my experience', he says, 'there is always the right time and the right place to read a book.' Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Arab News
14 hours ago
- Business
- Arab News
Qari'e platform empowers readers with visual disabilities
RIYADH: The Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, in cooperation with the Authority for the Care of People with Disabilities, has launched a digital platform named Qari'e to provide individuals with visual impairments access to books. This initiative is a part of the Kingdom's broader efforts to promote cultural and intellectual inclusion, ensuring equitable access to knowledge for all, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. It also reflects Saudi Arabia's commitment to the Marrakesh Treaty, which facilitates access to published works for people with visual disabilities. The Qari'e platform improves access through features such as screen reader support, text magnifiers, and other assistive technologies. It offers high-quality content in multiple languages, comprehensive technical support, and free subscriptions to local and international digital libraries. This initiative aligns with Vision 2030, to foster an integrated, knowledge-based society.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Man Leaves Behind 109-Page List of Thousands of Books He Read After His Death at 92
Dan Pelzer read more than 5,000 books throughout the course of his life, including one classic he called "pure torture" One man left his loved ones a very special memento of his time on Earth. Dan Pelzer, who died on July 1 at the age of 92, left his friends and family a 109-page handwritten list of all the books he's read since 1962. Though Pelzer's family considered distributing the list at his funeral, they realized it was far too long to share in that way. So instead, they scanned the list and created a website sharing his reads called, What Dan Read. In Pelzer's obituary, his family shared that his love of reading and libraries first began in 1962, when he was serving as a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Nepal. ADVERTISEMENT 'After discovering a library of about 150 paperbacks, he started documenting every book he read,' the obituary reads. 'Over the next six decades, he read more than 5,000 books.' An excerpt of Dan Pelzer's lengthy list of reads as shown on the site 'What Dan Read.' But despite being incredibly well-read, Pelzer's family shared that the grandfather's reading tastes align with 'his unpretentious nature.' 'While Dan conquered all the classics and read every volume to the end, he much preferred John Grisham to James Joyce, calling Ulysses 'pure torture,' ' the obituary reads. In a post shared on the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Facebook page, Pelzer's daughter, Marci, wrote, 'ALL of his books were Columbus Metropolitan Library books. Nobody loved the library more than Dan.' 'When we were little, he took us to the downtown library every Saturday morning and enrolled us in every summer reading program,' Marci shared with the library. 'He was a regular at the Livingston and then Whitehall branches until he could no longer read. I'm sure he would be among your highest circulation and longest term borrowers.' ADVERTISEMENT Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Egan-Ryan Funeral Home Dan Pelzer Pelzer was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Mary Lou Pelzer, who died in 2024. Dan and Mary Lou are survived by their children, Marci Pelzer and John Pelzer, and their three grandchildren, Sarah, Lauren and Owen Pelzer. In Dan's obituary, the family asked that in place of flowers, donations be made to Kinship Community Food Center, adding, 'You could also honor Dan by reading 'a real page turner.' ' Read the original article on People
CBS News
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Club Calvi talks to authors James Patterson & Mike Lupica talk about their new book "The Hamptons Lawyer"
Please consider joining our Facebook group by CLICKING HERE. Find out more about the books below. New York Times bestselling authors James Patterson and Mike Lupica are back with another "Jane Smith Thriller." The first book in the series, "12 Months to Live," was a Club Calvi Ficpick in 2023. Book three in the series, "The Hamptons Lawyer" is out now. Patterson is one of the most prolific writers of our time, with nearly 300 books published. "Too many," he joked with Mary. "The only biography of me: James Patterson, too many books." Patterson says you don't have to have read the other books in the Jane Smith series to enjoy "The Hamptons Lawyer." Lupica told Mary that he and Patterson take pride in writing strong female characters. "We are married to two brilliant, beautiful women and they read our stuff before it gets to our female editor," Lupica said. "Mike's wife, Taylor, is reading and then my wife, Sue, reads and then we have a woman editor who is as tough as our wives almost," said Patterson. "If they don't like these characters, our lives at home become extremely difficult," Lupica added. In the series, Jane is fighting cancer. "Her mantra is work to live, live to work," Lupica says. "She's defending a guy who is pretty much a dirtbag. She believes he got set up. This is the most, and this is a new word that I came up with, the most 'courtroomy,' of the Jane Smith series. This trial is really fun. And as we always say about Jane, it will probably work out well if somebody doesn't kill her first." Mary asked Patterson about his long career, writing many books in several genres. "Somebody said you are lucky if you find something you like to do in life, and that it's a miracle if they pay you to do it," Patterson said. "I get to do that. There's a line that's been driving me, it's not my line, for a few years: my time here is short. What can I do most beautifully? And, honestly, working with Mike is a beautiful thing. We have so much fun. We have our own little writers' room. We just go back in forth on the phone, or on zoom. And that's what happens with Jane Smith "The Hamptons Lawyer." You can read an excerpt, and purchase the book, below. The CBS New York Book Club focuses on books connected to the Tri-State Area in their plots and/or authors. The books may contain adult themes. