day I ‘cultivate’
books … day I’ll know I’ve truly
failed as a human
As soon as I saw the headline, Do You Have ‘Bookshelf Wealth’?, in the New York Times, I said to myself, don’t read it.
It will just … well I didn’t know for sure what it would do but I knew it would do something to me.
In the end, it gave me hope.
It was an article that dealt with the reaction of book people to people who decorate with books and book shelves and book cases.
Here is the gist of it:
Kailee Blalock, an interior designer in San Diego, posted a video to TikTok last month that sought to define bookshelf wealth and school viewers in achieving the aesthetic in their own homes.
“These aren’t display books,” Ms. Blalock, 26, cautions in the video, which has been viewed over 1.3 million times. “These are books that have actually been curated and read.”
This literary look, she went on to say, goes well with pictures hung willy-nilly on the walls, sometimes even partly blocking the shelves, as well as mismatched fabric patterns and a bit of clutter.
In an interview, Ms. Blalock expanded on her advice. “I think to really achieve the look and the lifestyle, someone has to be an avid reader and has to appreciate the act of collecting things, especially art and sculpture,” she said.
Though Ms. Blalock did not originate the term “bookshelf wealth,” her video has spurred plenty of online discussion. “The day I ‘cultivate’ books instead of buying what I like to read is the day I’ll know I’ve truly failed as a human,” one user commented. Others remarked how bookshelf wealth was less about reading and more about regular old wealth.
Breana Newton, a legal coordinator in Princeton, N.J., who posts regularly about books on TikTok, was one of the people who responded to Ms. Blalock’s video. “I am going to show you bookshelf wealth,” Ms. Newton, 33, says in a video of her own. “Ready?”
She then gives viewers a brief tour of her home, showing books everywhere — on shelves, in overflow piles here and there, and strewed across the bed. Absent is the sense that the rooms have been staged, or that the books were bought with the consideration of how they would look on Instagram.
Been through this discussion before.
I am reminded of the artist played by Max von Sydow in the movie, ‘Hannah and Her Sisters”.
His character, a struggling artist, throws a rock star prospective client out of his gallery when the rock star asks, ‘What do you got that would go with a red ottoman?’
I always end up with the self graded quiz on CLASS in the book, CLASS, by Paul Fussell.
Mr. Fussell writes:
Bookcase(s) partially filled with books – add 5
Any old leather bindings more than 75 years old – add 6
Bookcase(s) filled with books – add 7
Overflow books stacked on floor, chairs, ETC – add 6
The reported comment, “The day I ‘cultivate’ books instead of buying what I like to read is the day I’ll know I’ve truly failed as a human,” warmed me all over.
So long as buying the books someone wants to read is a sign of being human, I feel that we still got a chance.
No Haiku For You 