Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

I have always been the type to borrow and give away books. I am very much an anti clutter person. My apartments always look like hotels but that's because I just can't have things out and around.

Josh has gotten books as gifts...but I am not into it at all. We go to the library a lot. I get the same books and add new ones to it. But no interest at all in picking up a ton of books that are knocked down all day long.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Nope - not me - I am quite the book collector - I can't ever get rid of a book after I read it! I'm hoping to pass that on to Cailen - we have bixes and boxes and boxes of books in the basement (DH is the same way) because we dont have enough room in this house for all the book shelves!!!

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

my DD used to pull all her books out all over the place too.. but we finally put up a shelf for them up high where she cant reach it and that helped.. maybe you could do that.. or just put the ones he gets as gifts away somewhere he cant get to them and then you can take them out when/if you want to. i definitely hear you on not wanting to pick them up over and over all day..

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Ummm... I spent five years working for a major children's book publisher so my shelves were filled with children's books BEFORE Sabrina. And after she was born, my older coworkers and industry friends sent me tons of books. I love them. There is only a short time when she will be throwing them on the floor and then one day she will read them.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

i guess it is only me. I have all his books now on a shelf in the closet. At night, I read the same one to him for a week then put a new one in the rotation. During the day, we work with the same 3 from the library.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

I love having books.
but I CANT stand to see shelves that are visual clutter
drives me NUTS.

so a nice neat childrens book shelf is ok,
baskets of chiildrens books even all tossed around I love,
but boxes or shelves of books/novels that have been read and now will just collect dust, would drive me insane. that might be grounds for divorce (Liza, lucky we;re not married )

My hubby does have his own clutter of hobby related stuff that makes me crazy. at least its out of sight though

Liza-not to be takenthe wrong way, my house is a tornado at all times, but things that are just "stagnant" and just "sit there" make me crazy (Ok, Im crazy, there I admit it )

thats why I will NEVER own a china cabinet with "display china" the thought of it makes me cringe.

ok sorry I went on too long here.






ETA: I LOOOOVE childrens books, they fascinate me. I always try to read "beyond the page"
I had a Childrens Lit class, where my Prof was OBSESSED with childrens literature, he owns thousands upon thousands of books (he's an administrator at a top notch district, and his office is walll to wall to wall childrens books. he evein nivited us to go visit. =)
and taking his class really got me even more intrigued about childrens literature..

writing a book or two is on my DREAMS list of what I wanna do when I grow up
to show children HOW I GREW UP (I wanna write books about "growing up" on the countryside of italy -just went there for the summers, but close enough

Message edited 10/16/2007 11:36:24 PM.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Josh's old clothes make me uncomfortable. They are in space bags, stored in his closet...but I wish they would disappear.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

I want to see a HUUUUUge blow up of that adorable child to the left
How could you think bookshelves when you see that?!?!

Message edited 10/16/2007 11:10:41 PM.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Posted by PrincessP

I want to see a HUUUUUge blow up of that adorable child to the left
How could you think bookshelves when you see that?!?!

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

you fools are crazy...like a man who doesn't pay attention to what you are saying and stares at your chest.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

HOW CUTEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!!!


about the boobs comment..

too bad I never had enough to cause a distraction

it's hard for anything to distract from the sound of my voice

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Posted by anna

I love having books.
but I CANT stand to see shelves that are visual clutter
drives me NUTS.

so a nice neat childrens book shelf is ok,
baskets of chiildrens books even all tossed around I love,
but boxes or shelves of books/novels that have been read and now will just collect dust, would drive me insane. that might be grounds for divorce (Liza, lucky we;re not married )

My hubby does have his own clutter of hobby related stuff that makes me crazy. at least its out of sight though

Liza-not to be takenthe wrong way, my house is a tornado at all times, but things that are just "stagnant" and just "sit there" make me crazy (Ok, Im crazy, there I admit it )

thats why I will NEVER own a china cabinet with "display china" the thought of it makes me cringe.

ok sorry I went on too long here.






