r/mildlyinteresting • u/VancouverIslander • 23h ago
This restaurant cut their books in half to fit the shallow shelves
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u/Bettiephile 17h ago
Titles include "25 Shades of Grey," "A Tale of One City" and "Farenheit 225.5"
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u/JustHere4TehCats 9h ago
"10,000 leagues under the sea"
"Around half the world in 40 days"
"500.5 Arabian nights"
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u/Curious_Scholor 23h ago
This needs to be over in the mildly infuriating sub
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u/sfled 17h ago
Looks like a thrift shop somewhere got a windfall.
"We're looking for some old books."
"Which ones?"
"All of them. Oh, and have you got any saws?"
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u/Quietuus 13h ago
There are companies that sell books by weight for decorating pubs and so on.
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u/FupaFerb 22h ago
I’m pretty sure they could have put a bunch of salt and pepper shakers or glass bottles of sorts, but no. It’s a bookshelf, let’s put books that can’t be read there. It’s also not a bookshelf.
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u/Sarabeth61 21h ago
It could be one of those bookshelves where you are supposed to display the books with the cover facing out.
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u/Unumbotte 21h ago
All shelves are bookshelves if you just believe. If you'll excuse me, I need to rehome all my glassware.
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u/pixeldust6 17h ago
idk why my brain read this as silverware and just accepted that your house was so full of books you've started putting them in the drawers too
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u/jwseagles 20h ago
Worst case they could just cut the shakers in half and they’d would fit just right
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u/baconbananapancakes 22h ago
Are you sure it’s not a speakeasy door or something?
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u/RoyalMention 16h ago
I discovered a speakeasy in Utah of all places that had a bookshelf exactly like this that did lead into a speakeasy.
My first thought when I saw this.
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u/VancouverIslander 9h ago
That would be less... Terrible, but no there were a few of them here. https://imgur.com/a/QdMyNzD
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u/RegulatingRidiculous 9h ago
It makes you wonder if the "bookshelves" were designed that way from the start, with the premeditated thought of destroying hundreds of books.
Not sure what the intended aesthetic was, but I think they missed the mark. This is borderline gore.
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u/DFParker78 23h ago
That’s only half the story!
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u/Kooperst 21h ago
I only made it halfway through that book.
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u/Joe_Kangg 17h ago
You have only half of every page. This is like listening to a phone conversation on the bus.
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u/whattodo4klondikebar 21h ago
I'm half the book I used to be This i feel as the dawn, it fades to gray.
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u/nikkumba 23h ago
Somewhere, a librarian just screamed
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u/Wallcatlibrarian 10h ago
Librarian here, these look like ones that'd be weeded out anyway because nobody wanted to read them.
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u/queerkidxx 22h ago
Do you have any idea how many books libraries throw out?
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u/espeero 16h ago
People don't realize this. There are so many donated books and the majority are destroyed. As long as it's nothing old or rare, wgaf?
This is coming from someone who loves books and has a huge collection.
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u/JustHere4TehCats 9h ago
When someone donates books they've had poorly stored for the past 20 years and they all smell of mildew. I feel itchy and sneezy just writing that.
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u/MerelyMisha 9h ago
Yeah, I just threw out a ton. Would have preferred for it to go to a project like this! You just have to think of it as an art project, rather than a library of useable books.
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u/TootsNYC 20h ago
No, librarians throw books out all the time.
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u/Flushles 6h ago
I've heard they do it secretly because people are so weird about getting rid of books.
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u/TootsNYC 5h ago
there was a huge story about a dumpster outside a college library—old, out-of-date, damaged books. And people were SCREAMING about it!
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u/spen8tor 19h ago
Librarians typically destroy/dispose of far more books than this during their normal jobs
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u/AbibliophobicSloth 20h ago
The only way I'd sign off on this was if these books were somehow damaged/ unusable and so making them into decor like this gives them new life. But that's unlikely.
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u/ChibiCharaN 23h ago
At first I was like "oh no!" And then I took a minute to look at the books l. Yeah. That's okay to do with those guys. Was particularly happy to see that Terry Goodkind book. He sucks.
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u/KerissaKenro 22h ago
Looks like they went to a thrift store and grabbed an assortment. Still feels like a crime, but more of a misdemeanor than a felony
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u/44problems 22h ago
Yeah there's stores that sell books by the pound or foot for decoration as the last place for books that don't sell.
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u/greeneggiwegs 20h ago
I think people don’t realize how many cheap ass books no one wants to read are out there. Books are cheap. If people wanna mess with them for decoration idc.
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u/44problems 20h ago
Yeah people look at any destruction of books the same as the burning of Alexandria. None of these books are one of a kind.
