Hello! I’m back with a new Kvetch of the week. This time around I’m piggybacking off an article I read yesterday, but first, a kvetch from a reader who wanted their name withheld. I’ll just call them “Upper Kvetch Sider.” They wrote about a topic I think about way too much. And, coincidentally, this shot from You’ve got Mail includes the thing Upper Kvetch Sider kvetches about as well as my own complaint of the week.
“I’m BENT OUT OF SHAPE by bookshelves as decorative objects!!!!
I recently had to shed some books! I just have so many books — and I had to make some hard decisions about which books to keep and which to part with… and then Tiktok served me this young influencer who has a GORGEOUS NYC apartment in which she had bookcases built and then because she actually doesn’t own books (she says she reads on a kindle), BOUGHT “BOOKS BY THE FOOT” to decorate the bookcases………… that she had built …… ……… …………
Dear Upper Kvetch Sider,
I could write a very large book that hopefully would never show up on this dummy’s shelf about how annoying I find this trend. I wrote something in (oh God) 2012 for The Paris Review about how I’d been noticing menswear shops using books for decoration, which I decided is a way of translating “If we place this waxed canvas jacket next to some vintage John Updike hardcovers you’ll associate this look with being well-read and smart.” Of course, that was before TikTok and around the time people were trying to figure out how to even use Instagram. Now, everybody is trying to look and seem a certain way. People curate every damn thing for social media, right down to, yup, bookshelves. Rich and famous people literally hire people to curate their shelves—which I sort of love and would absolutely do a job like that, but I digress. The real problem here is something you hit on when you mention “she actually doesn’t own books,” and that, to me, is the heart of the kvetch. It’s corny. Plain and simple. It’s offensive because people like you and I love physical books. We love them so much that we own many and will continue to buy them because they fill us with joy and help enlighten us in a world that’s seriously lacking enlightenment these days. We love them so much that our own loved ones might question our sanity and say things like “When that bookshelf full of books you’ve already read topples over and kills you that’s Darwinism at work!” So, what I’ll say about your correct kvetch is this: that influencer’s bookshelves might be full of books she'll never read, but I’m guessing her life (and mind) is pretty empty.
And remember, if you want to submit a kvetch, weeklykvetch@gmail.com is the place to send them. I get a lot of these sent to me each week and it takes a second to go through them, but keep the kvetches coming!!! My kvetch this week is for paid subscribers only. You can become a paid subscriber and really do me a solid because I’ve got a dog and two cats with expensive habits.
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