With the release of Harry Potter this weekend and it's associated flood of blog post it's a bit harder to find something to post about. In no small part because I want to be reading Deathly Hallows right this second (ok, technically I've finished it but you know that I have to go back and reread some scenes right? Everyone does that after they finish don't they?). Luckily I found something non-Potter related that make me sit up and take notice. It's something that's always kind of made me scratch my head. Have you ever noticed that in movies and magazines everyone always has the perfect bookshelves? All the books have beautiful covers and are pleasing the to the eye. Whereas my person bookshelves are so crammed and oozing with books that they kind of look like they just vomited over themselves (yes, I do need another bookcase, thanks for asking!).

I find I can always count on 50 Books for a touch of snark and I dearly love snark. Doppelganger led me to this post at Apartment Therapy where someone was looking to build a fake book collection.

The question: I am working with a client who has a new apartment, loads of beautiful bookshelves and no books. We'd really like to build a book collection relatively quickly. We'd like it to be based on his taste, but also be a great collection of classics and aesthetically as pleasing as the work that's gone into the rest of the apartment. Do you have any advice or know anyone or any place that can help??

The replies? Ohhhhhhh about as good as you can imagine. I haven't seen book lovers this put out since...well I can't remember when.

This response from commenter David about a friend of his who did this very thing is a very good reason why NOT to collect books just because they look pretty.
"Then he threw a party, and a guest started asking him, in the presence of other guests, a lot of questions regarding the book collection. The homeowner just had this blank look of panic on his face, because he didn't want to admit that, despite the collection, he hadn't read any of the books, and quite honestly, would rather play video games than engage in anything even remotely intellectual. Oh, the scene was painful to witness."

Weeone believes that a real bibliophile will not be fooled by a false collection. "A book's primary purpose is for reading. Anyone who picks up a book that has never been read will hear that crackng of the spine and turn those slippery pages void of any finger grease or coffee drips and they will know it has never been read, and then the poor owner of this luxe apartment will be outed as the rube who only collects pretty things, but knows nothing about them."

Engineergirl thinks that everyone may be a wee bit too hard on the client in question. "Also, this request doesn't seem terribly bizarre to me. There is a certain peacefulness that comes from being surrounded by shelves of aesthetically pleasing books, and I think even a non-reader could appreciate that. People decorate their homes with all sorts of things that are beautiful but never used. Someone might have a lovely Old World map hanging on their wall but you don't see them planning a voyage to discover the Americas."

Also check out Book Patrol'sThe Interior Designer and the Bookseller.

Now I've always known that movie etc rent book collections. In fact, a friend of mine is a professor and he once rented out his collection of old title to a film crew. And yes, they did pay him by the foot. But I never really thought that people would buy books by the foot just to look good. I mean, sure I understand the appeal of a row of beautifully leather-bound classics. When I see them sitting on a shelf they are so pretty that I want to pet them. But I know that even if I did have such a collection when it came time get my Elizabeth and Darcy fix I'd be turning to my 1958 Longman's edition of Pride and Prejudice that I pilfered from my grandparents bookcase oh so many years ago. It's small, fits perfectly in my hand and was the first copy I ever owned and will always be the one I turn to. It hold all my memories.

So what do you think? Are book collections built purely for aesthetics fair or foul?

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.