For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library

by Thatcher Wine, Elizabeth Lane

A celebration of the meaning and comfort printed books bring to our homes and lives, from the curation and design experts at Juniper Books. Explore the significance of the home library, embellished with alluring photography and illustrations, in a keepsake worthy of any bibliophile’s collection. For the Love of Books shares the vision of Juniper Books, a business that embraces the roles that books fulfill in our lives and their staying power. It recounts the history of books and private libraries, and champions the resilience of books in the digital era. Dive into the nuances that define books for reading, books for decoration, and books for inspiration. Instructive chapters provide useful details for creating and curating one’s own home library, whether it be a single shelf or multiple rooms each with their own collection. You will never look at your bookshelves the same way again. For the Love of Books is about storytelling beyond the pages of our favorite books. Our books―the ones we choose to keep―tell the story of who we are. They remind us who we once were and who we aspire to be.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Art, Design, Interior Design, Coffee Table Books, Adult

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Thatcher is a creative entrepreneur, the author of The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better, and the coauthor of For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library. He is the founder and CEO of Juniper Books, a company based in Boulder, Colorado, that specializes in custom curated libraries and beautifully designed book sets.

Thatcher has long been an advocate for reading as a form of self-care and a means to build focus in the digital age, concepts that form part of the foundation of The Twelve Monotasks. While defending the place of printed books in our culture for the past twenty years, Thatcher has also sought to reinvent their creative potential. He has spoken widely about books and libraries including a TED Talk called “The Books We Keep, the Stories We Tell.”

Thatcher’s monotasking philosophy took shape as he grew Juniper Books and weathered numerous personal challenges, including a life-threatening cancer diagnosis. From a childhood in the restaurant business to the rise and fall of his internet startup in his twenties, Thatcher’s experiences have informed and refined his ideas on living with focus and purpose.

Thatcher lives in Colorado and loves to spend time with his two children and play on the slopes and trails whenever possible. For more information and to contact the author, please visit monotasking.tips and juniperbooks.com.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had many beautiful pictures of books, some interesting book history sections, and ideas for how to curate and organize your own collection of books, but mostly it felt like an ad for their custom services. Most of the pictures feature one of their sets or one of their bookshelf art installations (which are awesome, but not something I’m personally interested in.)

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I follow Juniper Books on Instagram and am in love with their custom dust jackets. For the Love of Books dives into the company's history and Thatcher Wine's own personal story of working with books. His approach to curating a home library has some elements that I will probably never use, but the bookshelves showcased in the photography is lush and elegant. Some of his concepts do feel a bit inaccessible to me; I'm not going to spend thousands of dollars on custom dust jackets and pay someone else to buy an entire library for me. That part does feel a bit elitist. But he's made a business and living out of it, and it's fascinating to learn the backstory. I can still glean a lot of wisdom on building a home library specific to my desires and tastes, and even justify buying a book just because it's beautiful.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who has even a small pile of books in their home, here is a book loaded with many good ideas to organize and collect and artfully place however many books you own. It tells the story of Thatcher Wine's company Juniper Books. Page after page of beautiful custom book jackets form visual graphic art on bookshelves. This is just a fun book about books to browse though!

[Larry Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those of us who are tortured by having to decide which books to take on a trip or to decide which books to keep and which to discard, spend an hour or so with these thoughtful and experienced book lovers and you won’t be disappointed. Gorgeous photography, lovely stories and helpful guidance for those who seek it, I applaud these authors for their shared love of reading and printed books.

[Kate Zhukova · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever fully read a coffee table book, but this one was great. I think the key is not going in expecting too much and focusing more on the beautiful photography than the writing. I've been a fan of Juniper Books for a while, so it was pretty neat to learn more about Thatcher's story and approach. I definitely took his advice and re-evaluated/re-organized my own stash.

[Neil Pasricha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you have a lot of time on your hands right now? Time to finally organize all your bookshelves! I suggest grabbing this wonderful book to help. I have a new appreciation for the value of a home library. Beautiful prose on book history complements incredible photos throughout.

[Rhiannon Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book about designing with books. Would make a wonderful gift and would look beautiful on display in a bookcase.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★☆ | 4.50 stars | RTC

[Meagan | The Chapter House · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have followed Juniper Books off and on for a while (and certainly adore/drool over their many book productions!); if I could suddenly come into a large sum of money, you can bet I'd drop a good chunk on books from them, lol.

The book did (as other reviewers have mentioned) feel like an ad for their services at times, but it was fun to see the whys and wherefores of projects they pursued, things they created, and designs they helped with. It got me thinking about how I'd display my own books, and asked all the right questions about books to keep, replace/upgrade, etc.

[Ramon van Dam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some nice background info on the history of books and some interesting - yet predictable - tips and tricks on building and organizing a home library, but it's also just a big piece of advertisement for the company of the main author. I did quite enjoy browsing all the lovely photographs of book shelves and collections though.

[Juliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs of book collections with some handy tips on collecting and designing your shelves. I knocked off one star for feeling like a large brochure for their business Jupiter Books.

[Bud Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good recommendations, but mostly geared towards what the company offers. "Bibliostyle" was better for actual book layout and ideas, but this was still very good

[Blane Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and inspiring, a dive into why we keep the books we do and inspire us fix our book nooks in hopes we find more enjoyment to our time to read. The photography is wonderful to look at as well.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the Love of Books is really well written and beautifully illustrated throughout with full color glossy photos. The authors give so many great examples of how you might arrange your books throughout your home. I loved poring over every page's photos.

