My Ideal Library

I am currently in the process of taking inventory of the books in my library. I’ve started with the physical books and so far I’d put the estimate somewhere between 1,200-1,400. I know that I have more than 1,700 audiobooks on top of that. And another 500 or so e-books. Call it 3,600 books all told. The physical books are dearest to me. The audiobooks get backed up locally “just in case,” but I don’t backup the e-books because I don’t care enough about them. I rarely buy e-books these days.

In my journal, I clip pictures of other people’s libraries and offices that appear in magazines. (I have a double-spread from a recent article in Smithsonian Magazine on Cormac McCarthy’s library.) I see these libraries with ten times the books I have in mine, and I’m envious.

Yet sometimes, early in the morning when I come into my office/library before my morning walk, I sit for a moment, surrounded by a library that I’ve built up over most of my lifetime, and I am grateful. Walking into my office is like walking into a bookstore tailored to just my taste in books. It is my ideal library.

Tagged asobservation

2 responses to “My Ideal Library”

Tim Schirber

September 23, 2025

Hi, Jamie. Long time fan of your blog. I may have asked you once a long time ago but I’m curious now about what choices you make in going audiobook or buying the hardcover/paperback version of a book? I’ve used used all three platforms, including ebooks. My physical books tend to be non-fiction and the audiobooks more fiction. Sometimes, I’ll have both the audio and physical book to go back and forth depending on circumstances. I do still buy ebooks, again more non-fiction.

Jamie Todd Rubin

September 23, 2025

Tim, thanks for being a long-time fan! So timely that you asked this question because I’d originally intended to write about that very topic, and then got diverted. My preference is for a printed book, hard cover, trade paper, and mass market paper in that order. I love audiobooks, but if the book is anything that I feel I’m going to want to take notes on, I usually get both the audio and a print version.

More than 16 years ago, I wrote excitedly about getting my first Kindle. Since then, e-books have palled on me. They are lifeless versions of the real thing. Their two advantages (instantaneous gratification, and no additional weight in the backpack) pale in comparison to what I see as their main disadvantage: they are just not as easy to engage with as a physical book, at least for me. I don’t just highlight passages. (I rarely highlight, I underline.) I circle words, argue in the margins, ask questions between the lines, write summaries over chapter heads. I occasionally fold page corners and make the book thoroughly mine. I’ve tried over the years to do this with e-books. I can highlight and I can add notes, but you can’t see the notes inline the way you can in book. You can’t cross out a passage and write NO! NO! NO! You can’t circle one paragraph and then draw a line to another paragraph making an important connection. There is no life to the THING.

All of that is to say that I rarely buy e-books these days, doing so only when no other version of a book is available.

Fiction versus nonfiction: I read far more nonfiction these days than fiction. My tendency is to get the audiobook for fiction unless it is for book club in which case I’ll get audio and print. For nonfiction, I almost always have both print and audio if the latter is available, and just plain print if it is not.

Loading…

Reply

Tim Schirber

September 23, 2025

Hi, Jamie. Long time fan of your blog. I may have asked you once a long time ago but I’m curious now about what choices you make in going audiobook or buying the hardcover/paperback version of a book? I’ve used used all three platforms, including ebooks. My physical books tend to be non-fiction and the audiobooks more fiction. Sometimes, I’ll have both the audio and physical book to go back and forth depending on circumstances. I do still buy ebooks, again more non-fiction.

Loading…

1. Jamie Todd Rubin
  
  September 23, 2025
  
  Tim, thanks for being a long-time fan! So timely that you asked this question because I’d originally intended to write about that very topic, and then got diverted. My preference is for a printed book, hard cover, trade paper, and mass market paper in that order. I love audiobooks, but if the book is anything that I feel I’m going to want to take notes on, I usually get both the audio and a print version.
  
  More than 16 years ago, I wrote excitedly about getting my first Kindle. Since then, e-books have palled on me. They are lifeless versions of the real thing. Their two advantages (instantaneous gratification, and no additional weight in the backpack) pale in comparison to what I see as their main disadvantage: they are just not as easy to engage with as a physical book, at least for me. I don’t just highlight passages. (I rarely highlight, I underline.) I circle words, argue in the margins, ask questions between the lines, write summaries over chapter heads. I occasionally fold page corners and make the book thoroughly mine. I’ve tried over the years to do this with e-books. I can highlight and I can add notes, but you can’t see the notes inline the way you can in book. You can’t cross out a passage and write NO! NO! NO! You can’t circle one paragraph and then draw a line to another paragraph making an important connection. There is no life to the THING.
  
  All of that is to say that I rarely buy e-books these days, doing so only when no other version of a book is available.
  
  Fiction versus nonfiction: I read far more nonfiction these days than fiction. My tendency is to get the audiobook for fiction unless it is for book club in which case I’ll get audio and print. For nonfiction, I almost always have both print and audio if the latter is available, and just plain print if it is not.
  
  Loading…

CommentsCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Jamie Todd Rubin

My Ideal Library

Like this:

Related posts

2 responses to “My Ideal Library”

CommentsCancel reply

My Ideal Library

Like this:

Related posts

2 responses to “My Ideal Library”

CommentsCancel reply

Discover more from Jamie Todd Rubin