INTERIORS: A new book devoted to the pleasure of living with books (and figuring out how to store them) prompted us to ask a writer to defend keeping books in the digital age. HUGO HAMILTONobliged

THE ROOM WAS infested with books. That’s how Flann O’Brien described the sight of a character’s personal library in his postmodern novel At Swim-Two-Birds.

But what would he have to say now about the steady advance of the e-book? The age of print-free reading. The virtual library, stored in digital form on shelves known as cloud space.

The room was bare. Not even a reading lamp. Not even the sound of a page turning. Only the soft, energy-saving glow of the e-book and the infestation of downloaded intellectual content.

We know about the ecological arguments. All the forests and all the water used to publish Joyce and the critical industry around this one writer alone. But we will always need books and stories and critical reflection, almost as much as we need food. We may be the last generation to purchase hard-copy books and wild fish. But we still love the feel of the real thing, fresh out of the water. We still love that silent hum of bookshelves around us, full of titles and words and imagined images.

There are beautiful libraries in homes all over the world. One that I know of existed in the city of Magdeburg in Germany until very recently. It belonged to an old man in his 80s. Rooms and corridors infested with books, right up to the ceiling. Only the light switches were left uncovered. An entire lifetime of reading stored within the walls of his apartment.

The books he had acquired over the years had taken on the physical presence of his memory. They represented more than the actual words and the information which they contained. Each time he picked out a book to read, he would find a piece of ephemeral memory inside – a tram ticket, a postcard from a friend, an inscription, a receipt from a cafe.

He would also discover in each book the most accurate recollection of the time in which it was first read. It was revealed more than the content of the book itself. It was that Proustian sensation stored within the text. The surrounding mood brought back the place, the people, the times lost, the awe of the younger reader he once was, and the tiny unwritten associations recovered from between the lines.

His collection started with a book which he was given by his school teacher. It was a long time ago, during the Nazi era, just around the time of the book burning in Germany, when so-called “degenerate” literature was banned. His teacher had taken a copy of a Jewish author from the shelves of the school library and given it to the boy for safe keeping, asking him to hide it so that it would survive.

After the war was over, the boy, already a young man by then, brought the Jewish book back to the school. It became re-integrated into the school library once more. A book salvaged from history. The name of the author is not known any more. Perhaps it was Karl Liebknecht. Perhaps it was a less well-known author. But the real point of the story being passed on is to draw attention to the fact that all books are precious.

The personal collection of books which this man in Magdeburg compiled over the years began with the simple act of preserving one book from extinction under the Nazis.

He became a voracious reader. A lifetime of books by the great authors and other more obscure authors collected inside his head and also in the real shape around the rooms of his apartment.

When he died, his library was divided up and passed on to his family. Subsumed into other libraries, into other people’s lives.

It seems that his memory in print form continues to exist around the walls of houses belonging to his daughter and his nephew, people who are equally devoted to the world of knowledge. An inheritance of literary impressions living on, long after the man’s own life ended and he left the physical world of book-lined shelves behind him.

It’s a story that would be difficult to tell in the digital age. Of course, we are happy to read books in whatever shape they are provided. But maybe we will also continue to cling with some nostalgia to the Gutenberg age of real print on real paper. Books around us like an infestation of old friends. Books that you can shake hands with. Books that you can take out and feel in your grasp as much as in your head.

Hugo Hamilton's latest book, Hand in the Fire, is published by Fourth Estate (£12.99 ). He will be in conversation with the American novelist Jonathan Franzen at 2.30pm today at the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire

Showcases

Custom-built shelves don't have to cost the earth, writes EOIN LYONS

Whether you purchase a ready-made bookcase or have one crafted by a joiner, always plan on more shelves than you need – books have a way of multiplying. There are many wonderful bookcases available (my favourite is the Random bookcase by MDF Italia at The Conran Shop) but I am generally more in favour of getting something made to fit your space. It allows for greater storage and the cost doesn't need to be exorbitant.

Andy Carter (tel: 087-1352455) is one of the best joiners I have come across. He is great at coming up with practical solutions and offers fine workmanship at a reasonable price. Based in Waterford, he works around the country and I've used him for many projects where he has made bookcases from MDF that were then painted by brush, which gives a richer looking finish than roller. Apart from a pleasing design, this is the key to making MDF look good.

Pick a colour that offers a gentle contrast to your walls. One combination that works is Farrow Ball's Slipper Satin on walls and its Skimming Stone shade on bookcase units.

Cameron Doyle (tel: 086-0292353) also does custom-designed furniture and book shelves for a variety of tastes and budgets.

Make sure you're taking full advantage of the space you have and give over an entire wall to shelving and storage. But don't cram too much in: for example, create balance by leaving a recess for a painting. Think creatively too: why not cover this recess with grass cloth wall covering? I find what often works best is discreet, low-level storage below a configuration of shelves. Break up a large bookcase by creating different sections of shelves and create spaces to display sculpture or interesting objects in between books.

Avoid lighting a unit from within – it is old fashioned – and instead allow lamps to sit on the surface of the low-level storage. They give softer light and will make the piece less blocky.

If you are on a tight budget, the obvious answer is Ikea. But do something to customise its bookcases. For example, laminate finishes can be primed and painted. Ask at MRCB paints for a suitable primer. I got a primer there recently that was tinted the same colour as the chosen paint, which means if the paint chips, the colour beneath is the same. To avoid chipping, use a glaze for greater durability. The one I find best is actually a floor lacquer called Mylands Satin Matte. Make sure your paint is complete dry before using it. Tel: 01-4019737 for stockists

If covering an entire wall with continuous rows of straight shelves on brackets – available from large hardware stores – think about painting the wall behind a strong colour to bring some interest and give books and objects on the shelves some definition.