Purchasing books for aesthetic rather than content purposes has recently become a topic of discussion on social media.
This after an article in Svenska Dagbladet where the interviewee shows his site-built bookshelf - containing, among other things, an aged collection of encyclopedias, three copies of the Crime's chronicle and a Spanish anatomy book.
"I have not read a single book in my life (...) I brought in a book consultant who helped me with all the books", says the house's owner in SvD.
Sells books per shelf meter
But buying books just to decorate your home is not uncommon.
Yesterday, Kulturnytt reported that several antique shops save and sell "nice" books per shelf meter.
Which is common if the buyer has a built-in bookshelf but is not a book person.
- We do not moralize about it, it is a way for us to avoid throwing away books if the content cannot be sold, says Pontus Oldén, purchasing manager at Rönnell's antique shop in Stockholm, to Kulturnytt.
Books as a status symbol
Ulrika Milles is a literary critic for SVT and according to her, books as an artifact are an interior detail that marks bourgeoisie and that you come from the old class society.
- The trend is really very old.
The only thing that is new is that they now say that they do not read the books, she says.
According to Ulrika Milles, decorating with books can be seen as a class marker and status symbol that has existed for a long time in all social classes.
The upper class displayed exclusive editions, while the working class adhered to a simple Bible.
- The book has in a way been emptied of value but it remains as a symbol, says Ulrika Milles.
Creates a personality
Books also prevent homes from feeling cold and impersonal, says interior stylist Anna Bergermark Lindeman.
She fully understands why people are anxious to have nice books in their homes.
- Books are used to signal that "someone lives here".
Books and what you read say a lot about you as a person, says Anna Bergermark Lindeman to Kulturnyheterna.