Kali J Desautels

I read an essay recently, by Hannah McGregor entitled Liking Books Is Not A Personality, published on Electriclit.com. The premise of the essay was that “bookishness” is the way that we have taken the love of books and turned into a love of all things book. She discusses the general outrage at Marie Kondo’s suggestion that if a book does not “spark joy”, we should thank it for its service and let it go. McGregor discussed the general xenophobic and racist arguments deriding Kondo’s approach, explaining that the majority of offended parties are white women annoyed at the thought that books should bring “joy” rather than disrupt our understanding of things, as well as the anger that our books are not things but instead portals to other worlds. Key to McGregor’s essay was the thought that we have now placed an intrinsic emotional value on books, and our own personal libraries, that we are unwilling to separate the physical book from the ideas held within.

She goes on to argue that through bookstagramming and booktubing and merchandising, we have now taken reading to a cult-like obsession, whereby we base our identity on the idea that we like books. She likens book collecting to hoarding behaviour and provides examples as to how the idea of “bookishness” is now a further example of rampant consumerism. I will include the link below for anyone interested in reading the full article. I do recommend it, as it is well-written and includes some very insightful thoughts.

My question is – do you define yourself as bookish, and if so, what does that mean to you? Do you also hold McGregor’s view that bookishness is merely further consumer behaviour? Do you own non-book related products that proclaim your love for all things literary?

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