An intimate look between the covers.
July 17, 2010 2:15 PM   Subscribe

Bookshelf Porn A collection of all the best bookshelf photos for people who love bookshelves.
posted by Fizz (64 comments total) 44 users marked this as a favorite
 
If everything and anything collected can be called Porn, then there is no such thing as porn.
posted by Postroad at 2:21 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


I love the Ikea in-store bookshelf displays where all of the books are shades of the same color (the one I'm thinking of ranged from white to off-white) that complement the color of the room overall. Like this (although it isn't Ikea). Totally tweaks my love of color-coordination. Here's a couple Ikea bookshelves that have a rainbow thing going on. Don't think this one is Ikea but I love the rainbow here too.

OK, I'm off to take my meds...
posted by emilyd22222 at 2:21 PM on July 17, 2010


Postroad, I believe it only counts as true porn if you can masturbate to it.

This qualifies.
posted by kyrademon at 2:25 PM on July 17, 2010 [12 favorites]


I love the Ikea in-store bookshelf displays...

I color-coded my bookshelf once. Black > White > Blue > Green > Red.

Although it looked cool, and I received lots of compliments (as it was a bright spot in an otherwise bacheloric house), it was completely useless at actually organizing anything. I wouldn't advise it.
posted by hanoixan at 2:26 PM on July 17, 2010


Although it looked cool, and I received lots of compliments (as it was a bright spot in an otherwise bacheloric house), it was completely useless at actually organizing anything. I wouldn't advise it.

Your supposed to organize your bookshelf? Who knew...!
posted by jgaiser at 2:30 PM on July 17, 2010 [2 favorites]


I'm binding... I'm binding!
posted by Joe Beese at 2:30 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


If everything and anything collected can be called Porn, then there is no such thing as porn.

pornography: creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire
posted by Fizz at 2:39 PM on July 17, 2010


I'll be in my.... library.
posted by desjardins at 2:39 PM on July 17, 2010 [9 favorites]


I eat everyday, have a garden and pay my bills, then you people show me things like this and I remember why I need more money, lots more. Is about forty by eight feet enough, you think? No, not. I tossed all the unglued paper backs during the last move *sigh*.

Was Calvino's house in there somewhere? I'd like to see it. I looked but kept getting distracted.
posted by Some1 at 3:03 PM on July 17, 2010


My bookshelf organization is loosely based on Subject (medical reference is not in with art reference for sketchbooks) but mostly based on Remembering Where Everything Is. That way no one can find things but me.

I don't why this is so important.
posted by The Whelk at 3:09 PM on July 17, 2010


...mostly based on Remembering Where Everything Is.

I believe that any kind of structured organizing is the sign of a weak mind.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:13 PM on July 17, 2010 [5 favorites]


Your supposed to organize your bookshelf? Who knew...!

There's only one rule for book organizing. The stuff you haven't read yet should be easiest to grab. Anything else is showing off.
posted by philip-random at 3:18 PM on July 17, 2010 [3 favorites]


I've never had the patience or desire to organize my books in any way. I keep the same size books together, more or less, but otherwise, it doesn't matter to me where it goes. I find the serendipity of what books wind up being neighbors to be fun and sometimes amusing.
posted by litnerd at 3:20 PM on July 17, 2010


Postroad: "If everything and anything collected can be called Porn,"

There's this unspoken rule about this...
posted by pwnguin at 3:22 PM on July 17, 2010


Oooh. Want.
posted by Forktine at 3:24 PM on July 17, 2010


I think it was in The Gold Coast? Anyway, Kim Stanley Robinson (cheekily) defined porn as basically anything designed to stimulate acquisitive desires: thus food porn, book porn, car porn, tech porn, film porn, music porn, porn porn, etc. The Platonic ideal of porn qua porn is thus not the pornographic magazine, which is but one example of the type; it's the lifestyle catalog.

The which said: shit yes. Bookshelf porn. That photo of Gwyneth Paltrow is maybe the sexiest photo of a movie star I have ever seen.
posted by kipmanley at 3:25 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'll be in my.... library.
posted by L'OM at 3:27 PM on July 17, 2010


They seem to have a thing for dark book cases.
posted by new brand day at 3:28 PM on July 17, 2010


I know of two cases where a home library was reorganized unbidden by a housekeeper according to color and size. Both times the owner was very upset about it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:36 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


Just to add in some more bibliophile eye candy:

The 20 Most Beautiful Libraries in the World

Makes having only one complete wall of books look downright depressing!
posted by chatongriffes at 3:37 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


These pictures would be way better if I could read the spines. I would spend hours.
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:37 PM on July 17, 2010 [2 favorites]


dying happy now.
posted by zombieApoc at 3:42 PM on July 17, 2010


fap
posted by tigrefacile at 3:51 PM on July 17, 2010


They really need a picture of my bookshelves - they're totally filthy. I mean really, really dirty. Particularly the one in the garage. Does that count or am I just not getting this?
posted by MajorDundee at 3:55 PM on July 17, 2010


I admit to happily organizing my bookshelves (literature, art history, religion, literary criticism...) because otherwise I would never find anything. (That's always presuming that I don't accidentally stow something in a suitcase, as I did with Shirley Hazzard's Transit of Venus. Three years I was looking for that book...)

