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Back in the rennaisance, the new rich would buy up estates, complete with a well-stocked library, because anyone who was anyone had a library. That doesn't mean the books actually were read, or even that the owner could read. Beautiful covers to impress visitors have faded out, they once were displays of wealth, but you can buy books that look very good on a shelf pretty cheaply these days. Rows and rows of very fancy books, all in order may indicate a display that isn't read. Haphazard rows of well-worn paperbacks shows that it is more likely the books are read. So if you want to give the appearance of reading the books, mess up the shelves a bit!
I'm used to seeing books in people's houses, most people I know have a significant number of books. If I'm in someone's house and I don't see any books, I think this may be someone who I'm not going to hit it off with. But if everyone has only e-books, then the house of the reader looks the same as the house of the non-reader.
There are a lot of things in movies that aren't quite realistic, having a great many paper books is only one of them. Huge rooms and wide corridors are another.
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