Content at Minimum Week 4: Let’s Talk About Books

Okay, we need to have a serious talk about decluttering books. I know people’s hackles rise at the mere idea of decluttering books, and I get it. Books are precious. They are a valuable and long-lasting resource. They foster our and our families’ literacy. They can still be clutter, and my bookshelf is the space I tackled this week.

One of the ways books become clutter is intense overconsumption and conspicuous consumption. If you’re not familiar with the term conspicuous consumption, it is from Thorstein Veblen’s book The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study in the Evolution of Institutions and describes consumption for the sake of demonstrating your wealth or status to others. Though Veblen’s book was published in 1899, the concept is very much still relevant. Common modern examples are designer clothes and luxury cars, but even something like solar panels on your roof that show all your neighbors how much you’re investing in green tech could count. If we expand from just demonstrating wealth to demonstrating status, we can include microtrend clothing, even if it’s cheap, and viral items like Touchland hand sanitizer that signal you’re on top of what’s popular and aren’t getting left behind.

With the rise of online spaces like BookTok, book consumption is very conspicuous. Reading, collecting books, and showing off book hauls are popular online and highly aestheticized. Let’s think about what messages are conveyed by conspicuous book consumption. Firstly, new books are expensive, so buying books, especially in large amounts, does signal wealth. However, I think the status signaling may be more important. Being bookish and well-read conveys intelligence and even has an air of morality to it. There are trends in books, so you may be showing how on trend you are by what you read. The specific titles (or even vaguer vibes or aesthetics) you choose may signal as well: “I read self-improvement books, so you know I’m really getting my life together,” “I read really steamy romances, so you know I’m fun, sexy, and like to push the envelope a little,” or “I’m reading classic feminist works, so you can tell I’m an educated feminist too.”

I want to be clear about something: I don’t think buying books or reflecting yourself through what you read is inherently wrong. However, I think it becomes a problem for many people. It’s expensive, books take up space and are heavy to move and actually reading them takes a lot more time than the buying part! And because books are overall very good items, it can be easy to let bad buying and collecting behaviors slide.

So, what am I doing about my books? What should you do about yours? Well, I asked myself some pretty pointed questions and let go of the books I no longer wanted (they’ll be donated to free little libraries or the public library). I also filled a cardboard moving box with books I had already read and wanted to keep. I left my unread books, a few favorite novels, and reference materials I need out on the shelves. I plan to curate my personal library a little more thoughtfully, so that it is mostly taken up by books I’ve already read and want to carry with me into the future. I’ve also created a big list of questions you can ask yourself to evaluate your book consumption and personal collection.

About buying:

• Am I buying books on impulse?
• Do I frequently buy books that I don’t read or that I start and then don’t like?
• Am I engaging in emotional shopping behaviors (i.e. using shopping to soothe stress, express excitement, calm jealousy, etc.)?
• Is it important to me to be seen by others as a bookish or well-read person?
• If I post online about books, am I getting more pleasure from posting than from owning and reading the books I buy?
• If I post book hauls, could some of those be replaced by exciting library finds?
• Does going to the library give me the same good feelings as shopping for books or is purchasing necessary for me to feel happy about getting a book? (You can also ask this question about second-hand vs brand-new books.)
• Could I borrow or buy this book second-hand?
• Am I buying books to keep up with what is popular or trending?
• Do I buy books whenever I go to the bookstore because I feel pressure to make a choice and a purchase? (I’m raising my hand to this one!)

About your collection:

• Do I have enough room for the books I already have?
• Have I read this book? If yes, did I find it valuable enough to keep? If not, do I realistically see myself reading it?
• Do I want to read this book, or do I have it because I think I should read it?
• Have I grown out of this book?
• Does this book carry bad memories for me?
• Am I keeping this book because it was a gift? Would it be okay to be grateful for that gift and then let it go?
• If I moved, would I be able to take these books with me? Are some of them not worth the effort and expense of packing them up, moving them, and unpacking?

If you’ve read this, thank you. I think it was a bit of a doozy. If you’d like to comment, let me know what kind of library you’d like to have. (My husband and I love the idea of a secret bookshelf door into a cozy library.)