Halfway Between Objects and Living Things: A Book Collection
A personal library is a direct portal into the mind of its owner. It’s merely a reflection of the self and a means to exhibit the building blocks that are composed of your knowledge, personality and identity. In my previous university apartment, a red brick fireplace (no longer in working condition) nestled in the wall sprouting with cracks like unwanted spider veins. Draped across its white paint-chipped mantle, my book collection rested. As the display of thirty or so books I’ve collected over my university career would catch the eye of a visitor, they’d stop, trace their fingers across one or two of the books’ spines and without fault ask the same two questions as nearly every visitor before them. “Have you read all of these?” “Which one is your favorite?” These two questions about my book collection are typically asked with the intent to uncover something about me as a reader and as a person.
The books that manage to make their way into our homes, occupying our fireplace mantels, bookshelves, coffee tables, nightstands and other miscellaneous crevasses around the house, are indicators as to the kinds of people we are. Our libraries are physical biographies, written through the words of others, constructed by a collection of books someone has read or aimed to read somewhere in the near or far future. Our books are tangible bodies of our accomplishments, aspirations, associations, guilty pleasures, personal developments, escapes, memories, interests and many other representations that make up our identities. They can also reveal one’s major in university, career occupation or ambitions, hobbies, idols, travel destination goals or already visited locations. One by one our books come into our homes, lounging on nightstands, standing on bookshelves or slipping in between sheets. They're like germs living amongst us, halfway between objects and living things.
Regarding what someone’s book collection says about them, if it’s comprised of a decent amount of fiction books, like my own, it can suggest one of a few things. For one, fiction books are typically read on holidays, suggesting the owner may be a frequent traveler. The novels dogeared on page 30 and tainted with sunscreen stains or sporadic water damage, could be part of one’s collection picked up in random airports and read on beaches, often left unfinished. Secondly, fiction is also enjoyed elsewhere than the foreign, rather the exact opposite, such as in the home. One who owns a lot of fiction could be someone who aspires to escape. Fiction books are like portals into otherworldly dimensions, allowing our minds to think and act in ways oftentimes contrasting to reality. Thirdly, they signify an appreciation for resolution. Nearly all fiction stories have some kind of ending resolution, where all the different moving parts come together to create an everlasting ending. Someone who reads a lot of fiction may also use it to mute their fears about open-endedness and the desire for an escape from reality.
Aside from fiction, someone who owns an assortment of business books displays a desire to broaden their knowledge, wisdom and appreciation for other people’s experiences. These types of books indicate a go-getter mentality and a strive to achieve the highest degree of success in life or careers. It also indicates that the owner of these types of books isn’t a know-it-all as they want to expand their learning, understanding that knowledge is power. Someone who owns health and wellness and self-help books may most likely display an interest in self-improvement. They may strive to look and feel their best by obtaining the means to do so through reading. Self-help books are an indication that someone is willing to address and seek help for their faults. They may want to become the best versions of themselves by learning to do so on the pages inscribed by other people’s experiences and advice. If these books look unused, this may suggest a momentary lift in motivation, but a failure to comply. Another contribution to someone’s book collection that is notable is coffee table books. These books are typically used for appearance and entertainment. This indicates that the owner has a love for entertaining houseguests and appreciates the small things that can make a space great. Their connections to others may also be very important to them, as they provide a certain degree of entertainment and appearance to appease by displaying their coffee table books.
Not only is it beneficial to acknowledge the books one has read, but it’s also constructive to consider the ones left unread. Aside from the scribbled, crinkled and discolored pages of a well-loved book, there is often a tale behind the pristine ones that make it into the home only to collect dust. Unread novels are indicators of unfulfilled vocations, opposed desires and unshared secrets concealed under a veneer of being too busy. These unread books act as indicators of a future verse and signal a life path not yet or never to be taken. These novels piled up on bedside tables, office desks or wedged in between the forgotten and being a later problem, all hold significance towards the representation of who someone is as a person. These foreign bodies are filled with knowledge waiting to be opened and discovered by the owner. These unloved books are physical reminders of the possibility to learn what is not yet known. They can also act as masks for those who don’t have the love for reading as others may. Sometimes books sit on shelves unread, the spine facing outward displaying the author's name and novel title, solely to elicit a friendship or complicity of those who read.
No one book collection is the same, neither is any one person. Our individuality is what makes us all unique, as it does our bookshelves. Next time you come across a friend’s or acquaintance's collection, take a moment to explore the books they choose to keep them company and guide them to momentary escape.