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| Since the photo is necessary to illustrate the point, I'm hoping that Jonathan Phillips/Curbed Atlanta will allow its use (if not, let me know, guys, and it will be removed) |
I have to agree with the folks over at curbed.com that seeing innocent books abused the way these poor things are being abused (come on...nailed to a wall, for pete's sake) makes me cringe and want to raise my voice in scorn and protest toward the idiots involved. But then again, that's me, and maybe I'm overreacting as I so often am accused of doing. What do you think? Trendy and acceptable or abusive and classless? Or maybe something in between?
Think about it for a minute. Are these just a bunch of books randomly chosen or do they supposedly reflect the taste and lifestyle of the person who destroyed them. Are they a bunch of romance novels, for instance, or do they include some literary work that should be treasured and read rather than being made into ornaments? Would you lose respect for the butchers involved or would you take a close enough look to tell you they probably weren't bright enough to actually read these books anyway? What would you say to them?
I hear you. At the risk of exposing myself as the book snob I probably really am, I'll have to add that "there are books, and then there are BOOKS." Some deserve to be pulped or worse as soon as they are published, but others never deserve that fate...you, I'm sure, would have no problem telling the difference. We book lovers are extremists, I know.
ReplyDeleteWell... I have shredded a book for compost before (it had gum between the pages) and hollowed out another one to make an e-book cover. It was actually difficult to do those things, until I thought of the book as an object and neither were useful anymore as books. I've seen fantastic sculptures made out of books that were cut up. So I guess I'd be okay with it, if the books were ones that had practically no reading value to anyone, anymore, and might as well be in a recycling bin. But if they were decent, readable books still- that's an issue.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Jeane...there are books, and then there are Books. I would never trash any book that has literary, sentimental, or monetary value. But there are plenty of bad books that should have never seen the light of day...exactly the books I would never use the way the books in this photo were used because anyone seeing the room would think they were the type of books I wanted to surround myself with. Kind of a Catch-22, I think.
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