I remember reading, some years ago now, how the current generation would be adopting minimalist lives. No need for shelves of CDs or books, they would have everything on their phones or tablets, so they would be relieved of the clutter the rest of us endure.
But it seems this may not be the case after all. An article in the 'Financial Times' recently (last month - I've had a bit of a backlog to work through) suggested that the first major design trend of 2024 is 'bookshelf wealth'.
There are thousands of TikTok influencers who are realising that bookshelves, and books, might be 'cool'. So, carefully curated collections are presented on reels or feeds to present the sought-after image.
There's no need to read all these books, of course, as it's about the look of the thing. Not even titles or authors are important as books can be selected for the colour or appearance of the spine (and not even that, some people feel a desirable look is to have books turned backwards, their spines facing inwards!).
And on a slightly different tack, there was an article in the 'Guardian' last week where a young man had effectively lined the walls of his house with copies of the video of the film 'Titanic'.
I'm not sure what to conclude from all this save to say that however we choose to collect them or present them, we are all hugely privileged to have books so readily available and even if these influencers haven't chosen books to read now, by having them close to hand, perhaps they'll realise what gems they have one day soon.
Thank you for reading.