As I’ve watched videos about people’s reading practices and advice for people who want to read but don’t seem to find the time or the will to do so, I’ve noticed that a lot of younger people in particular want to own physical books, rather than reading on an eReader or tablet. This has always been the case, I think, with older readers, but I find it fascinating to see this in younger people.
I may dig into this and see if it is a real thing, or if it is just the online video-makers and social media types.
I want to think that perhaps younger generations who’ve been raised in a screen-based life might be craving connection with actual physical objects.
There’s something very satisfying about having a shelf full of books you’ve read. There is something satisfying about looking at a pile of books you are going to read. It get it. As I watch these videos I find myself very tempted to start purchasing physical books again, even though over the last 35 years I’ve sold at least several thousand dollars of books back to Half-Price Books because I simply don’t have room for them. Yes, I buy music on CD and LP, but I’ll listen to music over and over. The truth is most books I will never re-read.
As I approach 60 years of age I am in a de-acquisition phase in my life. I don’t want my house filled up with stuff. Last year I read 26 novels. I own two of them in paperback format, and I read them on my Kindle anyway.
Also, I’m a frickin' librarian. I have access to all the physical books I could ever want, right? Well, not really. I’m reading a lot of older SF novels that most libraries simply don’t have anymore, and I’m not going to do interlibrary loan for everything I want to read.
Still, it makes me happy to see a generation returning to actual books.
There are a lot of “BookTube” videos on YouTube. A lot of them are kind of douchy. I’m not really into the whole “Optimization Bro” thing where some young would-be “alpha” is explaining how you can read 100 books per year to increase your awesomeness. I’ve seen what I think is some really horrible advice.
I do, however, like it when people just talk about their reading. I found this channel a while back – Books Are Sick. Now, when I saw the title of the channel I’ll admit I thought “good grief, do we have to use the word Sick all the time?” But I watched some videos, and I dig it. This guy Nick didn’t really start reading until last year! So sure, he’s got a Patreon and all that (I think), but I like hearing about his reading journey. I think it’s great that as an adult he has come to love reading. Here’s his first video.
And yes, Nick is one of the people who’s made me want to buy physical books again, but I’m going to stick to a digital book shelf here on Micro.blog and Goodreads for now.