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ From the publisher: Undefeated criminal defense attorney Jane Smith—known as the Hamptons Lawyer—never fails to make her case. The Hamptons on Long Island is known for its beautiful beaches, its luxury lifestyle—and its exclusive legal advice. When Jane Smith takes on a famous celebrity client, she's armed and ready: with brilliant arguments, hard evidence—and two Glocks. Yet she's chased down, shot at, and risks contempt of court. That's when mounting a legal defense turns into every day in court could be her last, she's a survivor. For no James Patterson lives in Westchester County and Florida. Mike Lupica lives in New York. "The Hamptons Lawyer" by James Patterson & Mike Lupica (ThriftBooks) $22 ONE JIMMY CUNNIFF AND I are inside the shooting range at the Maidstone Gun Club a little after seven in the morning. Both former NYPD cops, I'm now a criminal defense attorney, he's my investigator and indispensable right-hand man, in addition to being the best friend I've ever had, or maybe anybody has ever had. Like me, he's also a survivor. At least for now. It wasn't so terribly long ago that we both survived a late-night shootout that turned the Walking Dunes of Montauk, out near land's end on eastern Long Island, into the OK Corral. One of the shooters somehow managed to get away. The other wasn't quite as lucky. Jimmy and I aren't here at Maidstone Gun getting ready for the next time. Neither one of us wants a next time, even though way too many people have been shooting—at both of us—since I began defending a local real estate guy named Rob Jacobson accused of committing his first triple homicide. Yeah, that's right. His first. Of two. As we get ready to begin today's competition, I am singing the old Aerosmith song "Janie's Got a Gun." "Janie's got a gun, her whole world's come undone . . ." "Well, maybe not her whole world," Jimmy adds. "Just this little corner of it." "You continue to forget something, Cunniff," I say. "I never lose." "Well, not on the big things." "You mean like cancer?" "Yeah, that's exactly what I mean." "To be determined," I tell him. "Shut up and shoot," he says. As the leadoff shooter, I step back from the plates and wait for Jimmy to start the clock. "When cops miss what they're aiming at," Jimmy says as he sets the timer, "they might hit grandma by mistake." "Or maybe, say, a client?" I ask him, grinning. "Don't give me any ideas about that bottom-feeder we're defending," he says. I hear the timer beep and start firing away. Six for six. They all go down. I want everything in my life to be this easy. Aim and fire. I want to stop feeling the way I've felt for the past eight months, that I'm the one with the target on my back. ***** One Week Later BRIGID CALLS JIMMY TO give him the heads-up that Jane is coming home from the cancer treatment center in Switzerland a day early, and Jimmy tells her he'll go pick her up at JFK. "How's she doing?" he asks. "I've been trying to leave her alone while they get her started on the juice." "So far, so good," Brigid says. "Everybody's very optimistic." "After just a few days?" Jimmy asks. "That's what they're saying," Brigid says. Jimmy says, "You know, you're not nearly as good a liar as your sister is." "I don't know what you mean by that, Jimmy," Brigid says. "My ass you don't," he says. "I was born at night, kid. Just not last night." He's waiting for Jane when she comes walking out of the United terminal. Jimmy grins at her before taking her bag. "You look like s***," he says. "I'm going to write off your rudeness to jet lag." Jane kisses him on the cheek. "Oh, wait. I'm the one with jet lag." His partner does most of the talking as they make their way out of the airport. Jimmy doesn't respond, but his hands are tighter than usual on the steering wheel, and he knows it's not just because of the traffic. "I don't want to hear more goddamn small talk!" Jimmy snaps. "I want to hear about you." "Whoa," Jane says. "I know this sounds like a question you should probably be asking me. But are you okay?" "Are you?" he asks. "All things considered, yeah," she says. "The good news is that because of the drugs I'm taking, I don't have to do another round of chemo. Bottom line? My prognosis is a lot better than when I went over there." "Is that so?" Jimmy says. Before Jane can answer, Jimmy yells, "Stop lying to me!" ***** "WHOA," I QUIETLY SAY again to Jimmy Cunniff, who sounds more upset, and looks more upset, than he did the day I told him I had been diagnosed with cancer. "When did I lie?" "When you tried to put a smiley face on this shit and make me think you're getting better," he says, "when we both know you're not." "You don't know that," I say. "As a matter of fact, I do." I wait now. I can always tell with him when there's more coming. There is. "I stopped to see Sam