Bronwen K. Bradshaw 

Features Writer 

Photo credit: Getty Images/Glamour 

Social media has lately been enthralled by the aesthetic of books. Perhaps most notable is the BookTok subcommunity on TikTok, where influencers and writers give out their reading recommendations through color coded bookshelves and share photos with books as fashion accessories. According to an article in Today,  book sales have increased the last couple years, where “NPD BookScan revealed 825 million books were sold in the U.S. in 2021, up 9 percent from the previous year.”  

Videos with the hashtag #BookTok have amassed over 239 billion views on TikTok. Barnes & Noble even has a category on their website and in stores dedicated to trending book recommendations. However, I wonder whether this newfound book spike signals a rise in literacy and reading. Is having The Strangers by Albert Camus in your tote bag just a status symbol and nothing else? 

The fascination with collecting texts as a form of intellectualism has been around for centuries. Published in 1473, Richard de Bury’s Philobiblon (or Love of Books) was one of the first documented English texts that described the love and critique of literature. De Bury does not profess much about his enjoyment of reading, but more so his love for collecting books. The same can be said today about the desire to fill a bookshelf to the brim with books that are meant to be read but mostly serve the purpose of being decorative. 

In many Renaissance paintings, the subject, usually an aristocrat, would often hold a book or pages in their hand so viewers would perceive the subject as intellectual and important. If you have a plentiful collection of books, people will regard you as smart and a prolific reader. How is that different from folks of our generation taking photos of ourselves with The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath while drinking coffee? Books have always been status symbols and accessories. The book becomes a prop to show our intelligence without needing to read.  

Though holding a book can make a person seem smart, the type of book leads into a deeper discussion about aesthetics and what makes the book a fashion accessory. In photos and videos I found, I saw numerous people holding books by Virginia Woolf and Fyodor Dostoevsky. The paparazzi rarely catch celebrities with romance novels in their hands.  

The popular aesthetic trend known as Dark Academia, found specifically on Tumblr and Pinterest, features brown and dark clothing and old, dimly lit libraries that look straight out of Harry Potter. This aesthetic has led to many people romanticizing learning, with an emphasis on classic, sophisticated literature. In the article for Ekklesia Magazine, Tom Hilless describes how the aesthetic came to be. Hilless explains, “Aesthetics are the creation of a living fan fiction through the acquisition of objects like books and clothes that act as social indicators.”  

With the exploding boom of book recommending platforms and influencers, the trend is alive now more than ever. However, the prevalence of this Instagram and TikTok trend focuses more on the visual aesthetic that portrays a specific social media presence rather than the subject matter of the book. Though carrying a book in your arms may be frivolous, according to these standards, the trend could help younger generations get excited about reading.