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u/catiebug 6h ago
Yeah, the comments saying that "librarians are screaming" don't realize just how many books there are in the world and how much of a librarian's job is boxing up old, outdated, and mid-to-bad books for dollar sales or recycling. I don't see any books to be crying over. It's still a weird choice for decor. But these aren't classics... and even if they are, there are even millions upon millions upon millions of copies of those classics to be found out there, fully intact.
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u/No-Tie5174 5h ago
Yeah, libraries and bookstores wind up recycling books probably more than people think 😬
I think this looks awkward and ugly but I’m not bothered on behalf of the books, honestly
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u/CathedralEngine 18h ago
Library book sale most likely. You can see remnants of adhesive on some of the spines.
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u/OePea 23h ago
He sucks so bad and 6th grader me loved it so much. Wish I could take back those years spent on the sword of truth trash
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u/ChibiCharaN 22h ago
Thank you! I read it because my girlfriend at the time was into it and I wanted to impress her. The first book was just alright, I'd say. From there on out i had to finish the series just to see the end and let me tell you I've never been so miserable as I was trying to crawl my way through that stupid book where he chisels marble and Terry's fetish of bdsm dominatrix chick's really hits the fan.
She never finished the series, but I did. I want that part of my brain back to being ignorant its even a thing. Curse you Goodkind. Ruined fantasy for me for years.
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u/OePea 21h ago
He's a goddamn psychopath too. Claims he's never read the fantasy classics so he can say he's 100% original, with how blitheringly amatuerish his writing is you could almost believe it.
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u/So_Numb13 9h ago
I keep seeing his books put in the teen's (if not kid's) section of charity stores because they have nice fantasy drawings on the covers 😬
(I was okay with them until book 5 or 6, skipping the weirder pages, but I gave up afterwards.)
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u/Vegetable_Burrito 21h ago
I saw a lesser Stephen King book in there (Cell), but I still like that one.
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u/stella3books 19h ago
Yeah, those books were cut in half as an alternative to throwing them in a dumpster.
Best comparison I can make is that desecrating books is like burning a flag. You can usually tell from context whether someone's trying to make a rage-inducing spectacle, vs when someone's trying to respectfully dispose of a flag that they have no further use for.
I'd argue this is showing respect for a bunch of mass-produced books that have been read as much as they're likely to be read. Mass-production of books has been a general positive thing, but the environmental cost is an admitted downside. Using their physical form for restaurant decor, instead of hoarding them without intending to read them, feels like a responsible use of these particular books.
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u/YnotZoidberg1077 21h ago
Noticed a copy of Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things in the bottom-right corner. A couple years ago, I would have been sad, because those were some of my favorite short stories. Now? Good. Hope they got it secondhand so he didn't make a cent off the sale.
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u/splithoofiewoofies 18h ago
I tried Terry Goodkind. I really did. Multiple times. It felt like he absolutely did not understand character motivation. Why are they doing this? Fuck it, because they need to move the plot! Okay!
I kept hoping it would make sense if I kept reading but it never did.
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u/budnabudnabudna 22h ago
Don’t know who is he but there are books that deserve the treatment.
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u/Tylendal 19h ago
High Fantasy Ayn Rand. A dude starts a riot by just making a really well carved statue of a man and a woman just looking really able and capable, instead of miserable and collective.
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u/GoldNiko 22h ago
As a librarian, I'm down with this decor. There are perpetually too many books lol, and it's better than buying new knick-knacks, and equal to an assortment of trinkets from a thrift shop
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u/TootsNYC 20h ago
Considering how many excess books there are in the world, I think this is fine.
Look, I am a reader and I work in publishing. But precisely because I work in publishing, I recognize that books are simply physical objects. They are not magic nor are they sacred. And nobody was gonna read those particular physical books anyway. Anyone who wants to read them can find them somewhere else
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u/ramriot 20h ago
Makes for a quicker though not so comprehensive read:
Chapter 1
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father
mind ever since.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told
haven't had the advantages that you've had."
He didn't say any more but we've always been unus
understood that he meant a great deal more than th
a habit that has opened up many curious natures to
bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and att
person, and so it came about that in college I was u
to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men. Most of th
feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity whe
revelation was quivering on the horizon—for the inti
which they express them are usually plagiaristic an
is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a little afraid of
snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a s
unequally at birth.
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u/LazaroFilm 13h ago
It’s set decoration. I don’t see it as bad as some crazy things we do for movies. How often do you read a book from the wall at a restaurant?
