TSS : “Worshiping” a book, a discussion

So yeah, I’m late for my Sunday Salon, but never mind that, today I’m doing a 2-in-1 version of my Sunday Salon post and a discussion.

Ok, so by now, you probably have heard of the craft video Lauren Conrad did. And if so, you also have seen the waves of comments asking for the poor girl’s head. If you don’t, long story short, she took some books, cut the back of them, pasted into a box and made a storage box that, once put in a shelf, looks like books and not a box.

Now, I have to admit, I did NOT like this video. Not because I don’t like Lauren, I kinda do; not because I don’t like crafts, I’m not very crafty but I like the ideas. No, I didn’t like it because she starts the video saying that this is a great way to display books….but is not, is a great idea to have clever storage, so salvage books that are too old or too torn to hold themselves together, but truth be told, she is not displaying books.

However, most of the people out there that are mad (I’m talking REALLY mad people, like crazy mad) because “she murdered the books” or things like that…well, she didn’t. Other than that, she didn’t murdered or killed anything. Dearest, the tree that was used to make the book died a long time ago, but is not über dead because they undid the book. I think she would’ve avoided a lot of (unnecessary) hate if she would’ve done the craft with stained books, old books, etc, books that otherwise would’ve ended up as recycled paper, instead of brand new ones. 

But let’s talk about this for a while. I’ve told you guys before, I’m a fan of paperback, because you can take them wherever without the weight, you can bend them, and not feel awful because they not longer look new…in my world, the paperback that looks new is just unread, so…read it! I will NOT write or underline my books, I don’t like it, but is mostly because I like lending books, and I think that if I underline something, people are going to be biased to that part that I marked, and I want the read to be as fresh as possible. Doggy ears? Debatable, but if I have nothing else to mark down something I want to come back to, I will make some, as small as possible, again, for the same reason that I do no underline. I used post-it flags, and re use them as long as they stick. And yes, I have some hardcovers that I treat with a lot of care. If I’m borrowing a book I will probably make it an extra cover out of a manila envelope, but that’s out of respect to the person that lent me the book, I try to give it back in the same condition I got it. If the book is mine, and you see me taking extra good care of the book…is probably because it has an emotional story behind, and I would like to keep that particular version of the book as long as it is possible.

But this ludicrous position that the books are being somewhat harmed…well, that’s when you lost me. As Rebecca Joines Schinsky puts it in Book Riot, is the story that should count, is the story that is alive, not the cumuli of sheets. Is the message between those pages that comes to live when you read it. 

In a world where more and more people are turning to e-readers (I haven’t fall into that trend, I really like to change pages and the smell of books) I cannot understand this uprising for some “physical” books. People are madder about this that when someone in Goodreads insults an author that they just didn’t enjoy!.

So what’s your position on this? Are you mad at Lauren? Do you think books should be kept in golden shrines and never been touched or are you a sharing is sexy type of person?

Have a lovely week!