I love buying books. You read that right, I love buying books. When I enter a charity shop, the shelves of books are the first place I go. My friends even deem it a small miracle if I leave a Waterstones without buying a book. Hands lunge onto my forehead, “Are you feeling alright?”, they ask. Yes, I love buying books but reading them, well that’s another matter entirely. I simply cannot read books at the rate I buy them. Real book lovers know that buying books is a separate hobby from reading them. But how far is too far? Is buying books in bulk really necessary?
I know I’m not alone in this struggle. So, it poses the question, when did consumerism become a necessary part of enjoying a hobby? I could easily get, and read as many books as possible, for free, I might add, if I went to the library more.
If eventually, I do get around to reading a book I bought, I post it to my Instagram highlight reel – where I post every book I read – as soon as I’ve finished reading it, to let the world (my 106 followers) know that, yes, I can read!
Perhaps though, there is an element of competition in reading – a growing need for me to beat the previous month or year in number of books read. Rather than appreciate the comfort and relaxation reading provides, I have twisted it into yet another way I feel I must compete with my unachievable standards. It can be difficult as well, seeing BookTokers who have read upwards of ten books in a month, and you can’t help but feel that you are behind.
However, this competitiveness is not always solely down to our purchasing habits. With the rise in popularity of apps such as Letterboxd and Goodreads, our desire to share and categorise our interests has morphed into yet another way that we must prove how successful we are, or how closely we fit into a desired aesthetic.
For example, Goodreads allows you to set a reading goal for the year – tacking a value to your hobby. The app lets you know if you are on track to meet it throughout the year and allows you to keep a record of all the books you have read. If you set your goal too high, then you are at risk of not completing the target and then feeling disappointed, or if you set too many and read them all in a desperate rush. Either way, you don’t enjoy it for what it is.
Letterboxd works similarly, although the app does not allow for yearly targets, it shares the same pretentiousness in numbers as it allows users to attach a figure to how many films they have watched in a year, and sends them weekly watching updates so that users can keep track of how many hours of film they have consumed that year. Does this analytical nature detract from the enjoyment we get from the movies? Our desire to be seen as educated and cultured is because we want to fit into a particular niche.
Now, this is by no means a criticism because you should be able to watch or read anything, regardless of whether it’s obscure or trendy. It is never a bad thing to want to educate or push yourself further, but it can be easy to be swept up in wanting to present yourself in a certain light, especially on social media. These apps also allow us to meet new people, engage with new opinions and share different ideas. Which is the whole point of art and literature!
If you’ve watched a movie or picked up a book for the first time in a while, for the mere enjoyment of it, then you should be proud. If you haven’t, that’s okay too. Hobbies are so important in keeping yourself sane and allowing you to relax from the stressors of life, do it for the joy of it; not to reach a goal.
Hi, I’m Erin. I’m currently studying English and History. She/her