True 😄

Joanna Gaines is fuming right now, that she didn’t think of this.

Hers would be limewashed.

I once heard an author bemoan how hard it was to see his books in the discount bin at Borders, well, this is worse.

The idea of re-purposing non-valuable or unloved book covers doesn't bother me that much - a book without its cover is still readable. I am much more bothered by people writing/underlining/marking up books, other than inscribing inside the front cover.

I don't think that ceiling looks so great tho.

Carol, I remember years ago getting a book at our library that someone had completely marked up. And it wasn’t some scholarly book, just some popular fictional book like Gone Girl. I kept thinking, there’s nothing to note here! Why! This is a ceiling book!

Yeah - I've mostly seen it in library books. I think that bothers me the most - it's not even their book!

Sadly, I think sometimes, if not more often, the people doing that to library books may have some mental issues.

This Dewey Decimal ceiling treatment is cringeworthy. It makes me feel a little sick to look at it- so disrespectful somehow.
Better than burning or banning them, I guess…

FWIW I have a book about art made from books, and I love it.

Somehow this reminds me of the time I went to collect my personal belongings from the home of my soon-to-be-ex-husband, and he refused to let me take my books, claiming that he and his new girlfriend were "decorating" with them. My opinion is that you don't disrespect the life contained in the pages of books; they are not props or stupid/ugly ceiling treatments. They aren't decorative frippery. I even came across some books by certain political figures that I found positively repugnant in a box of books given to me, and as much as I fantasized about destroying them in a fiery ritual, I couldn't harm them. I donated them, in spite of the part of me that wanted them dead.

But I digress.

True -- the effect is not that great, but I will remember it when I'm searching for some out of print book -- and wondering how many copies are stuck to ceilings or ripped apart for crafts.

Ida, that JERK. Someone would’ve had to bail me out of jail that day.

It can be very dusty and hard to clean..

Make them stop.

There have been a few books I’d gladly toss into the fire pit.

FWIW I have a book about art made from books, and I love it.

A friend made evening bags out of old classic books, like Gatsby, for a fundraiser for the San Jose public Library, that did not seem disrespectful, yet it required eviscerating the book.

Intention and context matter.

Oh, and I confess to writing in almost all of my books. My children think I am a criminal.

What a grotesque giant dustcatcher that ceiling must be! What happens when the fluctuating temperature and humidity of the room slowly denature the glue used to hold those books up? All the book covers are different ages and materials and will not hold equally well or fail at the same rate. At some point they will lose their grip and sag and eventually srart falling off the ceiling—-a fitting punishment for the fools who thought that books on the ceiling were what made a room a library. Like popcorn ceilings those book covers will someday be scraped off by some person on a ladder loudly complaining about it on their vlog.

Went to read her blog post. At least it's her own library and not some poor soul paying her for ID time. She first tried Gorilla Glue? Seriously?! Well, she did call herself "crazy" in the first paragraph. What did she use - Command Strips, cut in half. What she did not do - paint the ceiling black first (major mistake). Fun side note, it is only halfway done.

I just spent too much time looking at rooms in her house. Let's just say Pal's wholesale bastardization fits.

Ida, some people simply don't get it about books. When my parents divorced the only thing my dad requested was his books. Now I have them. :)

Same blogger, same bizarre use of books in decor:

I have a few big (old and sentimental) baskets I love above my cabinets because I’m one of those people and y’all should just vote me off the island .... but books?! Why.

Exactly what Zalco said — ”Intention and context matter.” Yes!

In addition to all the other horrors of this, there are no bookends, so the books are all leaning and will become permanently cocked, as we say in the biz.

Bookwoman, you were my first thought when I saw both these ”ideas”.

”What would Bookwoman do if she walked into this house?” :D

I would either be carried out 1) on a stretcher (after having fainted), or 2) in police custody, for having assaulted the blogger!

That’s what I thought. 😂

Part of it I suppose is that even many people who read, or consume literature no longer read physical books. Other than art or design books or used out of print books I will rarely buy a hardcover anymore. Despite going through a book in a day or two. So I suppose to some people, this type of book is like old VCR tapes.

🤣 Yup..

Now that's just book abuse and Social Services of Books should be notified asap! Imagine the grease that gets on them, and the pictures. Vents don't get all of it.

Her house is really nice and I enjoy the colors. But it doesn't look like home to me. Too perfect. I need to send my dogs over and let them make it a home people can live in. ;)

I would pay to be a fly on the wall in order to check out the insurance adjuster's face for a claim where there was a water leak and the ceiling was soaked. Or the homeowner's face if there was a slow leak and the ceiling just sort of started turning moldy one page at a time.

I love books. Just to be clear, I love books. My DH doesn’t get it. And I’m going to duck after saying the following:

First off, people DO decorate with books. We arrange the books we have by color, or size, or typeface, or author, or genre, and it’s not always for convenience. I rearrange my Cat Who books by color, length of title on the spine, date of publication, etc, all the time. I pair them with other colorful book spines, or with more solid color spines so they ”pop”.

My dictionaries and language references, same thing.

I have an old series of books with the most beautiful dustjackets that make a gentle landscape when all together. They are DESIGNED to be decorative.

I have no problem with writing in books, as long as they are one’s own. I love going to the used book sales and seeing notes people jotted in them, comparing a passage to a similar one in another book, or correcting a fact, etc. (We returned an ACT Prep book to the library with a couple of post-it notes in it, where my son had found errors — he was right — and when I told the library about it they said thank you but we have to remove the post-its.)

