Showing Off Your Books: The Do’s and Don’ts

NOT SURPRISINGLY, the more we turn to yet another dull screen to e-read a book, the prettier real volumes and bookshelves become. “The rise of the Kindle, and the e-book generally, increasingly signals the death of pulpy paperbacks, but it opens up more of a space for the book as attractive object,” said Damian Thompson, an editor at the World of Interiors magazine and author of the recently rereleased “Books Make a Home” (Ryland Peters & Small). “That means books will become more expensive, more niche, but enhanced as decorative objects.”

It’s...