Wylie on my way to pick you up," he says. "At least I got the truth out of her." "And what truth might that be, you don't mind me asking?" "That this is last call for you," Jimmy Cunniff says. "And they're not going to know if these new drugs are working until they do." He pauses and then adds, "If they do." We ride for a few minutes in a silence so thick it makes me want to open a window. "Well," I finally say, "so much for my privacy rights." "When I'm the private detective," he says, "they don't apply." "Mind if we listen to some music before we change the subject?" "Yeah, I do mind." "Okay, be like that," I say, leaning forward a little so that, when he gives me a sideways glance, he can see that I'm smiling. "Sometimes you forget I'm only like that," he says. There is another long silence until Jimmy says, "Once and for all, you gotta tell your client to find another lawyer." I lean forward even more, so he can see the big smile that has now crossed my face, just because there's not a thing in the world I can do to stop it. "There is no other lawyer in his right mind who will take this case," I say. From "The Hamptons Lawyer" by James Patterson & Mike Lupica. Copyright (c) 2025 by the author and reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company, a division of the Hachette Book Group, Inc. Return to top of page
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Look how well-read I am!' How ‘books by the metre' add the final touch to your home
People have always used books to assert their sophistication and affluence. You need only visit the library of a National Trust property to see that. The novelist F Scott Fitzgerald famously critiqued the shallowness of the super-rich via his character, Jay Gatsby, who lined his shelves with books in order to project a cultured image of himself – yet they were 'uncut' and had never been read. To one guest at Gatsby's party, that doesn't matter – he describes the shelves (that he had at first assumed to be cardboard facades of books) as 'a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too – didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?' A century on from The Great Gatsby's publication, it is once again fashionable to decorate using books – and to question the motives of those who do so. In Vincenzo Latronico's International Booker-shortlisted Perfection, a novel that highlights the hollowness of chasing a 'cool', 'curated' life, Anna and Tom's self-consciously chic flat features 'floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with paperbacks and graphic novels … interspersed with illustrated coffee-table books – monographs on Noorda and Warhol, Tufte's series on infographics, the Taschen history of typefaces, and another Taschen on the entryways of Milan,' carefully arranged with 'succulents in cement plant pots,' and 'a waist-level camera' in the place of bookends. Through their home, Latronico writes, the couple has created a picture of a life that is 'clear and purposeful' – whether or not that is actually the case. In an age of constant scrolling, there is social capital to be gained by simply looking as if you are a cultured person who listens to music on vinyl and reads lots of books. And creating an aesthetically pleasing bookshelf is now easier than ever, thanks to an increase in booksellers who trade in 'books by the metre'. Vintage volumes are particularly popular, as they offer an instant way to create the effect of a long-established library made up of books collected over many years. 'My bookshelf is now complete,' reads one customer review on an eBay listing for a metre's worth of 'randomly selected' antique titles, available for £50. Dayna Isom Johnson, a trend expert at Etsy, another website where some sellers offer books by the metre, says the company has 'seen a 19,616% increase in searches for book-lover decor' over the past three months, compared with the same time last year. If you're willing to pay a bit more, sellers will offer a more bespoke service: for example, for £98, the online shop Country House Library will sell you a metre of assorted vintage books that all have orange covers. Madeleine Ovenden is head of non-traditional sales at the publisher Thames & Hudson, which specialises in what might be referred to as 'coffee-table books'. She has seen an increase in interior designers wanting to bulk-buy books with spines in similar colours, 'to fit a room theme'. The company now sells bundles of coffee-table books that all fit a certain colour or aesthetic – a stack of lemon-yellow Thames & Hudson books, for instance, could be yours for £119.90. Customers will also come to the publisher directly, Ovenden says, with 'requests by the metre for certain shelf sizes'. The rise in such requests can be attributed to the popularity of the 'bookshelf wealth' interior design trend on TikTok – an extension of the 'quiet luxury' and 'stealth wealth' aesthetic. A bookshelf that looks like an heirloom family collection, complete with art and ornaments, suggests you care about literature and art – and have time and money to spend on these things. Philip Blackwell curates bookshelves for a living via his company, Ultimate Library, which is used by hotels, businesses and homeowners who want to outsource the task of filling up their bookshelves. Though he is critical of the 'books by the metre' trend – Ultimate Library's selling point is that a knowledgable team will work with the client to select books they might actually read – he acknowledges that, if you're trying to build a library from scratch, you will almost inevitably have a certain amount of space to fill. I'm speaking to Blackwell at 40 Leadenhall, a newly developed office building in the City of London, where his company was commissioned to create a library for workers to use. 