Everything else in my life, however, is totally disorganized. At work, I'm pretty sure that I have a desk underneath all the papers, but I can't be altogether certain.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:59 PM on July 17, 2010


Oh fuck. With 10,000 + books locked away in storage for the last 9 years, this makes me want to cry.
posted by dbiedny at 4:06 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh, and Egatz, if you're reading this, I want that wall of yours, motherfucker.
posted by dbiedny at 4:07 PM on July 17, 2010


Previously
posted by jonnyploy at 4:37 PM on July 17, 2010


I believe that any kind of structured organizing is the sign of a weak mind.

I know you're kidding, but it reminded me of something I realized about the value of organization: it effectively increases the size of your mind. When you've organized your stuff, you've offloaded the organizational framework that you used to keep in your mind and made it a part of the physical world, meaning that you keep the framework but you free up most of the resources that were being dedicated to the task of maintaining it in your head. It's like low-level caching for your brain!
posted by invitapriore at 4:46 PM on July 17, 2010 [4 favorites]


Owners inscription on the FFaP.
posted by Elmore at 4:47 PM on July 17, 2010


Psst, Pope Guilty, over here...

My free time! noooooooooooooo!
posted by Pope Guilty at 4:51 PM on July 17, 2010


My photograph would portray a pile of cardboard boxes. Sigh.
posted by XMLicious at 5:07 PM on July 17, 2010


Better bookshelf porn: NSFW
posted by Crabby Appleton at 5:26 PM on July 17, 2010


I am unnaturally dedicated to organizing my bookshelves, mostly because I'm guilty of double-stacking (heh). I would never be able to find the books in the back if I didn't keep it all organized.

Anyways... The floor to ceiling book warrens in this post totally qualify as porn for me, I take the -phile in bibliophile literally.
posted by selenized at 5:32 PM on July 17, 2010


meaning that you keep the framework but you free up most of the resources that were being dedicated to the task of maintaining it in your head.

Yep. I do this with almost everything I can (mainly because my brain is so tiny). Some organization is in space (shelves, etc) and some is in time (behavior).

For instance, I made a standard grocery shopping list ordered by where the item occurs in the store. If we need an item, we put a check mark next to it. (If we need an item next to the list, I can tell someone where to write it, i.e. "in the dairy section".) That's the spatial part. The time part is that I always go shopping on Sunday morning at 7-8am. Now I never need to be like "oh crap, we need milk but I already told X that we could do Y and now I have no time!".

From the outside, I'm sure I appear to be a robot. But I can drift through this schedule while thinking deeply about whatever I want rather than the minutiae of everyday life. Furthermore, an unorganized person and I both still have to do the same minutiae, but mine takes a lot less time because I don't need to race back and forth in the store because of an out-of-order list or spend time trying to fit the trip into the schedule in the first place.
posted by DU at 5:43 PM on July 17, 2010 [2 favorites]


a book worth reading, is a book worth owning.
posted by hiho at 5:44 PM on July 17, 2010


The 21st most beautiful library: the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziane designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti. (Should be the 1st!)
posted by francesca too at 5:48 PM on July 17, 2010


DU, I think you'll enjoy this: the bookcase you'll want to live in.
posted by Fizz at 5:49 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


Ooh, nice!

Also: This reminded me of Robin Sloan's lovely short story: MR. PENUMBRA’S TWENTY-​​FOUR-​​HOUR BOOK STORE.
posted by stumbling at 5:55 PM on July 17, 2010


I don't see any glitter on those bookshelves! Oh wait.
posted by Wuggie Norple at 5:58 PM on July 17, 2010


Here's another example of books arranged by color.
posted by Rula Lenska at 5:59 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


I just keep thinking of Gloria Upson in "Auntie Mame" saying, "My what a stunning apartment... books are awfully decorative, don't you think?"
posted by greekphilosophy at 6:15 PM on July 17, 2010


i came
posted by liza at 6:29 PM on July 17, 2010 [4 favorites]


I want a library in my house.
posted by Pronoiac at 6:35 PM on July 17, 2010


Here's another example of books arranged by color.

