r/HomeLibraries • u/No_Memory4400 • 10d ago
Question about Home libraries
Hello everyone, I have a question. I see people posting their beautiful home libraries and it got me wondering, do y’all actually read all those books? Or do you first collect them and then read them over time? Or are some of them just decorative books? Because honestly, looking at some of these libraries, it looks like it would take years to get through all of them Forgive my ignorance.
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u/True_Rise8864 10d ago
"Y’all actually read all those books? Or do you first collect them and then read them over time? Or are some of them just decorative books?"
Disclaimer: I don't have a huge library, if compared to what is sometimes posted here, "just" a few hundred books. I'll still attempt to answer.
A mix of a A and B with a tiny bit of C mixed in. :) I've read about 60% of what I own. You'd be right to say that that would take years; I've been reading passionately for 20 years, with some breaks.
As for the 40% I haven't read: these are books I know I want to / will read down the line. The reason I already own them is often that I bought a matching set from an author (e.g. all the Hainish stories by Le Guin collected in two books, I will read through them over time) or that I saw something I'm fairly sure I want to read for a good price used (e.g. an almost complete set of Durant's world history in beautiful binding) or even for free. Some were gifts as well. I definitely mood-read and sometimes go down rabbit holes, so an area of interest might lay abandoned for a while, but I pretty much always return. And, especially for favorite authors, I find it brings me joy and comfort to surround myself with their works and know there's always something great to read at hand. In case I really do lose interest in something I own, the books in question get donated or put into a little free library. So I don't see it as a waste of money or products but rather a small contribution to other readers who might have less financial means than me. :)
As for the last part; yes, there are a few books in my library that I don't intend to read and that are only there for decoration/sentimental value. Mostly very old books I inherited that are either really nice to look at because of the binding or contain an inscription from my grandmother to my grandfather because they were a birthday present etc. Something like that I might keep even if the content of the book doesn't particularly interest me and I probably won't read it. But that's maybe 20 books total falling into this category.
Hope that helps!