A difficult case.

I like my new bookcase, I really do. 

Sort of. 

My old bookcases were pretty cheap and didn't make the move. I got this new one from the Home Depot--okay, it's also pretty cheap, but new! Putting it together was not difficult, but did take a while, and I am happy to say it is a solid hunk of furniture. 

There's just one little problem. 

You may notice that many of the books are on their sides. That's because this item (that Home Depot sold as a bookcase) features shelves that are mostly too close for a standard size book to stand up. Most hardcover and trade paperback books sold in the West, when standing, are nine inches tall. The unadjustable shelving space has a height of eight inches. 

This is not the worst thing in the world by far. But it is rather weird for a bookcase. I didn't realize it until I had assembled it, and at that point there was no way I was going to take it apart and ship it back. 

And yeah, it's fine, no big deal. But still--how did this happen?

I took another look at the instructions that came with the thing, and the truth was made clear. 

AHA! 

So the item that Home Depot sells as a bookcase was actually a Shoe Cabinet all along! 

I wrote to them to alert them to this issue, but they have not made any changes to the listing. Of course. They sell a zillion products on their site and can't be bothered dealing with this, as long as it didn't explode, fall over, or kill ayone, Besides, who really buys books anymore?

Harrumph harrumph harrumph. 

Well, I can live with it. Still, I am surprised anyone would use this as a "shoe cabinet." I don't have enough shoes and boots to fill even two of the shelves. And the boots would be too tall. 

My wife has a lot of shoes and boots, as women often do, but she doesn't want a wooden display case for them. Even sneakerheads wouldn't be thrilled with this; they'd probably want a case with tilted shelves, to display their collection, not a flat shelf where you'd barely see the toe or back. 

It's all crazy to me. But I, of course, can clearly remember an era where people liked to display their books and weren't interested in showing off clothes they were not currently wearing on their persons. Perhaps it's different in Asian countries, from one of which I am certain this "book"case was shipped, or maybe I'm just behind the times. 

In any event, it's one for the books, I say.