How do people fill bookshelves like this. it's the entire canon on the wall i doubt anyones read that many books

brainpickings.org/2015/03/24/umberto-eco-antilibrary/

And honestly, it's not hard at all to read that many books. If reading is your favorite pastime, you'll read this in three years.

>grad student
>have the same bookshelf since the age of 9
>its not enough, bookshelves are literally puking books
>tfw Veeky Forums accuses me of pretentiousness

I was called pretentious in a bookshelf rate thread for having every book of the God trilogy, including the alternative third installment

On my current reading speed i fill about three shelves a year (and i mean full, not like in pic related) and i've been doing this for three years now. Idk, if i keep doing that for like 10, 15 years i might end up with something like pic related. I know my dad has shelves at least half that wall and i know he's read them all, but over the course of like 30 years.

It's do able, but lets be honest here. If you don't reread and take notes in your books, there's no point in keeping them. And i'm also the library for a few of my uni friends. Feels good man.

i doubt anyone can run faster than me

>tl'dr i'm a provincial idiot

People in this thread don't understand that you don't have to have read everything in your library, it's also for research purposes, and for being able to look something up in works when needed. Besides that it is aesthetically pleasing.

it's not that much. I'm 22 and I think I've read 400 books in my lifetime, by the time I'm 50 I'll likely have thousands.

Also, if I had a lot of money(since I'm a student right now, I don't), I'd buy a lot more books than I would read, for example I'd buy books with curiosity value, e.g first editions of classic books, old books with fantastic illustrations etc., then I'd likely get books that I wouldn't read but could have practical value, e.g. basic woodworking books and other DIY stuff, then on top of those I'll likely have dozens of books related to my to-be profession, law, which is particularly book-heavy.

It's entirely possible to have a large personal library where every book has a purpose(other than decoration), even if every book hasn't been read from start to finish.

I know a woman who is employed to fill bookshelves for interior decorators, so, making them look aesthetic, but also filling them with things the client might want to read. She works for people that are wealthy enough to hire an interior decorator just to fill bookshelves, so a lot of these are for second homes and whatnot. So the idea isn't a collection of books they've read, but a collection of books they can peruse and find something they want to read.

I'd dare say i've almost read half that much and i'm in my twenties. It's my main hobby and I just buy used from amazon. With any luck i'll have a wall like that in my thirties.

i agree with the last sentence, but why would you give them away? i simply put them (the "lesser books" that i don't think i would look again) somewhere else when my bookshelf is full.

>3 years
Do you read 1,5 to 2 books per day?

This is my modest corner. Read about 1/3 of them. I've almost all of them up in thrift stores.

Also, what he said

tfw you did nothing in school while reading books in class because I take my time while reading, even though i had a huge backlog because my dads friend kept giving me marxist literature, i continued to spend all my money buying books in 2nd hand/ normal bookshops. Now my backlog is more than 2 bookshelves full and huge piles on the floor of my room. I havent been able to read properly for 3 months because I had to finish school work I didnt do so i dont fail and get my degree. Tfw im still buying books

>tfw living in a single occupancy with at least that many books
how do people have less books? i had to abandon some to storage and, even if i don't count the loose stacks, two cases are packed two books deep. it's not like i'm collecting shit i won't read either because i don't have space for that shit.

I would consider myself a slow reader who has only been really reading for a few years and I already have about 150 books on my shelf.

My mom has tons and tons of book, like literally tons, as in weight, down in her basement and only the hard backs old books stay on her shelves. Its gonna suck moving all those books out of her basement one day.

The first requirement is not to be 20, that's all. I'm ancient (over 40) and have no idea how many books I've read, but I do own much more than OPs photo, and I've read 2/3-3/4 of them (some of course are for reference, or alternate editions for illustrations, etc.). I have over 5000 books now. I'm moving in a few days and the new house will finally have a dedicated library. Once all the cases are bought/delivered/filled/organized, it's going to be a fantastic place. I've been dreaming of it for decades. Packing, however, is hell: over 80 boxes just for the books.

True, I have plenty of textbooks and memoirs regarding filmmaking which I don't always read page-for-page but rather check the index and find information I'm intending to recite for an essay or whatever.

I could imagine, user. Sounds fantastic, but of course, moving books is a pain. Books become so heavy so quickly.