I donated some books from my grandfather’s personal library to the library book sale. They later told me how many they discarded, because they are not books that people buy. At all. Mainly philosphy. I get it. What killed me was the Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, which are not collectible from a literary point of view but boy, are they pretty, and I should have put them up for sale/free for people who turn them into boxes, etc. Those marbled endpapers, gilt edging!

I have a beloved book, and now that I think of it I should make plans for it in my will. It’s not valuable, it’s still in print, but I don’t want it going in the trash. I have another copy, and I bought it because it is falling apart and at one time I thought I’d use the pages to paper a wall. Yeah, that never happened. Maybe the inside of my coffin can be papered with it, give me something to do in the millenia to come.

I love books. But they aren’t all sacred. There are SOOOOOO many copies of SOOOOO many books out there. And they aren’t all good books.

bpath, I appreciate your sharing of another view! Don’t duck. :D

I have a bench with three stacks of books (mostly coffee table type) … each stack has decor on it I love. I have a lamp on another stack by my TV. I read them AND view them as art.

I love books, but I don't collect them. Some of you would be appalled by how few books I have in my house. I read a lot, but haven't bought a physical book in years. I prefer to read ebooks now but still borrow physical books from the library if that's the only format they have available. Space in my home is limited and I feel the weight of possessions. Recently I gathered up a bunch of good books and donated them to the library.

I have a lovely annotated study bible. I love it dearly, and write in it freely, in pencil. You can leaf through it and note what engaged me, sometimes with smiley/frowny faces, big question marks, or stars.

I’m pretty much just reading Kindle now. I still buy books that are more in the collectible category, but that’s it.

The most recent statistics say that about 2/3 of books sold are purchased in physical form, and 1/3 as ebooks. Sales of both got a boost during the pandemic. The more books people read, in whatever form, the better!

I don't think it's an either or situations for books, they are naturally decorative.

This are spine in books decorated for the owner in the 1500s. The set of 172 was intact until the 1950s

This is not very intentional decorating, we just put these medium sized and smaller books where they fit and then stick bits and pieces of stuff in front and in between, no 1/3rd 1/3rd 1/3rd in our house. I think the stuff to the left of the lamp is the to be read or reread pile. The shelves aren't sagging, it's the picture.

Pal, I need that lamp right this minute. Is it marble or wood?

It's a piece of travertine. 1970s. I have a pair, but like many of my pairs I found one first and then had to find another. I don't think I have any new lamps or light fixtures, I don't like them as much as the old stuff.

Very cool set, pal. And then of course there are fore-edge paintings, where the image is hidden until you fan out the pages:

I don't like it.

I'm having a tough time keeping up with normal household stuff - to take on gluing book covers to a ceiling would be a thought that would never cross my mind. But I do appreciate the ingenuity and gumption to actually try it. Might not be good for resale though!!

I have several fore-edge books. A couple have two paintings, each half the book (below). One is two paintings on a full book, view from both directions (not shown).

A small book, and a favorite. Only one painting.

Ignore the hand/fingers. You have no idea how hard it is to do this alone and take photos.

Allison, my goodness, how gorgeous!

Allison and Pal, those fore-edge books are stunning! I’m going pull out some of my grandfather’s books (don’t worry, I know how to take out a book) and check them out!

@bpath The ones I have are all leather bound with gilt edges. Good luck!

Allison those are real treasures.

It just seems affected and silly to me and it reminds me o the time my eldest child wanted to glue old dominoes and matchbox cars on his wall.

Currently it's 93 degrees outside so I'm staying inside and enjoying the AC while waiting for the bread to rise. I was curious to see if she had a theme for her covers so I tried to decipher which ones she used and came up with a short list. I know - this was definitely an inane experience.

Some were too blurry to make out and most are average titles without any special merit. Except for Collina - if that's his "The Rules of the Game" then it's worth a little money. It's a classic text on refereeing soccer by an Italian legend - and I only know this because my son was a FIFA ref during college and he had a copy.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown; Dreamcatcher by Stephen King; Money Matters by Larry Burkett; Babylon Rising by Tim Lahave; John Tesh (either author or subject); a book by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King); other titles - Fire Arrow; Natural Cures (or Curses); This is Not a Game.

I love books and read constantly, usually on my iPad. The only printed books that I have retained tend to be of a higher physical quality than most mass market titles. I have lovely art books, some cookbooks, history books, reference sources for plants and gardening, illustrated books on birds, trees, textiles, medical texts on anatomy, etc. and a small collection of my favorite books that I re-read.

Maybe it's all those years I spent as a librarian but I don't revere books per se. Even when working in the reference and research divisions it was necessary to selectively weed those titles that no longer had raison d'être.

I understand why individuals love books and collect them and one of my favorite pastimes is to sit in a quaint library or bookstore surrounded by beautifully bound volumes - the older the better.

I recently discovered a new to me bookstore and I'm looking forward to visiting. Maybe Pal, Dedtired or Bookwoman have been there. It's Baldwin's Book Barn, a 5 story converted barn that was originally built in 1822, located near West Chester, not far from Longwood Gardens.

https://www.bookbarn.com/

Ah yes, many times. There have been some remarkable discoveries made there, especially in pre-internet days.

Baldwin’s Book Barn - looks like a Wyeth painting.

Maire, how charming, I’d love to visit there.

Allison, beautiful books!

I’m enjoying this conversation so much, thanks, all. :)

Planning a trip to visit relatives in PA next year, will need to include a stop at the Book Barn, just my cup of tea. Love books, that said I use them to decorate. Most came from my librarian grandmother’s collection. I do not decorate in any way that harm’s the books I do feel that my grandmother would approve.

Do think that books shelved spine in is ridiculous, but whatever. Just says t me me that homeowner is not really a reader.