Booksmaxxing: how reading became sexy
Name: Booksmaxxing. Age: The next big thing. Appearance: Thoughtful, intelligent, well-versed and highly desirable. Are you about to tell me that reading is now fashionable?
Name: Booksmaxxing. Age: The next big thing. Appearance: Thoughtful, intelligent, well-versed and highly desirable. Are you about to tell me that reading is now fashionable? Not just fashionable – being a big reader is considered sexy. You haven’t seen me in my reading glasses. Tinder claims that mentions of books in dating bios are up 29% overall, and up 41% for women. The dating app’s relationship expert told HuffPost that “reading is clearly having a moment”. A moment? Really? According to research from book summary app Headway, 75% of people “find partners who read or indicate that they are well-read more attractive”. Yes, but that’s just a thing people say to make themselves seem more attractive. Nevertheless, books are huge.
See the growing BookTok community, who post reviews, discussions and recommendations about favourite books. Looking at TikToks about reading isn’t reading. Meanwhile, book club participation has been rising steadily in the UK. Between 2022 and 2023, book club listings on Eventbrite rose by 41%. Book clubs aren’t fashionable. They’re for nerds. Are you kidding? Dua Lipa has a book club, Service 95. And her romance with new husband Callum Turner was sparked when they discovered they were both reading the same book. Don’t get me wrong: I like reading books, I just don’t like talking about reading books. In that case you might be interested in a reading retreat. Where do I have to go? Any location that gives you the time and space to read and reflect – a “bookcation”, if you will.
Are you trying to sell me on the idea that reading on holiday is now a thing? Because it was already a thing. What’s new is a holiday that whisks you to the locale of a favourite novel. According to Skyscanner, 55% of travellers had booked – or would consider booking – a holiday inspired by a particular tome. So reading the book isn’t enough – you now have to go where it’s set? There are also overseas literary festivals, resort book clubs and hotels with libraries. This is beginning to sound a trifle insane. That’s booksmaxxing! Isn’t this all coming at a time when book reading is actually in decline? Overall, yes. Since 2003 the number of Americans reading for pleasure has dropped by 40%.
So booksmaxxing is a niche trend cocooned within a much larger trend that’s heading in the opposite direction? That’s what makes it cool. Wrong – that’s what makes it an entirely performative exercise aimed at convincing the world you are intelligent and possess an attention span. What’s that? Sorry, I wasn’t listening. *Performatively flicks page of book* Do say: “If anything gets people reading – even pretending to like reading – then it can only be a good thing.” Don’t say: “Great! Now take a picture of me holding Middlemarch.”
The BriefWire