It'd be amazing to see pictures of your finished library - would you share some in future bookshelf threads?

I'm planning to, if only for the insults. It may take a month, though.

Here's the library-to-be, after a fresh coat of paint. The white bookcases will be 7-footers, though, and the ceiling is only 8 feet, so not much of that blue will show. I'm planning to build a window seat, too.

Sounds so promising, user. All the best!

I'm sure a lot of you have a backlog. I'm sure a lot of you have gotten books from old relatives which you think are worth reading but aren't prioritising. Some of those thicker meme books are hard to tackle, but the point is to have it on the shelf for when you get a sudden whim to finally go for it.

I don't know about you, but no one ever sees my shelf, and if they did they probably wouldn't think much of it. Bookshelves are everywhere, but people generally don't pay a lot of attention to them if they're not Veeky Forums.

That's really interesting. How much does it cost on average to fill a book shelf like that?

Jesus man relax. You're prejudiced against people with full bookshelves. That's ridiculous.

So all professors are hipsters and psueds? That's silly.

>why I steal from libraries
But you should already know the books in circulation and the donated books never intermingle

>implying user doesn't steal books in circulation from the library, and then give them back as 'donations.'

I hope user posts a picture when his library is unloaded

This isn't that much, actually. These leather-bound series in the bottom shelves are most likely reference books, maybe dictionaries, law sources, scholar journals or whatever. It isn't intended to be read like a novel. You could read the remaining in a lifetime, let alone two decades, and this could be a family library that carries titles accumulated over multiple generations. It isn't that uncommon. I think that what I own and read could fill the first two shelves and I'm in the late 20's.

Are you really that fucking plebmasters?

Maybe it's because I grew up surrounded by books because my family is full of scientists, intellectuals and scholars, but if my library is giant is because I have all my grandads, dads and my own books all together. There is one big problem: space. But the rest is awesome as I never had to visit a library, because I can find all the classics at home. You need some Orwell?, go see grandad, you need Marx's critique of Stirner?, go see your dad, need some Joyce?, go see grandma, etc.
Even my childhood library (wich remains untouched since I left my home) is bigger than what I usually see in people's houses, pic related.
Just enjoy libraries and don't be annoying faggots about it!

Same, I'm already excited. I think that might be the largest library we've had on here since rapture's.

and pls excuse my retarded english

Don't take it rough but that library isn't very impressive and seems full of working documents and $1 garbage toys.

>Don't take it rough but that library isn't very impressive
I know, it's my childhood library, m8!
The documents are some of my childhood drawings and the toys are irrelevant to the issue of the booshelf being bigger than a lot of adult ones.
It is mostly children books, some YA and european comics like Tintin, Asterix, etc. I left it as it is when I was 11 years old and I still sit on the floor and enjoy myself in that room when I visit my mother.

Take a picture of your current one.

>not having your bookshelf full of little toys and shit

This is a great new Veeky Forums pasta. Saved.

Of course I have, but this isn't the only thing I put on my shelves.

Are the norton critical editions good?

I'm working outside my town right now, but I can take a pic of the books I bought last year if you want

Well, it's better than nothing.

:3 childhood you is kawaii as fuck never grow up

this guy is my nigga

>mfw it's not a pasta and now I feel ashamed of what I wrote

b-but the toys are in front of the books, not between them

Pic related, what I bought since december: novels, essais and some comics and design stuff

shit nigga tidy up once in a while this is dusty as fuck

But it sounds like you've got a good family of intellectuals where reading resources are abundant.

aww, thank you m8!

my best friend (whose father is also a turbo intellectual) told me once: "Forget about design and decorating your house, the only thing we know are books and dust"

>mfw my childhood bed had a single book shelf built into the headboard
>mfw I would stay up until 3:00am reading redwall books
>mfw I stayed up until 4:30am reading a book on advertising and I learned all their tricks and can't be influenced like the other sheep
>mfw huge stack of warhammer magazines and codexes in the closet
>mfw literally cradled by literacy

kek, fair enough, my man

I can't read many titles. Fair enough.

>cradled by literacy
>can't be influenced like the other sheep
>huge stack of warhammer magazines and codexes in the closet
? Also I think it's "codices".

>I can't read many titles
sorry, my camera is shitty, interested in something in particular?

