I have friends who don't have bookshelves in their flats, because they don't see any practical benefit in having such a strange object inside their rooms. & of course they don't care to have a desk where you could sit & write or have a proper corner with apt lamplight to read a book - they have tv & video & cd- & dvd-player & pc & internet & all kind of mulitmedia stuff, but probably they've never ever read a single book in their lives -
well I don't feel ashamed of those friends, but I feel alway comfortable if I visit someone who has huge shelves filled with books - which makes me feel comfortable & at home - I like to examine the books in their shelves which tell a lot of their owners interests & favours - so there's still some of us out there who still read books - & culture isn't yet quiet vanished on earth..