I am not entirely sure how I feel about their organization methods. They share their own preference for 2/3 full, but also state that you could do 1/3 full for a minimalist look or fully full... but no matter what, they definitely advocate for only displaying "pretty" books. In fact a big part of their company, Juniper Books, is in creating custom jackets for books so that you end up looking at pictures or graphics instead of spines. Imagine a graphic of Superman printed on book jacket spines so that when 5-6 books are lined up you see the full image. I'm just so torn! The bookshelves in this book look so very gorgeous! But I just don't know if I could ever live with things grouped almost randomly, by subject or even color, rather than alphabetical by author. I do know my own shelves are probably too crammed, but I'd need a bajillion more shelves in order to implement the 2/3 rule. It's hard to decide. Overall, I ended up feeling slightly ashamed of my shelves bursting with cheaper paperbacks in between hardbacks of all ages... but I also know that in our house books are definitely read and handled often, so the pretty arrangements advocated by the authors of this book probably wouldn't work.

[Zibby Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is all about books. It's for book lovers by a book lover. The book talks about collecting books in our homes for their content and their beauty and displaying them in a way that reflects who we are as people. The author says that what is on our shelves is unique to us. It's about looking at our bookshelves with mindfulness and intention and refreshing them to tell our story. Books are not like other objects because they can have a lot more meaning.

I like how the author talks about the books, interweaves his own stories in the stories of authors and the books, and how that becomes a unique combination. He writes, "When we add books, any printed books, to our homes and lives and make space for them, something almost alchemical happens. We combine the author and their story with who we are and our story. The combination of the author and their story plus us and our story is a new story, and it's completely original." Books are a reflection of who we are and who we want to be.

To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/tha...

[Melissapalmer404 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book for book lovers. It gives ideas of how to display your collection. Research for the library that is in the making.

[Kelly Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and inspirational. Whether you have one bookshelf or hundreds this book will inspire even the most avid of collectors.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been thinking about doing some re-arranging of the (truly) massive number of books in my house and was looking for a little inspiration - I saw For the Love of Books on Chloe of Chloe Bunny's recent library tour video (I love her tours - they're so calming and happy-making). And I went...huh. So I got a copy.

This is a beautiful coffee table-style book and really interesting. Some of these library tips are not for me. I have a very functional library, whose organizing principle is mostly "how many books can I jam onto this shelf?" - if that fancy dust jacket doesn't tell me what the book title is on the spine, I'm not interested even if you can make a beautiful picture across multiple books with a custom design. Someone else will like it for sure, no shade to you. But I did love looking at all the beautiful shelves with different arrangements and getting that organizing energy going. (There is a serious misstep with a statement about how audiobooks are not "real" reading, which is not cool, but that is only one sentence.)

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good section of this book is basically a sales pitch, but it's a beautiful pitch and I was bought in before hearing their spiel from following Juniper Books on Instagram. If you have an Instagram, I highly recommend it. Their philosophies on the aesthetics of a book collection, and the ways in which books form us and tell our story, the idea that you don't need to read books to collect books as long as you have subject interests, and the small personal anecdotes included in this coffee table book were all interesting reads. As a reader I was already familiar with the history of books, reading, and the like which are presented in the first part of the book. But really, I was here for the pictures, and was happy to glean some advice that I'll be implementing in my own library.

[Hanna Griffis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a massive disappointment. I almost blindly ordered it online because I love the concept so much and am now so glad I didn't.

It would've been fine as simply a coffee table picture book with no words or just a couple paragraphs. There was very little information on "designing and curating a home library" and is mostly filled with just filler. It's a true bummer because I really wanted to like it. I think the subtitle is honestly misleading.

Almost no actual takeaways to guide me in designing my library (a home project I'm currently working on), and unfortunately my taste doesn't completely align with their companies which is what most of the images depict so there weren't even many good inspiration photos for me.

[Anne, Unfinished Woman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the quotes, but the book was more about using books as art than decorating with books as they are. The company makes book spines that put together create pictures and art designs. Or they make the spine more readable from a distance. But this is not what I look for when purusing the books at someone's house to get a sense of who they are, or to get ideas for books I might want to read. Beautifully done art but doesn't seem to me to be about the books.

[Khiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't enjoy it as someone who will never own a home or have such a disposable income. I have been inspired to put new covers on some of my books and use them decoratively. There was also a distinct lack of appreciation for public libraries and the assumption that we need to own all of our books.

[Chris Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few good "exercises" and pieces of advice, and obviously some good photos, but overall I was disappointed by this book.

It came off as more than a little pretentious, and mostly as an add for the author's company, while also throwing some oddly unnecessary shade at public libraries.

I actually thought it would have more useful information.

[Mariah · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some really pretty libraries shown, but I thought over and over that the libraries shown were just for show- the custom book jackets with photos on them make it impossible to pick a book off the shelf or browse for the perfect book for that moment.
Also, echo what others said: seems like an ad for their store.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off feeling like a love letter to personal libraries. Not far in, it felt like very expensive marketing for one company. I really do not care for some of the tactics to make a library into "art" but at the same time, there were a lot of cool anecdotes and exercises in here. Buy at your own risk, as this isn't cheap, even when used.

[R.C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the photos make it seem like it's 60% a marketing ploy for Juniper Books, this was an enjoyable, quick read that provoked thought about the function, form, and possibilities of a personal library. The last bit that focuses on tips and ideas for your own space was especially useful.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice book, lovely photos, pleasing homage to books and reading. I think it would have been stronger if the how-to portion had been left off, but still, very pleasant read!

[Brian Cartee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about a love letter to the printed book and home libraries! Amazing pictures and stories!

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures. I must’ve really interesting information about books.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the cover and heft, but the content could have been just a blog post instead of a coffee table book.