Books as decoration

Having just relocated to another city, I was recently introduced to Half-Price Books. (My former city of residence did not have this store.) This is a fantastic store if you want great bargains on books of all kinds. I'm not writing this post to promote this business, though. I'm writing because I was intrigued by a concept the store offers. I first saw information about it on the store's website (http://www.halfpricebooks.com/bby.html). The concept is called "Books by the Yard." Prior to clicking on information about it, I wasn't sure what was meant by the term. Is this "yard" as in "yard sale," I wondered. Wrong. It's "yard" as in "yard stick." The store sells preselected books that encompass approximately three feet of space for you to purchase and use for your home decorating needs. Look out, HGTV! There are four different categories of books: Reader's Digest Condensed, Reference, Mixed and Law. Take your pick. Want your house to look like a well-read home? Choose the Reader's Digest yard. Want to look super-scholarly? Pick the Law collection. Need something to fill the knick-knack shelves? Get the Mixed set.

I laughed when I first saw the "Books by the Yard" information and silently commended the store for its ingenious creativity, although the concept seems to be exploiting books. Then I had to swallow my laughter when, later in the same week, my husband told me how he was determining which of his books would go on the family room shelves in our new home, and which would go upstairs in his office. He commented, "I suppose my system of organization is basically just showing off. I'm putting my manga upstairs. My scholarly books are in the family room." Since his personal library collection is all in Japanese, it hardly matters which books he puts where, as visitors to our home usually can't decipher kanji. But his comment made me realize that within my own household, my family is just as guilty of book exploitation.

I pity the authors whose books are not read and are merely used for decorative purposes. Thankfully, at least the books in my home have been read--regardless of where and why they're shelved.