MetaChat - "Did you read them all...or are they just for show?"

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

09 June 2006

"Did you read them all...or are they just for show?"

post by: Smart Dalek at: 06:43 | 14 comments

Funny. Especially since it's sort of implicit that nobody you invite to your house would ever read a book either, because what if they, like, wanted to talk about one or something? So you're trying to impress people who are as illiterate as you are with your pretty books? Smoove!

posted by taz 09 June | 07:20

Wow.

I could get behind this if people selected them broadly by what they wanted to read and then eventually read them all.

But books as unread decorations? Agh! The johnnie in me wants to kill someone for this.

Also, I want those damn books if they're not going to read them.

posted by kmellis 09 June | 07:23

Also, I'd like to make it clear that I'm not a book Nazi. I love books almost more than anything, but lots of people I know and like don't read much because they prefer to spend their time doing other things, which is perfectly fine. But, then, please don't try to impress me with your books, sleazeworm. It would be like me commissioning a fabulous home gym in hopes of convincing people I'm totally buff... It really doesn't work that way.

posted by taz 09 June | 07:39

Now that's just sad. That's just not what a library is for. A library should grow organically from your own impulses, interests and reading habits.

Now, if you really NEED a reference library to cover a range of information all of which you may never read, it should be assembled by experts in the subject area, not some idiots whose second sentence in their "mission statement" says "We assemble decorator collections..."

posted by shane 09 June | 07:45

To be fair - The company seems to be orientated towards film and theatre sets. (with some pretentious cafes thrown in)

Designing a film or theatrical set on a tight schedule? Contact us right away. We are the experts, with a long tradition of sales and rentals to the entertainment industry.

What worries me most is the cost of the books. A foot of books isn't that much. A couple of Second Hand Late series Harry Potters, The DaVinci Code and Stephen King's The Stand surely isn't worth $50.00.

Heaven forfend you're buying computer programming books. I've a couple of manuals that are probably a good 5" wide each.

posted by seanyboy 09 June | 07:57

Even though I can’t think that I’d ever want to use a service like this, I don’t think that the Strand Books people are idiots at all, although I concede that some of their customers might be. And it’s certainly true that ‘books do furnish a room.’

posted by misteraitch 09 June | 08:03

If books-by-the-foot were being sold by Target or Wal-Mart, I'd be upset.

But I love The Strand, so I just see it as a way for an exceptional bookstore to make a good chunk of cash. The rent and overhead to maintain "18 miles of books" can't be cheap, you know ...

posted by grabbingsand 09 June | 08:16

But. . .if you need lotsa books for a theatre set, real books are too heavy. You gotta make fake ones. It's tedious, but not that hard. If they sold lightweight, spine looking things, that'd be a different story, but apparently these are real books.

posted by rainbaby 09 June | 08:22

Rainbaby is correct. Now that I think of it, moving boxes of books for even one modest wall of books is nightmarish. I doubt any film/theatrical crew would do it, unless they were just so loaded with time and money they couldn't figure out how to possibly spend it.

They'd either use fake books or (for film) shoot somewhere where the books already existed. I do think this is probably more about rich-person posturing.

posted by taz 09 June | 08:30

I plan to be burried under my books. I don't mean as part of my funeral, I mean that when I'm old and doddering, I'll need to know something from my giant atlas on the top shelf or something and I'll pull the whole mess down on top of me and the other shelves will fall upon me like a house of cards.

posted by Capn 09 June | 09:54

I can only afford paperbacks. Is there such a thing as "fatal bruising"? Because I'd like to get in on this whole "death by book" thing.

posted by taz 09 June | 09:57

A wall of unread books is only worth having if it slides back in order to allow easy access to the Batcave.

posted by essexjan 09 June | 10:39

"A home without books is like a room without windows"
-- Henry Ward Beecher

Very true. The mister and I have a lot of books. A lot. The few times we had people into our apartment we were always asked, "wow, that's a lot of books! Do you guys actually read them?!"

Next time around I'll just tell 'em, "no, we just rent them by the foot."

posted by deborah 09 June | 11:56

I think I'll keep on personally selecting the books for the 300 odd metres of shelving I've got planned for my library. Even though the prices aren't bad over all.

posted by Mitheral 09 June | 13:38

← MoCCA: semi-self link || Worst name ever →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN