a question for the bookish on PC

My T has a bookcase as well as book shelves above his desk, plus random piles of books on the floor and his desk. Plus he has books out in the waiting room so clients have something to read while they wait. He rotates these every so often.

One time he read to me from a book and I liked it so much he suggested I borrow the book. So I agreed. As he handed me the book, he admonished me to not bend the cover or pages open. So I became worried I would wreck the book. I tried to read it just by opening it a couple of inches so I wouldn't bend back the cover, but it was a hassle. I ended up buying the book for myself so I could read it comfortably. I couldn't wait to get his book back to him, unharmed! I would not want to borrow any others. Too much pressure.

So, when I was a grad student in English, I had a girlfriend who was a voracious reader. The problem, however, what that her taste in literature was god-awful...worse than just pedestrian...she seemed to actively seek out the crappiest books available. (I don't know how many of you might be familiar with lesbian literature, but there's a lot out there that's horrible, and I'd say she owned most of it.) I'll cop to being a total book snob, but I'd say that her literary preferences were one of the top 3 reasons we didn't stay together. (Fear not...these years later I recognize that the very top reason was that I was an a_ _!)

Anyway, for that reason, I'm sort of afraid to look at my T's collection. It's down in the waiting room, where I could really full-on gawk at it without her ever knowing. And I get that it's probably meant to be a collection of stuff that's useful for the folks she sees, most of whom I'm guessing aren't especially versed in psychoanalytic theory, etc. Still, I think my T is smart in important ways, but not especially intellectual. But I just don't want to have that suspicion confirmed, even slightly, you know?

Guess I'm in therapy cause I'm still an a _ _. Argh!

My T has a tall bookcase in the corner of her office. I've studied many of the titles from across the room, but have never gotten up close with the books. I'm kinda hesitant to...her bookshelves seem unorganized to me, and I know I'd feel compelled to pull all the books off and re-organize them if I got too close! My T does lend out her books, or will make copies of certain sections and give those to her clients. She was going to loan me a book once, but another client had it. Since I prefer to re-read books, I simply bought the book for myself.

I have a book case. My T has a nicer bookcase than I do in my office.

I used to lend books to clients, until there were 2 that never came back to me. Now, I don't lend them out.

My T has two bookcases. One in the waiting room with lots of therapy books, books on grief, teens, domestic violence etc. Most of them look like they've never been read. There are interesting ones but I would never ask to loan any. In other room bookcase has children's books and ornaments

My T has several bookcases. She's only loaned me one book, which I find somewhat odd, as she knows that I have an M.A. in lit and a Ph.D. - not that my degrees are doing me much good these days ... everything was okay before I was diagnosed. My life will never be the same again and nobody, but nobody seems to understand or to grasp how horribly wrong and out of control everything has become. I used to have respect from others and take pride in what I did - now everyone pities or resents me and I am mortified about what has happened to my life. Things were never like this before. Never.

I vacillate between this and "it was ever thus".

I agree, a book is meant to be lived with, devoured! T writes in the margins of his books. When he borrows books from me, he asks if it's okay if he does that, I guess because it's such a habit?, and i'm like, OH PLEASE DO! He's such an innocent sometimes.

I remember seeing someone's bookshelf in the mid-70's, someone I grew up with, and realizing, from all the pop crap she was reading, that I truly didn't know her anymore. I was genuinely puzzled as to why she would be spending her time that way. Mystified, really. Maybe even overwhelmed. At a loss for words.

But T and I actually have a lot of the same books, it's funny. I mean ones that we both bought before we ever knew each other. Not a LOT a lot, but one here, one there.

hi junkyardpuppy
I have an impression that mythology was included in Jungian psychology, maybe yr T skipped a few classes back in school lol ?

My T and I discovered that we have the same most favorite book in the world. We were amazed by that, but yet it made sense since we have such a close connection. It felt really good.

T has a couple of bookcases is his office pretty much filled with therapy literature. I haven't really had much desire to read any of it, so I've never asked to borrow a book. He'd probably let me though if I asked. Now he has recommended several books to me which I went out and bought on my own (I have a thing about owning my own books). I prefer to read fiction for the most part, and actually so does he. We've more than once been reading the same book at the same time.

Now we both have e-readers and are enjoying that whole new adventure.

And thanks to this thread, my T several times today stopped and went, "WHAT are you looking at up there?" as I attempted to read the titles of the books on his shelf. I was expecting him to finally go, "PAY ATTENTION" at some point but he didn't.

My T didn't have her own office. However, wherever we were, I always had trouble with looking at things so I got to where I'd deliberately do stuff. I started with my chair; it was a La-Z-Boy-type to recline but was pushed all the way into a corner (so it wouldn't) so I deliberately would pull it out some before we started our session. I messed with the box of tissues and moved the clock; it was so T could see it from her seat but I made it so both of us could see it. I sometimes brought in "props" like my grandmother's afghan comforter in winter and wore bedroom slippers in a couple times; took over the room, made it "mine". I wrote a poem about the set of elephant figurines http://www.squidoo.com/elephants-figurines in the bookcase and, when we used the director's office, I looked over his books (sniffed in disinterest like mine were better :-)

Mm...books...

My T has a bookshelf that I'm constantly staring at, because it's conveniently to her side, so I don't actually have to look at her. She admitted a while back that she's probably only read a handful of them, which made me feel better about my compulsive book buying, but not so compulsive reading.