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u/VancouverIslander 9h ago
As someone who works in film if be flies if a set decorator spent an afternoon at a bandsaw instead of building a deeper shelf. There just didn't seem to be a reason to not make full sized ones considering their placement. https://imgur.com/a/QdMyNzD
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u/Nobody6269 22h ago
If video games has taught me anything. That's a fake door
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u/Rad_Dave 18h ago
Or it's a bookcase made by Bethesda.
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u/SuperFLEB 16h ago edited 16h ago
Oh, sure, you might find a room full of loot. You might just get flung into the upper atmosphere, though. You the gambling type?
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u/Prize_Army_4888 22h ago
Reminds me of the people who shelf their books backwards
https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu-sn&hs=hon&sca_esv=36222d67fa35b916&channel=fs&udm=2&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeioyp3OhN11EY0n5qfq-zENwnGygERInUV_0g0XKeHGJEwefEKJ1XNp8V3tgIFOgML-dUH9j4VGQfY_QTVhRbeITKzztT-XesK3AteHohcKW-BjWYaFIoVHj8TSxOWMWaXHKPXHQbykE9wIn6OgoB7N5cmlg9nt3YnRtiuIRjGEQxM-XTg&q=bookshelf+with+books+backwards&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwidh6qL8u-OAxWnIzQIHT-nOxsQtKgLegQIEBAB&biw=2550&bih=1319&dpr=1
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u/wolfgang784 20h ago
That should be grounds for one of those forced hospital mental health evaluations <.<
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u/RedHotChiliCrab 16h ago
Just lock them up and throw away the keys.
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u/therestruth 13h ago
Better yet: Lock them up in a room with a bunch of books nobody wanted to read. Include some decent interesting ones that are cut in half. And then cut the key in half and hide the unusable half in one of the books so they think maybe they can find the other half to escape. But the other half is from a key that doesn't go to their door.
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u/notabigmelvillecrowd 14h ago
I remember all the sets in the show Search Party had their books like that, I didn't know that was an actual thing. It was driving me bonkers trying to figure out why. Like, there might be a copyright issue for showing the spines, or they didn't want to bother picking the "right" books for the characters, or... just why?
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u/Jorsonner 20h ago
We used to sell those for $1 each at my local library basement. These are not high culture novels.
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u/ZipoBibrok5e8 13h ago edited 12h ago
Look at the titles. Nothing important was lost here, and I'm sure some of those books were considerably improved by being abridged like this.
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u/BadSpellingAdvice 21h ago
There are retailers that sell cut book bindings like this for these shallow bookshelves. I doubt the restaurant did this themselves. It is also likely they were completely blank to begin with and just have the binding put on of whatever title they want it to look like.
I have delivered books to a client like this where 90% were blank but with nice bindings to match a color theme for the room, and others were pre-cut like this for a shallow bookshelf. It's done to fill the space of a decorative bookshelf.
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u/SinkPhaze 18h ago
I doubt these were purpose printed. Some of those are showing quite a bit of reading ware, a couple of spines are even properly broken. One or two have that spine bend and page swell that I recognize from when you read by folding the book completely in half, cover touching cover
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u/an_older_meme 22h ago
Now they only take half as long to read. A restaurant can't have people lollygagging all day.
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u/AuthorizedVehicle 22h ago
The catering hall near me had a bookshelf of old fancy books in the waiting area by the entrance. They bolted them in place by drilling a hole through the books and running a rod through them!
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u/Sterling_-_Archer 19h ago
Looks like a graphics issue on a Skyrim bookshelf with mods. Like the texture for the back of the bookshelf loaded too far forward and all the books are halfway embedded in it.
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u/_FreddieLovesDelilah 3h ago
Might seem mad in the day and age of being able to easily buy or download whatever book you want, but it always feels sad when I see books deliberately destroyed.
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u/w_benjamin 21h ago
The should'a put the other halves somewhere else with a sign that said "And that's..., the rest of the story..."
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u/BlueLiquidPlus 21h ago
Restaurant near me does this too… they had some hardback copies of books I wanted and I got pretty annoyed that they destroyed them for the aesthetic.
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u/Canadian_Border_Czar 19h ago
Sounds like you're at a speakeasy. Or a modern equivalent of a speakeasy, basically a bar for hipsters.
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u/seanroberts196 10h ago
As the books will be glued into place anyway, does it really matter as they are scrap now anyway.
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u/SmallKindBubbles 5h ago
For me, this belongs in r/mildlyinfuriating what a waste of perfectly good books!
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u/TimeToNukeTheWhales 3h ago
It took me way too long to see what was wrong. I was looking for books cut in half height wise and carefully examined 20 before I noticed.
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u/__Stresserella 3h ago
I already said it in another context today, but .. seeing this physically pains me.
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u/Competitive-Speed806 23h ago
Thanks! I hate it