Some people flex their gold chains and other flex their debt-financed sports utility vehicles. But contra the assumptions of this semi-literate Potemkin Pushkinite with a terminal case of imposter syndrome, the discerning intellectual flexes his bookshelves:
I confess that when I take a Zoom call, I rotate my chair and my laptop 45 degrees so that my head is framed by books. This is because the straight-on view is of an office full of piled up junk. The bookshelf background is tidier, but you can’t tell much about me from the titles, because I haven’t read any of them. They’re not my books – just my share of the general household burden, most of them paperbacks bought by my wife before she met me. But if you’re impressed by seeing the Complete Prose of Pushkin above my left ear, I’m also OK with that.
The Pushkin illusion is perhaps an unintentional example of Bookshelf Wealth, a design trend cited by both the New York Times and Homes & Gardens magazine, and described as a “whole home vibe” by TikTok interior designer Kailee Blalock. It’s an understated, homey look that seems to involve getting some books and putting them on shelves.
Of course it’s not that simple. “These aren’t display books,” says Blalock. “These are books that have actually been curated and read.” In that case Pushkin is ruled out on both counts. But what do your curated books say about you? How wealthy are you, bookshelf wise?
Leaning books, lying down books, books competing for shelf space with non-book items
This is meant to convey casual intellectual abundance: my books, they just get everywhere! It’s curated overspill affected by someone who has never known true overspill – a book on its side takes up the shelf space of at least five upright books. When you really have too many books they end up wedged in so tight you can’t get them back out. This looks more like you’re halfway through packing up to move house, which is very now.Shelves filled with antique, leather-bound volumes
No one will ever believe you’ve read these, much less curated them. It just looks as if you’ve tried to purchase cultural credibility by the metre. If that’s the effect you’re after, you’re better off slicing off the spines and gluing them directly to the walls.
If books on shelves are Bookshelf Wealth, then it’s readily apparent that I am a Bookshelf Billionaire. My leather books are not merely curated and read, but I’ve published about half of them, and even written a few as well.