[A] library, to Esther, was a roomful of books... Esther liked books out
where everyone could see them, a sort of graphic index to the
intricate labyrinth of her mind arrayed to impress the most casual
guest, a system of immediate introduction which she had found to
obtain in a number of grimy intellectual households in Greenwich
Village. Her husband, on the other hand, did not seem to care where
his books were, so long as they were where he put them.
-- William Gaddis. The Recognitions (novel, 1955) Chapter III.