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[Peaches McPhee]

My gosh, those windows!  What I would not do for windows like those!

[NicksmomESQ]

  Although I love books & have many in my home I don't care for cluttering a coffee table with books, magazines or anything else.

 I use my living room to entertain (before Covid & hopefully again) & to watch t.v. I put snacks & drinks on my coffee table. It wouldn't be practical for me to have a lot of books on it.

[Goldengate8361]

I always have several stacks of books on my coffee table from the stash I am reading or trying g to get to. Regularly, one of my cats knocks them over, too, which I prefer to think gives my room a "comfortable-home"  vibe. LOL 

Or maybe my cats just don't like my taste in books....I believe books are for reading, not decorating.

[LindaSal]

The stacks of books are a big no for me.  Though I like the room, not the rug or what appears to me to look like a bureau near the fireplace........the rest of it is nice.

I have one fairly large book on my coffeetable and that is a book with beautiful photographs from all over our state taken by a local photographer.   I think that's fitting.

I have many books and several bookcases where they happily sit very neatly waiting to be read

[Regal Bee]

I don't put books on my coffee tables because my guests place their drinks on them and it is always awkward. I love the look, though. 

[jannabelle1]

The room itself is very nice (a different area rug, please), but that coffee table with nine stacks of books is overdone. I could understand 3 or 4 favorite books, but it appears that the purpose of this room is to read rather than entertaining and conversing. Or perhaps the purpose is simply decor - whatever the reason, it's not something I would do.

[sceniccoast]

@Oznell 

NOPE, can't stand so many designer's using the "book look" as decorating.  For me, it's actually getting boring seeing this same style being used.  And, it makes the table cluttered looking.  As for the room itself, I like the size and all the natural light flowing thru.  Not crazy for drapes as a rule & these appear on the heavier side.  The sofa & 2 pattered chairs are nice.

Thanks for sharing.

[DREAMON]

Very nice room ..as for the books 3 stacked on a table is my limit. 

I don't care for that coffee table or all the stacks of books.

A more attractive coffee table with a few books would be what I would choose.

[Nonametoday]

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@Oznell wrote:

Here's a room Peter Dunham did.  They don't give a hint as to where it is in the U.S.,  just that a globetrotter lives there:

Do you like stacks of books on the coffee table?  To give context, this is a large house, that yes, does have a library, a den and other sitting spaces.

Yet he chose to load the coffee table with books, as designers often do.  I'm assuming this is the main living room, it looks the most likely-- the only other image of it I could find shows this fireplace area, just outside the range of the above picture:

I love the presence of books in every room.  I doubt I'd have the discipline to reserve my coffee table for this many though.  I need room to put coffee cups down, and of course, my own little vignettes of candles, ginger jars, a tray, etc.

As we talk, I have 3 books on my coffee table, which have been there for at least a month. (I did not curate them there for purposes of this post, ha.)  They are neatly stacked, and have my vintage brass swan bowl on top, with a fat candle in it.  The books are:   "The Power of Glamour" by Annette Tapert,  "Decorating on Ebay" by Barbara Guggenheim, and "Rough Magic",  Paul Alexander's biography of Sylvia Plath.

Do you typically have books on your coffee table?   Coffee table type books that you and your guests can leaf through, or novels or....?  

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@Oznell 

Yes, yes and yes.  I have stacks of them organized neatly on my cocktail table.  I have books in every room.  My husband took a truck load to the library in 1992 and now I could do that again.  I am so happy for Kindle though I do love book-books.  I have a bunch of coffee table books too.

[vsm]

Looks like the discount table at Barnes & Noble.