This is an excellent point. Also, it would be nice to have a variety of books you don't intend to read, but your long-term guests might. As someone who has family members that like to travel about and stay with their nearest relatives (usually me or my uncles) I can certainly appreciate that.

Are you from Barcelona? I've spot many titles in Spanish and—what I guess is—Catalan. I've seen “Los Enemigos del Comercio”. Are you versed in anarchism, socialism or communism? What is the red hardbound book on the top, and the other one on the right with “Stars” written on the spine, stacked over a D.F.Wallace? How many languages do you speak/read?

>Are you from Barcelona?

Wow, not from Barcelona but living there right now! However I have not a single catalan book.

>Are you versed in anarchism, socialism or communism?

I'm versed in political thought and economy in general, but I consider myself some kind of insecure individualistic anarchist retard

>What is the red hardbound book on the top?

It's the only book I have not bought in that shelf, Kafka's complete works, my grandmother gave it to my father and my father gave it to me.

>the other one on the right with “Stars” written on the spine?

"Stars" by Alexander Walker, about Hollywood's stardom history.

>How many languages do you speak/read?

Spanish, french, english, portuguese, galician and a bit of catalan

I accuse you of frogposting

careful there, user, even zola did not go so far

Does anyone on Veeky Forums has a two floor library?

of course, this is my private library

I have a really high ceiling, does that count?

This is how I picture Borges' biblioteca de Babel in my mind, but without that wall in the end ofc.

they look disgusting

why would you do that? the pic is nothing like how Borges describes it

I'm quite sure I read more than that as a kid. Went through most of our schools library, and while it was small, it was still bigger than that.

>I'm quite sure I read more than that as a kid.

how many times did you get beat up

this one is more borgeanic

kek, of course not, poorfag

Two fights, won both.

cultured family
speaks 6 languages

I FUCKING HATE YOU I AM POOR AND MY PARENTS WERE FUCKING REDNECKS THAT'S WHY I DONT SPEAK LANGUAGES

>donating books to libraries

is this an american thing? i don't recall hearing of anyone doing this anywhere else

however i do give away lots of books to charity shops etc. i have certainly given away most of the books i have ever owned. i only live in a flat and space is limited and i just keep favourites and nice editions.

since i also buy books at a rate faster than i can read them, that also means that a large amount of the books i do own are ones i have not read. life is suffering.

What counts as a two-story library? Any room with two stories where the library area is open to below and has 9ft+ bookcases? Or does it need to have two levels with balcony, etc.?

>You need some Orwell?, go see grandad
>need some Joyce?, go see grandma
no wonder they're divorced, grandad sounds like a total pleb

>be a young child
>hoard those old vidya game manuals from the 90s/00s that came with stacks of background lore

>speaks 6 languages
>implying Galician and Portuguese aren't basically the same
>implying Spanish and Catalan aren't incredibly similar
still impressive though 2bhfam

Nortons are usually a solid choice. Even if the critical essays they include aren't the best selection, the supplementary material can be interesting and very handy. I always read introductions and back matter for context.
Yep, but they used to be SO horrifically butt-ugly that I find the newer editions pleasing by comparison.

my bookshelf is already 1/5 of that and I started reading four years ago

holy shit this is real hahahaha

>reading anything by Marx

What you desperately need is an ice pick to the brain, just like Trotsky.

>my bookcase is not there to give me a sense of superiority

Yet you still found a way

blown

the

fuck

out

#rekt
#chekt
#chektnrekt
GET
ABSOLUTELY
FUCKT
M9

...

Pretentious douchebags like you are way worse than hipsters or pseudo intellectuals.

this is the worst post I've ever read

Include my reply in the /r/Veeky Forums cap

kek

looks really gay tho if u like flowers so much why dont u marry one

This.

My bookshelf has:
>Lots of reference, atlases, poetry, and novelty books
>Gift books I have little interest in
>Coffee shop books and photography books
>My Dad's old book collection
>My gf's books
>Anthologies and other promotional crap
>Books I bought to read one chapter or short story from

You don't just need to keep pretentious novels on a bookshelf.

¡Que te follen!
Vas te faire enculer!
Fuck you!
Vai-te foder!
Que che fodan!
Que et follin!

kek

I enjoy it, but I still perceive regional languages as semi-languages.

B-but it's fun to read an extensive critique of "The ego and his own", m8!

W-why? Sorry, senpai... ;:^(

this one is the real shit