I'm not sure I like organizing books by their colour. My own library is organized by genre and further broken down into books I've read, books I love, and books I plan on reading. It seems an utter chaos, but it is a chaos that is controlled and understood only by me.
posted by Fizz at 6:43 PM on July 17, 2010


It's only hoarding when you're no longer wealthy enough to keep adding space to put things.
posted by Decimask at 7:39 PM on July 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


Ah! Ah! Chatongriffes, you've found my website for me! For the last three days, I've been puzzling to myself:

"Now what was the name of that blog I used to love so much? Curious . . . Journeying? Curious World? The Curious Traveler? Curious Expeditions!"

Also, The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture has some incredible libraries in it, which can be found easily via the index.
posted by sunnichka at 8:41 PM on July 17, 2010


yes please...
posted by maortiz at 12:25 AM on July 18, 2010


We're moving in a couple of weeks, and I was beginning to regret that we have so many books. Do we really need to haul them with us? Why yes, yes we do. Colorful, papery, thumbed over, written in, waiting to be read, solid, heavy. Can't get rid of them, sorry. Reclaiming my bibliophilia, I am.
posted by kaiserin at 12:56 AM on July 18, 2010


With 10,000 + books locked away in storage for the last 9 years

*used bookstore manager heart breaks*

People, if you haven't touched it in 9 years, please consider freeing those books from their prison for someone else.
posted by mediareport at 6:02 AM on July 18, 2010 [1 favorite]


pornography: creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire

Nah. Sexual desire is way too limiting and ultimately kind of prudishly Victorian. My favorite definition is more along the lines of ...

pornography: creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) intended only to to titillate.

... with titillate getting defined as ...

1. To stimulate by touching lightly; tickle.
2. To excite (another) pleasurably, superficially or erotically.


Note that this doesn't take sex out of the definition; it just allows many more pleasures in.
posted by philip-random at 8:27 AM on July 18, 2010


more bookshelf porn
posted by brina at 11:56 AM on July 18, 2010 [1 favorite]


People, if you haven't touched it in 9 years, please consider freeing those books from their prison for someone else.

mediareport I love the image that you evoke with this statement. I picture a bunch of books trapped in a cage being unlatched and watching them fly free into the sky.
posted by Fizz at 3:18 PM on July 18, 2010


AHAHAHAAAAA!!! I followed brina's link and I didn't realize the site wasn't in English until I was on the 3rd page of archives. Oh, how I want this bookshelf!
posted by 2oh1 at 3:39 PM on July 18, 2010


And now, I realize I'm even dumber. The whole site IS in English except for the one page I got hooked on. Grin! This is pretty amazing too - especially if a clock like this were in the center. If only money grew on trees.
posted by 2oh1 at 3:46 PM on July 18, 2010


Love it. Here are some more shelves with perusable spines: http://exposeyourshelf.blogspot.com/

Have fun, Pope Guilty...
posted by janakf at 4:39 PM on July 18, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oops here
posted by janakf at 4:45 PM on July 18, 2010


Some of these are photographs of actual libraries; in that domain the clear winner is Candida Hofer who has published a wonderful book of library pictures.
posted by spasm at 9:19 PM on July 18, 2010


I believe that any kind of structured organizing is the sign of a weak mind.

I know you're kidding, but it reminded me of something I realized about the value of organization: it effectively increases the size of your mind. When you've organized your stuff, you've offloaded the organizational framework that you used to keep in your mind...
posted by invitapriore


I'm not fully kidding. One person I know has been discussed behind his back in regard to the extreme disarray of his office. If he hears any of this, he'll say something like, "oh yeah? Why don't you go in there right now and select any paper, book, or item, come back and tell me what it is, and I'll go get it immediately." Which he then does. But he can play three games of blindfolded chess simultaneously, and has done since childhood. He never made any special effort to acquire that skill, and I don't think he feels that these kinds of activities use up any sort of non-renewable mental resource. He just lives in a world where everything has its own location, effortlessly tied to it.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:21 PM on July 18, 2010


I couldn't let any of my books go, despite having trouble moving them, until I found The Book Thing in Baltimore. The only thing better than walls covered with books is picturing my old books pleasuring others.
posted by QIbHom at 10:03 AM on July 19, 2010


The only thing better than walls covered with books is picturing my old books pleasuring others.

Now that's book-porn.
posted by selenized at 4:11 PM on July 19, 2010


Featuring a book on your bookshelf is akin to displaying atrophy. You've accomplished something in reading a book; it feels like a victory.

Rings untrue, that comment.

What kind of person has only books they have finished reading on their book shelves?
posted by IndigoJones at 6:04 PM on July 19, 2010


Taking the show on the road: The Book Bike.
posted by GrammarMoses at 7:38 PM on July 19, 2010


Ahh. I was back in my favourite library last weekend. It still smells the same as when I first knew it, which is probably the same as for the last few centuries.
posted by mdoar at 6:37 AM on July 27, 2010 [1 favorite]


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