I was thinking the other day, there will be no new bookcases in my life. One of the major furniture considerations when adding to or moving to a house, and I will never need any more than I already have.
While I haven’t yet gone out and purchased an eBook capable device (hey, when are those cheap Android tablets coming out!), it’s undoubtedly just around the corner. And I prefer ebooks — I can’t lose them (I spent half an hour yesterday searching for a misplaced paperback), I can share them with my always-on-me cellphone and I can always adjust the text so that my age-altered eyes have no problem reading.
Is there a reason to keep physical books? They’re dang heavy when they need to be shifted or moved. Do I really want them to impress people walking through my home and browsing my shelves? Or would they just think I’ve wasted my life reading too much science fiction and history? I don’t really care about impressing people with my possessions (look at my cars, for instance) and books fall into the same category.
Quick observation: I spent two years shopping for a house in Los Angeles in the late 90’s, and a much shorter time just before moving to Temecula. One thing I realized — in every single house I walked into, if there were a substantial number of good books on the bookshelves then the occupant was a renter. No value judgment here – just an observation.
No more bookshelves. Gone the way of the buggy whip. Odd. Less unsettling than I would have thought, too.