Books for Design, Books for Utility

Books should be loved. But could they be loved a little more gently??

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

The other day, I found The Carnivorous Carnival (Book 9 in A Series of Unfortunate Events) on the floor, sprawled open, upside down, spine strained. My 9-year-old had left it there.

This was after Book 1 in the series had received so much water damage from one of my kids that I had to replace it. My hardcover Harry Potter books have ripped book jackets, and even the beautiful illustrated copies of the first three books in that series are showing wear and tear. Same 9-year-old also lost the first book in the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series and I made him buy me a new copy out of his allowance (but now the cover art has been redesigned and no longer matches the rest of my copies…)

Even outside of my children, it is difficult for me to lend out my books. So often, they aren’t returned and I begin to hyperventilate that I’ll never see the book again. Finally, a few years ago, I adopted the policy that if someone asks to borrow a book I say “Keep it, it’s a gift.” If I love the book enough, I buy myself another copy. It saves me all of the stress of wondering if my collection will ever be complete again.

Ironically, I was picking up the basement playroom when I found The Carnivorous Carnival, and listening to a playlist of classic rock on Amazon Prime. At that moment, The Who’s song “Baba O’Reilly” came on. “Teenage wasteland…. it’s only teenage wasteland…” That seemed appropriate as I surveyed the scene.

I love books, but I not only love reading them — I love collecting them. I have a gorgeous set of Jane Austen’s six novels on display. I inherited some collector editions of Charles Dickens books from the 1960s. I’ve been known to buy a book just because the cover is beautiful. And for my birthday last year, I bought myself a copy of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged from The Folio Society.

My kids love to read and I love encouraging them to read. My 9-year-old will sometimes accept book recommendations from me, and reads the same paperback editions I had as a kid. I read…