THE SPINAL COLUMN

Home is where the library is—ideally, adorned with Assouline’s new collection of objets.

- SADIE STEIN

John Waters may be known for a saltier quote on books, as seen on Strand Book Store totes everywhere, but my favorite saying has always been more family-friendly: “Collect books, even if you don’t plan on reading them right away. Nothing is more important than an unread library. Life is nothing if you're not obsessed.”

Growing up, I was surrounded by books—particularly at my grandfather's house. If obsession is the meaning of life, he lived a full one by Waters's standards. Every inch of his Northern California property was given over to sheds, lean-tos, and A-frames built to house his ever-growing library. Books were everything, but we took them very much for granted. So renowned was my grandfather’s indiscriminate bibliophilia that, after his death, an artist turned a portion of his collection into a bookmobile-cum-installation.