Blessings, beautiful souls –
After my article the other day on how Analog and Slow Living have become enmeshed with consumerism culture, there is another side of consumerism I would like to expose: BookTok/Bookstagram. The item that triggered this? Coach released a bag charm that is a miniature copy of a book with a leather binding that costs over $100USD, and the world is losing its mind. Apparently, reading is “trendy.”
As a self-proclaimed bibliophile for all my life, I’m not here to gatekeep reading; in fact, I want everyone to pick up a book and read. But that’s not the trend that’s going on, right now. The trend is this: the appearance of being a reader.
You need to dress learned, you need a To-Be-Read pile that is extensive – one you never touch but show off often to your digital following, you need to read only what other people are reading (and anything outside of that box could isolate you, get you labelled, or shunned), you need the accessories that match what you’re reading (eg. matching bookmarks, book sleeves that cost more than the book itself, the latest Kindle, etc.), you need to be buying a book just for a photographic cover or because it’s a limited/collector’s edition… Reading isn’t the trend; the validation that comes with looking like you’re a reader is the trend. Consuming to fit in with the latest “cool” thing is the trend.
In addition to many of the books that are “trending” in this space being mindless, soul-empty drabble, at the speed at which these people consume these books before promoting another (and sharing their affiliate link in the comments), you need to wonder if they’re actually digesting what they are consuming. A book doesn’t need to be non-fiction to be worth the read, but if you’re flying through terrible writing just to play catch-up with the masses, is that reading at all?
This Substack author writes, “Influencers make a point to show that they purchase and “read” hundreds of books a year. TikToks about books are usually “content” in the purest form — hauls, recommendations, and reviews that focus on surface-level details like how aesthetically pleasing the cover is and whether or not there’s smut in the book. God forbid someone actually talk about the real content of a book, because that’s not what the algorithm wants to promote.”
I’m not on TikTok (thank God), and I haven’t been exposed to the mass-consumption mania of BookTok directly (thank God), but, as a bibliophile who always stresses to her children that books are precious, valuable, and need to be respected, the way they have been turned into a commodity and manipulated by consumerism culture (like Coach) is heartbreaking – and truly the most disrespectful way to treat books.
What saddens me most is not that reading has become popular again (that should be something to celebrate) but that the soul of reading is being stripped away in favor of external validation. A book is not a prop, a status symbol, or a decorative accessory. It is a conversation between minds across time. This is the very reason why I write!
When reading becomes another performance for the algorithm, we lose the quiet intimacy that makes books sacred in the first place. Perhaps the most radical act today is not buying more books, but slowing down long enough to truly read the ones already waiting patiently on our shelves, or settle down with the ones that will truly change our spirit.
If you wish to support my work further, have a look at all my books and journals, available here. My newest book, Mothering in the Mountains – reflections on slow living, spiritual motherhood, and finding soul serenity in the French Alps, is available now! If you want to work with me as a spiritual healer, check out my services through Seeking Celestial Grace and Awakened Little Souls.
xx C
lifeofcloud 