'That panel there is 14 linear metres multiplied by 33.' So he and his colleagues have to find 462 metres of books to fill that space, though most will be chosen for more than just their age, size or colour, and will be available to borrow. 'Creating a book collection, certainly for a private client, is all about having a discussion, going on a voyage to discover it, and it should be really good fun,' Blackwell says. He likes to quote Cicero: 'A room without books is like a body without a soul.' Services like his, then, manufacture that 'soul' in places such as offices and hotels that might otherwise be pretty soulless. Blackwell's service might be less superficial than simply using books for wall-dressing, but its appeal is still partly down to clients liking the way that books look. Michael Wood, who works for M&G Real Estate, which owns 40 Leadenhall, says M&G approached Ultimate Library partly because 'we've got a big space in this ground floor to fill and books are a great way to do that'. Aesthetically, the books make the building's lobby look less stark – and the higher shelves, which feature older books arranged by colour, are wholly ornamental. 'As a decorative element, books are great because they add a lot of texture,' says New York-based interior designer Tommy Landen Huerter. 'They add colour in places where it wouldn't be easy to otherwise integrate it. They just make a home look a lot more lived-in.' There have 'definitely been clients I have bought books for that will probably never be opened', who want full bookshelves 'just for the aesthetic', he says. He has been asked, for example, to style books on high shelves that homeowners will 'never be able to reach'. That is partly because books look good, but also because of their value as status symbols, Landen Huerter thinks. 'It's like: 'Look how well-read I am because I have the time to read and I'm educated enough to know these topics.'' The designer himself has 'a weird insecurity' over the fact that visitors to his own home wouldn't know he reads, since he does so exclusively on an e-reader and therefore doesn't have any physical books on display. Through your home, 'you want to show your interests' he says – but you can also show what you would like people to think your interests are, which is the impulse behind clients asking him to buy books in bulk for ornamental purposes. 'I can understand why people would say: 'I haven't read 100 books in the last year, but I would like to have.'' Just as they do via social media or through clothing choices, people are often trying to present the version of themselves that they would like to be true, rather than what actually is. Presenting the image of being a book lover has never been easier – part of the reason that buying books by length has become a trend is that books can be bought very cheaply, says Matt Hubbard, owner of secondhand bookshop Halcyon Books in south-east London. In the UK and the US at least (the market is slightly less populated in continental Europe), books are published in huge quantities: 'We're definitely spoiled for having a hell of a lot of books around.' Hubbard says he could easily take on more books than he would be able to sell, and some 'tatty paperbacks' have such a low value that they end up getting recycled. There is a 'sort of a rag trade side of the book business', where books are bought by weight and sold on 'very cheaply' by retailers such as Amazon, eBay and World of Books. This has 'hugely depressed the prices' of a lot of secondhand books, he says. Selling books by the metre, then, is a savvy way for retailers to get rid of large numbers of titles that would otherwise be difficult to shift. It's not without its downsides, though. 'It promotes this overconsumption of things that don't really have meaning, that are just for the aesthetic,' says Landen Huerter. The interior designer worries about the rise of 'fast-fashion trends' in home decor, similar to what has happened in the clothing industry. When people start to feel they need to follow new trends and constantly change their homes, it creates 'a new level of waste and overconsumption', which 'gets away from the whole idea of having a collected and curated space of things that represent yourself, your story and your interests,' he says. Buying books by length allows people to create a kind of 'knock-off' version of a richly filled bookshelf put together over years of reading for people who 'can't be bothered to choose the books and read them,' Hubbard says – or who can't afford a service like Blackwell's, perhaps. It is easy to be snobby about people who fill their bookshelves in this way – but 'we've all got lots of books on our shelves that we haven't read,' Hubbard points out. In Japan, they even have a word – tsundoku – for acquiring books with the best of intentions but letting them pile up without reading them. Though it's obviously frustrating for true bibliophiles when someone has bought a random selection of books in bulk to decorate their home, the fact there are books in their home at all is a good thing, Blackwell thinks. Having books around means that, at the very least, the opportunity to read one is there. 'In my experience', he says, 'there is always the right time and the right place to read a book.' Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