ETA: I LOOOOVE childrens books, they fascinate me. I always try to read "beyond the page"
I had a Childrens Lit class, where my Prof was OBSESSED with childrens literature, he owns thousands upon thousands of books (he's an administrator at a top notch district, and his office is walll to wall to wall childrens books. he evein nivited us to go visit. =)
and taking his class really got me even more intrigued about childrens literature..

writing a book or two is on my DREAMS list of what I wanna do when I grow up
to show children HOW I GREW UP (I wanna write books about "growing up" on the countryside of italy -just went there for the summers, but close enough

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Posted by Janice

you fools are crazy...like a man who doesn't pay attention to what you are saying and stares at your chest.

IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

We have a ton of books. Every time I build a new bookcase, DW fills it up with books! When we get the house done, we're actually designing an entire room as a library. Hopefully that will hold her for a little while... DS goes through his shelf and has to decide which book he wants to read, or have read to him. He would never be satisfied with only a few books. Yes, they are often on the floor, but just his books and DD's books. Our books are on higher shelves.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

"Holey Mama just stuck my head in the pasta bowl"
As for the books...They are stacked in our closet...no bookshelf.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

I don't really keep many for myself in the house, I tend to lend them out or donate them. We have a bookshelf with just their books. Every night Sarah now helps clean up that Andy tossed around and knows that I'll read her as many books as she wants, but she has to put one away before I'll read the next one.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Nope, I'm the exact opposite - I could care less about toys and encourage people to NOT buy toys for Alex, unless it's arts and crafts, but books - I could fill my whole house with books. Alex doesn't just have a shelf, but an entire bookcase dedicated to her books, and it's just about the only thing that will entertain her for more than 5 minutes. She knows virtually every book by heart, and squeals in delight when it's "book read" time.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

I love books, I could buy one everyday given the chance, I especially love kids books...Noah loves to play with them. I don't like books from the library because often when you take them out, they smell of smoke and/or food falls out of them. No thanks.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

I definitely get the anti-clutter thing- I am really trying to take a "less is more" approach to things. But books, for me, are the one thing I can handle organizing. DH and I both teach, and our work-related books alone almost fill a shelf.

For now, I only allow DD to play with her board books. She has many beautiful books that I'm not ready for her to chew on, and those aren't accessible to her yet.

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

Dh and I are such clutter freaks, everything has it's place, but when it comes to the girls, we fight every instinct to clean up and put things away. It seriously hurts sometimes not to follow her around and keep things neat and tidy sometimes.

I have a pile of books in my living room and a pile of books in their bedroom.

Gianna LOVES her books, by far it's the only things she consistently reads and plays with everyday and before bed.

Books for her surpass any toy she's ever gotten. A puzzle would distract her, but not like a book. She knows her books my name, i love it and us too, we encourage crafts and books and put squash down on teh toys.

I don't want to buy book shelves cause I hate how they look and i don't want to dust something else! Gianna cleans up her books

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

I love books and my baby shower had a baby's library basket where my guests gave Connor a favorite book. That being said we live in a small cape where clutter multiplies over night! I started selling used books on Amazon a few years ago. It's easier than Ebay and a nice way to make a little extra $

Re: Is it only me who has no interest in building up a bookshelf?

I'm the opposite, we have 3 big bookshelves full of our books, I don't like to get rid of books ever (but i will say I have read a large percentage of them multiple times, so they aren't completely stagnant). We have a bookshelf for DD, which is maybe half-way full so far (plus a bunch in the living room), but I look forward to adding to it. My DD loves reading the books over and over, so if I ever got rid of them she would miss them.

This is one of my favorite quotes....
"I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." -Anna Quindlen

I will agree however that an open bookshelf, especially of children's books that are all colorful and different sizes, isn't the most asthetically pleasing sight. Maybe you can find either a high shelf or a bin so you can tuck the books away and/or keep your son from pulling them out all the time.

But, as long as you're reading with your child every day, and as long as you keep a few of his favorites, I don't think there's any need to keep every book he's ever given. I'm sure there are plenty of charities that will take them and donate them to families who can't buy any books for their children.