How to assemble a home library

The presence of a library, even a tiny one, even just a bookshelf, in the house is equal to the need for a bathroom, a sink, a bed. The most beautiful reader, which is certainly very convenient and functional, alone, alas, will not create that wonderful atmosphere of coziness, accessibility of knowledge, way of life, family tradition. 

The demand for it is the main criterion for a properly assembled library. Not a single book should gather dust in it. The more individual it is, the more useful it is. Therefore, I will refrain from recommendations in the spirit: be sure to buy dictionaries, reference books, encyclopedias, a few works of art. There will only be proven advice that will help you “go out” to your books and find your writers. Don’t read advice from book groups, forums, bloggers.

Follow the trail of your favorite writer. Read the books he loved, grew up on. Authors he tried to emulate. So, my favorite Patti Smith led me to the magical prose of Jean Genet, the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Alain Ginsberg. Jack Kerouac prompted me to read Marcel Proust, Thomas Wolfe, Louis-Ferdinand Céline. This journey will not only broaden your reading interest, but also help you get to know an author you like better.

A good library is a functional library. Expensive gift editions, huge art albums are fine only if you really look at them, love them, study them, show them to your children and friends, and leaf through them when you’re in the mood. Don’t buy these books as decoration. It is not uncommon to find books from booksellers that no one has ever opened. A library “for status” causes ridicule.